Plumbing plans 4x2x2

[dearis]

G'day

here are the plumbing ideas/plans any edits minor tweaking / tips would be great

Regards Darren

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[Tommo]

Hi how high are the return pipes ? are they drilled into the tank ? or do they come over the top of the glass ?
also howstrong will your return pump be ?

cheers Andrew

[dearis]

Hi there,

the returns are drilled into the back of the tank and unsure of return pressure yet still searching for a calculator that tells me what pump pressure I need

Regards Darren

[Tommo]

Hi Darren What height are the returns drilled at ? are they at the top,half way,bottom ,above or below your durso?
With your return pump,this depends on what fish you are keeping and how strong the water flow you want .Also going into your Co2 reactor you will only need a slow flow.

Also are you keeping a sump?

cheers Andrew

[dearis]

Hi Thommo,

keeping a sump (standard 4 foot tank and the returns will be about 40mm below the overflow so about 80mm from the rim of the tank to the centre of the return pipe if that makes sense above the durso's. I think the flow will be 3 x tank/sump volume per hour so 1500-1800 litres/hour somewhere in that vicinity(i think). Keep in mind these are still plans so any suggestions improvements unforeseen issues just point them out :-)

Regards Darren

P.S. Running pressurised co2 but don't understand what I need for that equipment wise nor do i understand solenoids still trying to learn that side of things

[Tommo]

Hi Darren ,

I would make the return pipes about 20 mm Dia ,and use an eheim compact pump, get the one if you can afford it, 2500-5000 liters/hour, as they have ok head height 3.0m and also they are adjustable flow rates,also no noise at all.the more water surface movement you have though, the more Co2 will escape.This becomes tricky, now with how much flow should go through your reactor,IMO i would tee off from your return line in 8 or 9 mm pipe into your reactor then plumb back into your return line,via a one way valve so then no water can back flow into your reactor. "i hope you get what i mean here" but everyone has a different opinion in regards to how much water should go through the reactor,"i used to use a diffuser and found them much better than the reactors!you stand pipe "durso" should be 25mm.

Now with what equipment you need for the co2 system , depends on how much cash you want to spend.

what i had was.

1) P.H Controller
2) Co2 Bottle 6.5 kg
3 Regulator with a solenoid and bubble counter , so that the Controller turns the solenoid Co2 on and off.
4) Co2 Diffuser as i did not like the reactor .

i hope this helps


cheers Andrew :cheers