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This is a special tip I've been saving to share later!
I use Netlea Prefilters on my tanks as the first equipment after the intake lily pipe. These prefilters are easily removable, as are the sponges inside of them. They have quick-connects with ball valves on them. I use a separate 16/22mm hose with a same-brand quick-connect on the end as the "vacuum" hose, and attach that in place of where the regular lily pipe intake goes. I then turn my filter on, and viola, I have a "water vacuum"! I've been wanting to post about this for a while so I think I will soon, but it's been amazing. The super fine prefilter sponges catch everything -- allowing me to remove it to the sink for easy cleaning. It also means that the water level stays the same while vacuuming, rather than siphoning to a bucket. This means I can remove all sorts of waste and organic detritus from the tank by catching it in the prefilter, using the existing filtration setup I currently have, quickly clean the sponge in the sink, then put it all back how it was. I only do this every 2-3 weeks and it's been amazing.
I store my RO in two 55 gallon drums that are tied together in the basement. PEX piping is run up inside the wall to just above the tank.
I use a CREEKSTONE 2500 GPH Submersible Waterfall Pump from Harbor Freight to pump the water up to the tank. I ran a switch to just above the tank to turn the pump on and off.
While I was at it I also ran another PEX pipe up the wall. It attaches to a pump that is always in the tank that runs down to a basement drain.
So one switch to drain, one switch to fill.
As I remove water from the tanks I dose all macro's into the holding tanks. They each have circulation pumps inside that run 6 hours a day to keep the water moving and dissolve the nutrients. Been doing it that way for many years now.
So like a light switch? That’s amazing! I’r contract out the electrical if I did that. I am handy with pex but I’ve never done drywall or dealt with it outside of unfinished or under sink areas, so I may hire someone to do that portion too possibly. I need to search through the forum but I’d love to see pictures of that. Is it just an open pipe coming into the back of the tank?
Same question I asked Rocco, but is the pump in the tank just positioned somewhere and you use that for vacuuming as well or is that a separate task? I love the idea of not needing ATO necessarily, that’s really awesome.
Thanks to both of you for the responses.
I got a long python hose delivered and an adapter to the kitchen sink RO faucet for temporarily for water change/filling. I was going to scape and then start filling the tank today but ran out of time and I also realized I didn’t have egg crate and that main stone is sharp and heavy too, so that will be delivered tomorrow morning.
Hopefully I’ll be given time off from unpacking to put together the tank tomorrow
Progress! I’ve filled the tank, filter is going, horizontal reactor in line, but my co2 doesn’t seem to be releasing bubbles in the bubble counter, (thought about the flow meter, haven’t bought it yet) and I’m curious if I didn’t something wrong. See below
Actually as I say that it’s now bubbling, about 0.5 bps, my needle valve is almost completely Open, so so I keep Turning up the pressure/regulator valve?
Give it an hour or two then report back. I used that regulator for a few months -- unfortunately it was serious crap for me. The solenoid never turned the CO2 fully off -- I always had a slow BPS count even after 16 hours off.
Also I’ve hung the light and it’s fine, I wanted to do it from the side but it didn’t look great.
I added driftwood From my old tank that’s been in a bucket with an air stone for a week
To maybe help With cycling?
I also didn’t do RO water, getting it from the RO sink faucet was untenable and I needed to get this tank put together so I could finally get my office desk and everything else together. So hose water with seachem safe for now. TDS from the hose is 142-148.
Give it an hour or two then report back. I used that regulator for a few months -- unfortunately it was serious crap for me. The solenoid never turned the CO2 fully off -- I always had a slow BPS count even after 16 hours off.
Actually as I say that it’s now bubbling, about 0.5 bps, my needle valve is almost completely Open, so so I keep Turning up the pressure/regulator valve?
Your low pressure side is actually quite high, I keep mine at 20psi and get steady flow. If your needle valve is completely open as you say then something is blocking the flow. Did that come pre assembled or you put regulator and solenoid together? Cheap solenoids can make or break a system. I have a Milwaukee solenoid and it’s tried and true.
Your low pressure side is actually quite high, I keep mine at 20psi and get steady flow. If your needle valve is completely open as you say then something is blocking the flow. Did that come pre assembled or you put regulator and solenoid together? Cheap solenoids can make or break a system. I have a Milwaukee solenoid and it’s tried and true.
Reaching out about alternative regulators, for now I think I’ve dialed it in to a reasonable level where I see some bubbles coming out of the outlet every 30-45 seconds. Small ones. No big ”blurps ” but tiny bubbles. I see a level of gas in the reactor which quickly developed this morning. I have the oase crystal skim 350 running as well. My FTS this morning is meh given the lack of backlight and the blinds, but this is what I have so far. The extra driftwood was from my old tank that’s been in a 5 gallon bucket with an air stone and all the plants(which I have now put in the tank).
The big one in the front won’t stay I don’t think, but some of the little ones in the pebble path I might leave, it turned out more like a creekbed than I originally thought!
I also added milione bacteria powder for maybe the chance it helps with cycling?
Dosing for now I am relying on the controsoil (with contrabase and some extra tabs in other areas below) and neo 1/2. But plan on changing to a dosing pump and probably burr ferts when my dosing pump arrives.
I’ll be adding a lot more plants as soon as they come in. Currently I just placed the swords, sag, chain swords, crypts and a couple of bulb plants including that lily in the front. Some of them Look pretty ratty after being in a bucket for a while. I’ll definitely be adding more plants. I haven’t tested parameters yet, but it’s on my todo list in the next couple days.
Light is a P series week aqua, I have it on red setting 100% power, but may decrease that, not sure yet.
Also I’m thinking of the UNS backlight but will need to find out if the light L clamps are compatible(probably not) so we’ll see.
These are a combination of crypts, buce and others that survived 4 years of being not treated well under a guppy grass mountain, some stuff (the swords/sag) I bought from FF in March, and the erio that survived a usps delay from Burr, then all of that made the trip from vt to OH in buckets with airstones as detailed above. Definitely under planted, definitely some ratty plants, and I need to get more plants asap.
Also tested ammonia today and it was between 1-2 ppm on an old api kit. Waiting for a new one to arrive. I will test co2 today.
The manzanita driftwood is developing some diatoms, as we’d expect.
Rereading this now. How do you run this up into a finished room? I may try this myself. I’ve used pex before to replace a whole laundry piping issue in my VT house. I haven’t put pipes into finished rooms before though….
Rereading this now. How do you run this up into a finished room? I may try this myself. I’ve used pex before to replace a whole laundry piping issue in my VT house. I haven’t put pipes into finished rooms before though….
I have a basement that we were finishing, but before we finished it, I ran the PEX tubing.
I ran it up between the floor joists before we put drywall over it.
How I installed: The aquarium backs right up to a wall, standard stud wall with drywall over it. What I did was cut out a section of drywall near the bottom of the wall (so when we sell, I can patch it up without a trace) and then inside the hollow wall space I reached in and drilled a pilot bit down through the floor inside the wall into the basement to see what joist it came out at. Then I just drilled a large larger hole that could fit the Pex tubing, ran it up and out the hole. I also ran a separate 3/8" RO line for my reservoir along the PEX line so I could have a constant low-pressure RO reservoir refill system.
I have a basement that we were finishing, but before we finished it, I ran the PEX tubing.
I ran it up between the floor joists before we put drywall over it.
How I installed: The aquarium backs right up to a wall, standard stud wall with drywall over it. What I did was cut out a section of drywall near the bottom of the wall (so when we sell, I can patch it up without a trace) and then inside the hollow wall space I reached in and drilled a pilot bit down through the floor inside the wall into the basement to see what joist it came out at. Then I just drilled a large larger hole that could fit the Pex tubing, ran it up and out the hole. I also ran a separate 3/8" RO line for my reservoir along the PEX line so I could have a constant low-pressure RO reservoir refill system.
We had a plumber here for an estimate on other things today, I ran my plan by him and he’d add it to my estimate, but honestly I may try and do it myself, I also have access to a floor drain that could fit another 1/2-3/4” drain pipe so I could run a drain line along with the pex from the reservoir and the 3/8” RO line for my ATO. That might work…
Also, and/or as an interim while you're deciding on a large RO /DI, just let the NaCl salt run out in the softener, and replace it with KCl salt instead
Koan I actually cleaned out my water softener brine tank this week as it was near empty and gross and replaced the brine with new KCl. My understanding after looking at prior threads here and elsewhere is there is not real consensus on whether or not KCl softened water is actually safe or beneficial for plants and also for livestock.
Is there anything I missed on this? I think @Art and others discussed this years ago.
I think having the option would be great, and I'll still pursue the RO water plan but to have the option to mix with KCl softened tap or replace with KCl softened tap water in the future would be interesting.
I use Netlea Prefilters on my tanks as the first equipment after the intake lily pipe. These prefilters are easily removable, as are the sponges inside of them. They have quick-connects with ball valves on them. I use a separate 16/22mm hose with a same-brand quick-connect on the end as the "vacuum" hose, and attach that in place of where the regular lily pipe intake goes. I then turn my filter on, and viola, I have a "water vacuum"! I've been wanting to post about this for a while so I think I will soon, but it's been amazing. The super fine prefilter sponges catch everything -- allowing me to remove it to the sink for easy cleaning. It also means that the water level stays the same while vacuuming, rather than siphoning to a bucket. This means I can remove all sorts of waste and organic detritus from the tank by catching it in the prefilter, using the existing filtration setup I currently have, quickly clean the sponge in the sink, then put it all back how it was. I only do this every 2-3 weeks and it's been amazing.
So as I am reviewing this for my own planning, this is just in line with you pre filter and you use your quick disconnect and swap and you just use a blank end hose to vacuum? or is it like a python gravel tube? This is really great and I'm hoping to emulate this. Currently I feel like my flow is fine-ish, with my oase 850 hooked up to the large reactor but it seems a little slow, so I had the thought to have a second filter that is just one of those netlea pre filters, to a oase pump and then return to the tank and have two sets of lily pipes (I think this is what you have had in the past, right?) This may be way too many pipes if I do the same thing you have with the RO intake from the basement as a lily pipe as well. Sorry for so many questions, I definitely hope to find a way to make this as simple as possible and also allow for me to have a good amount of automation as I'm starting my real job this next week.
I have reached out to a FB marketplace listing for a 55 gallon barrel, I have that diaphragm pump and most of the other equipment
Update on tests: Topped off with 3 gallons of RO from the kitchen at 7 TDS .
I think my Hannah CO2 read at 20ppm yesterday, but my regulator was wonky and not stable yesterday, I walked by and it was waaaayyyy fast earlier in the day and then not doing anything in the afternoon. I'm very happy that I'm getting a regulator from one of our forum experts sometime soon to replace this one, (hopefully ARC will refund me? Maybe?) Also the bubble counter evaporated half its liquid already which seems concerning considering it's been a week.
Other testing 7/10 TDS: 150 (My new API master kit arrived): Ammonia: 2-4ppm. Nitrates: 20ppm, pH 6.4?, Nitrite 0.25-0.5ppm.
I went to a local LFS here and got some fritz turbo start I added last night because I'm worried my BB from the old tank may have not survived moving from VT, I bought some seachem products, dosed some clarity and amguard as well.
My kids are getting inpatient with the fish and shrimp in the buckets in the garage, lol. Fed them all yesterday and seems like all are alive.
ALSO while at the local LFS I couldn't help but buy a couple plants, frogbit, a GIANT Anubias mother plant, some other anubias plants, a couple swords, and took all there crappy looking Monte Carlo off their hands for a couple bucks. I'm thinking I'll break up that Anubias and attach it to my wood on the right, and maybe some along the manzanita and/or to the loose driftwood in the 'creekbed' as my wife has been calling it. We'll see. It's currently all in QT in the garage in other 5 gallon buckets because their tanks at the LFS were FULL of snails. Not sure I want to just plop all this in the tank right away.
ALSO our local expert @Burr740 is hooking me up with some more beautiful plants which I'm very excited about. More to come
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