My 3665 Gallon Lined Plywood Tank Build Log

[Nolapete]

Now just imagine a setup like that with an Amazon tropical setup. Imagine a huge school of Neons, Cardinals, Angels and Discus along with other small tropicals. Heck, if possible, I would build a section on top for Amazon River Turtles to climb out and bask. wow.. just image that setup.

*sigh* I need my own house.

I've seen exhibits like that. While nice, it's very difficult to maintain a good ecological balance not to mention hard as heck to filter.

I think the 15 arowanas I'm growing out would enjoy all those ready-made snacks though. As would the azul peacock bass and motoro rays I'm also putting in the tank.

BTW, my tank will be more than double the size of the shark tank build sploke linked.

 

[tricksterpup]

I've seen exhibits like that. While nice, it's very difficult to maintain a good ecological balance not to mention hard as heck to filter.

I think the 15 arowanas I'm growing out would enjoy all those ready-made snacks though. As would the azul peacock bass and motoro rays I'm also putting in the tank.

BTW, my tank will be more than double the size of the shark tank build sploke linked.

Oh, the tank would be fine for 1 turtle or so, but If i did a setup like this, it would have a huge filtration setup. I totally understand bioloads and tank setups like this. Been working with Turtles and Fish for years. LOL I am a reptile guy and love my aquatic turtles. but yeah a huge tropical tank with FW rays would rock

 

[Luc]

Pete, on your filter-ideas.
I would ensure full linear flow with no 90 degree turns except for where the water comes in and the water goes back to the display tank.

This optimizes your filtration and water-throughput.
So intake on the left, full width sections left to right, and return-pumps on the right side. You'll avoid having dead spots in each section as I think you'd have in your current idea.

 

[Nolapete]

That would most likely be true if the filter was small, but it's not. At 98x24x30, it's massive. In actually it is siamese twin filters sharing one intake and one return chamber.

The faster I pump the water out of the faster the water flows into the intake. There's virtually no head pressure since the pumps are plumbed to exit at the same level of the output.

The sock filters are around 32" long, so the chambers allow them to extend fully open. The best examples I can give are a windsock in a full breeze or a trawl net in tow. No water can bypass the sock filters.

The water goes immediately into the 2nd sock filter array after it make the turn. There will be so much turbulence, if from nothing else from the sock filters moving, when the water hits the wall that there won't be any chance for dead spots.

IMHO, longer sections create more opportunity for dead spots rather than shorter. I don't think you can prove your theory on this application. With pipe, absolutely, the less angles the better. The sections for the sock filter arrays are as wide as the rings on the sock filters, with the remaining width being the scrubbie section.

The thing that I'm not doing with this is building the sump components attached to the sump walls. Each section will be able to stand on its own. I'll be able to hoist each of the scrubbie boxes out of the sump, bring them outside, hose them down with tank water, then return the box to the sump. I'll be able to do the same thing with each of the sock filter arrays.

The only part of the sump that will be part of the tank and built to it will be the bottom and front and the support structure. Even the caves will be removable because the faces will snap in and there will be dividers that come out as well. I'll be able to have 8 approx. 12x24 caves, 1 big cave with 8 openings, or any combination of the two. i.e 1 36" cave, 3 12" caves, and 1 24" cave.

 

[Luc]

Mmmh, I get your idea...Not 100% convinced on your flying standard/trawler-net picture though. Seeing the 30 micron filter-socks that I have in my factory in our dust-collector, they are pretty heavy coming in at about a kilo at 2 meters long.
So your throughput has to be massive to get all those socks standing to attention....you might consider adding viagra...lol.

Also, though I'm with you thinking the idea is sound, I think the turbulence you are creating might actually be counter-productive on your filter-socks because there's less straight flow into them....

Not 100% sure for me if the socks are hanging and your flow is top down into them? or are the filter-sock arrays really vertical with the socks literally fanning out like a trawler-net?
I conclude from your information that you kind of like put them into a square (wood or plexy) with holes drilled at the filter-sock diameter and you'd take out a complete square with the socks for cleaning right?
If that's the case, then how about hangin them at a 45' angle? That would give you gravity pull on the water in the socks as well.
You'd simply slide the square into a rail with rubber corners to create a water tight closure between sump-wall and filter-sock square from the water-pressure.

You might have mentioned it before, what will be your return-pump(s) throughput?

 

[Nolapete]

The flow is horizontal:
Right side first array 100/50 feeds from the intake prefilter chamber (most likely with 200 micron batting to catch large particles)

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Right side 25/10 array flows
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Each array is comprised of 3 sock filters duos on top of each other supported on the tail end and slipped into a board with 3 holes cut in it to support on front end. The socks are held open with plastic rings inside.

Think of the water like a rat in a maze. There's only two ways it can go. From the intake/prefilter chamber then into the 100/50 micron sock filter arrays then into the 25/10 sock filter arrays then over the top of the scrubbie chambers then to the pump chamber to be pumped out.

It is a gravity feed per se, much like a swimming pool. Have you ever seen the leaf catcher intakes on a pool where the water feeds into the filter? The intake is almost exactly like that except nothing big can, like a fish, can get into it.

BTW, the socks are held at attention. There's no way the can collapse the way I'll have them.

The return throughput is going to be around 4000-6000 gph at first then increased as needed. I'm using multiple smaller pumps rather than one larger pump and each output will have an eductor on the end for increased current.

You're right about the way the sock arrays come out for cleaning. Easy to flip them inside out then hose them down with a high-pressure nozzle. There's a place locally that I can buy 20 packs of each micron size I need, so if I get 2-3 cleanings out of each I'll be happy.

I could probably use cheap batting as the main prefilter and change it every couple days and just throw that away. Pre-filtering the sock filters is mandatory for them to be efficient otherwise they'll clog way too fast.

Another thing to remember is that I have 4 12 gallon canister filters that will have pumps in the sump feeding them. Since the water that goes into them will be 10 micron filtered, they will rarely need to be maintained.

 

[Luc]

Hello Pete, thanks for the details. Getting warmed to the idea now, I like it.....now stop reading these posts and start building.... ;-P

 

[Nolapete]

We get back to it on Wednesday evening. I had to rework a couple things, but nothing too significant.

 

[Nolapete]

I realized this afternoon while I was out getting lunch that I can build most of the tank structure and still utilize the french doors to bring the acrylic in through. I only need to leave enough of the left side unfinished for the french doors to open. This just got very interesting.

 

[Nolapete]

We opted to fit everything on the front face then come back on Saturday and glue and screw it. We're not done fitting everything yet, but should be done with at least the front wall and hopefully some of the back, side wall away from french doors, and floor sections by noon Saturday. A couple pics of the front wall progress.