to many tanks not enough heaters

[kalebjarrod]

ever have this problem?

i was reading an article

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Pegasus_Cascade.html

so anyway, i bought a glass drill bit and thought i would give it a crack

the idea is to use a single pump (which i will turn into a canister soon to pump and filter) and pump water into the top tank, then let it cascade down through a series of tanks, then pump it back up again

one 300watt heater should do multiple tanks :wink:

i have only hooked up two tanks as of last night but you get the idea

these tanks only house baby B/N but its a good way to keep my fry seperate, and i can keep adding new tanks to the system without to much hasslle

Bills article is cool have a read :wink:

[Proteus]

The only problem with this would be any disease in one tank, will be spread to the others (not saying there would be any).

I have used the trickle effect once before on 4 x 2ft planted tanks, and it worked a treat (only cold water fish were in one tank - Danios, Whiteclouds, etc)

[Littlefish]

I had a row of ten 60litre plastic storage tubs with lids (the kind you buy from Bunnings or where-ever) plus one tub for filter/pump. All linked together with black poly pipe & fittings like you use for garden irrigation. All on one level. Worked great.

One 300W Tota heater kept all tubs at exactly the same temp.

Fred

[Ben]

Great little set up there Ryan!

That would save some $$$ for heating, as well as power points!

with this set up Would it be worth setting up an inline uv?

Cheers,
Ben

[goldenpigeon]

very nice ryan! yeh it should wouk great. i would just make sure there arent any chemicals in your garage and no sprays etc. because the moving water will pick it up.

looks great. i am goin to try it soon with a heater heating the whole system. hope it works :D

[kalebjarrod]

Yeah its working well

and when i hook it up to a Canister i think UV will be added as well

the tanks can be quickly closed from the system by putting a extension on the thread tank through

just extend it over the tank you wnat to QT and to the next tank in the series

also the tank throughs are better than what bill described as they are threaded and when you have thread you can attach almost anything :wink:

[mcloughlin2]

Are the connections expensive??? :ug

[kalebjarrod]

tank through's vary in price due to the diameter

i use 25mm and they cost me 7.00 bucks :wink:

[teflon]

There are a couple of things that make me abit "iffy" about this setup.

1)Even though you are only using 1 heater it will still need to stay on for as long as 2 seperate ones would thus meaning money is equall to running 2 and your also shortening the life of your heater

2) If you have a power failure the lowest tank may overflow and flood you room, which in turn is dangerous around electricity. And as you have a powerfilter in the lowest tank if you did have a power failure the filter would syphon water back into the lowest tank as no taps are fitted

3)That system looks like it would cost more to run then if you had it on a rack with overflows and a sump as all you need in a sump is a heater (2 in winter) and a pond pump which should break the surface creating oxygen exchange and that means no air driven pumps are needed.

HTH

[kalebjarrod]

1)Even though you are only using 1 heater it will still need to stay on for as long as 2 seperate ones would thus meaning money is equall to running 2 and your also shortening the life of your heater

not really,

its a 300watt heater and it heats a 2ft tank very well, in fact it heats two 2ft tanks with little to no extra "on" time from what i can see over the past few days, in fact it is now heating three tanks and i can still see no comparable difference in "on" Time

just remember that its not necesarily the on time that counts, its how effective it heats the water while on


2) If you have a power failure the lowest tank may overflow and flood you room, which in turn is dangerous around electricity. And as you have a powerfilter in the lowest tank if you did have a power failure the filter would syphon water back into the lowest tank as no taps are fitted


i measured at what depth i need the lowest tank so it can handle any poweroutage

no water syphons back as the outlet from poly attched to the powerhead is only just below the waterline


3)That system looks like it would cost more to run then if you had it on a rack with overflows and a sump as all you need in a sump is a heater (2 in winter) and a pond pump which should break the surface creating oxygen exchange and that means no air driven pumps are needed.

why would this 162 lt system use more heaters than a sump system?

Pond pumps are expensive to run and ineffective in power, the gas exchange by this sytem will destroy a pond pump "breaking the surface"

and it is only used to hold Bristle nose, why bother?

[teflon]

1)Even though you are only using 1 heater it will still need to stay on for as long as 2 seperate ones would thus meaning money is equall to running 2 and your also shortening the life of your heater

not really,

its a 300watt heater and it heats a 2ft tank very well, in fact it heats two 2ft tanks with little to no extra "on" time from what i can see over the past few days, in fact it is now heating three tanks and i can still see no comparable difference in "on" Time

just remember that its not necesarily the on time that counts, its how effective it heats the water while on

Unless you monitor it 24 hours a day then i think you are wrong as heaters won't stay on too long in light hours but early morning is where is really needs to perform


2) If you have a power failure the lowest tank may overflow and flood you room, which in turn is dangerous around electricity. And as you have a powerfilter in the lowest tank if you did have a power failure the filter would syphon water back into the lowest tank as no taps are fitted


i measured at what depth i need the lowest tank so it can handle any poweroutage

no water syphons back as the outlet from poly attched to the powerhead is only just below the waterline

Even so all it takes to start return syphoning is about 2cm


3)That system looks like it would cost more to run then if you had it on a rack with overflows and a sump as all you need in a sump is a heater (2 in winter) and a pond pump which should break the surface creating oxygen exchange and that means no air driven pumps are needed.

why would this 162 lt system use more heaters than a sump system?

Pond pumps are expensive to run and ineffective in power, the gas exchange by this sytem will destroy a pond pump "breaking the surface"

and it is only used to hold Bristle nose, why bother?

Pond pumps are one of the most efficient aquarium accessories if you buy a decent brand one, You can get 1500ltr pond pumps that use as much as a double outlet air driven.
And i think you will also find that a pond pump properly installed will not just slighty agitate the surface but should produce a decent current.
Even if it "only" hold bistlenose i can see my ways of working better as
A)Less maintanance
B)Less power consumption
C)A healthier tank

[kalebjarrod]

A)Less maintanance

Please explain? :?


B)Less power consumption

its a 5 watt power head and one heater, you can't get much cheaper than that :wink: (ohhh and 2 x $7.00 fittings :lol: )


C)A healthier tank

300 babies and counting, nil deaths, can't get it to much better than that :wink:

but thanks for your opinion, i put a few smiley faces in there so you don't think i'm to agro, my last post looked a little "bitey" without them. Sorry

[teflon]

:roll:

So your sponge filters are being run on the $7 fittings? :?
Also you will find that you lose heat through the missing lids that are absent because of the overflow.

Its not a bad setup but i would throw in an extra heater in the other tank temp wont fall as quick and will use the same if not less then what the 1 you have in there now is

BTW BN would breed and grow in a bucket of sewage :wink:

[kalebjarrod]

So your sponge filters are being run on the $7 fittings?

no the sponge filters are running on the excess air for the discus breeding tanks

the sponges are excess to these tanks as well

so techinally there are more but they aren't if you know what i mean :wink:


Also you will find that you lose heat through the missing lids that are absent because of the overflow.

i am going to cut holes in the lids where the wat drains in, just need a few hours to do it



BTW BN would breed and grow in a bucket of sewage

they actually breed in water thats comes from discus waterchanges

so your right!

it may as well be a bucket of sewage! :wink:

[DiscusMan]

I am interested in how you drilled your holes.

I am going to be trying to put some bulkheads in some of my tanks soon. I have gone out and boughta dremel with a plan to cut the holes out with htat but i am interested in how you have done it

Wayne

[Benny]

from what i understand, you need something like a diamond edged glass holesaw to do it correctly...

You will definately need a diamond bit for your dremel, but on any tank of value i wouldnt risk doing a bodgy job

[kalebjarrod]

i'll start a new thread guys
:wink:

[mistakes r crucial]

Hi Ryan,

How do you find those stainless steel caps for your outlets? I've got one here to try out but as I feed heavily I wasn't sure if they would clog up too easily. We were thinking about drilling slightly larger holes all over them to help combat the problem, if there is one.
MAC

[kalebjarrod]

hay mac

they do get clogged a little, but i use them on fry tanks or tank with small fish, on larger tanks i use a standard plastic philmac 1 1/4inch screed

it has a heaps larger hole size (see pic)

although if you are worried about food getting trapped in them try getting a 1inch to 2 1/2 male adaptor, one female to female adaptor, and use a 2 1/2 inch stianless screed

if you block that, your simply a lunatic feeder :wink:

[kalebjarrod]

added another tank and some lids and extra stuff