Using drilled tanks in a fishroom

[chris_todd]

OK, so I'm looking to build a fish room this year, so I'm going to have a bunch of questions for those of you that have done this before. In future threads I'll detail more of my ideas and plans, and describe the space it's going in, but for now, I want to make sure I understand fully some of the unique challenges you face when setting up racks of tanks, as opposed to independent tanks spread throughout the house.

First up: About using drilled tanks...

I understand how using a tank with a single bulkhead near the top of a tank can be used as an overflow with a sump (feed water in from above, it reaches the overflow and drains back into a sump, where a pump pushes it back up into the tank again), but how would you use a tank that is "double drilled", that is, that has two bulkheads, one in the upper right and the other in the lower left (of the back wall, I hope I described that well enough to visualize)?

Would you daisy-chain several of these together (so the lower left of one tank goes into the upper right of the next tank, etc.), so you only feed water into the first tank in the chain, and the last tank drains into the sump? Sounds like a disaster if one overflow in the chain gets clogged...

Or would you use it as an "emergency overflow" in case the main overflow (the upper right one) gets clogged? (Redundancy sounds good!)

Or would you feed the pump return into the lower left bulkhead (rather than dropping water in from above)? (Oooh, now that I think about that for a second, that sounds like an extraordinarily bad idea - what happens when you lose power and your pump is no longer pushing water in? I would think your tank would completely drain into your sump. Ugh.)

Is there another configuration or option?

Would you choose one configuration or another for a home fish room (as opposed to, say, a fish store, e.g.)?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice you can provide, I want to design this thing right the first time.

 

[Matt]

I think you have 2 options with tanks drilled in that configuration. #1- Use the top bulkhead as an overflow as you said and plug the bottom hole and bring your return in over the top of the tank or #2 use the top bulkhead as an overflow and use the bottom bulkhead as your return chained together with your other returns to one main pipe back to the pump met with a quailty check valve which will protect you in the event of a power outage. I would not daisy-chain all your tanks together via the bottom bottom bulkhead. Hope this helps you.

Matt

 

[AndyNarwhal]

That is an unusual configuration. I would suggest using the upper hole for your drain to the sump. Do not connect the tanks together as you would have no way to isolate a tank for disease treatment. Use the lower hole for water changes. Simply connect all the lower hole drains to a manifold with a ball or gate valve on each tank. Empty the manifold into a drain. When it comes time to do a water change simply turn off the water flow into the tank from above. Stir up the bottom so the sediment is lifted up into the water column and open the valve on the drain. Be sure to use a large strainer so you don't suck any fish in. By large I mean small slots but lots of surface area. Then you can drain the tank down as far as you want, close the valve, and turn the water flow back on and you are done. If your sump has a float valve hooked up to an automatic top off system (ATO) then you don't have to do anything else.
Andy

 

[chris_todd]

Do not connect the tanks together as you would have no way to isolate a tank for disease treatment.

An excellent point!

Use the lower hole for water changes. Simply connect all the lower hole drains to a manifold with a ball or gate valve on each tank. Empty the manifold into a drain. When it comes time to do a water change simply turn off the water flow into the tank from above. Stir up the bottom so the sediment is lifted up into the water column and open the valve on the drain. Be sure to use a large strainer so you don't suck any fish in. By large I mean small slots but lots of surface area. Then you can drain the tank down as far as you want, close the valve, and turn the water flow back on and you are done.

Oooh, I like that idea! You could even set it up to automatically do a 50% WC by using some PVC or hose to raise the drain to half the tank height. Then you could turn off the sump pump, throw the valve, and if you forget about it, it just drains to 50% and stops.

If your sump has a float valve hooked up to an automatic top off system (ATO) then you don't have to do anything else.
Andy

I *like* not having to do anything else, LOL! Such a setup could be completely automated by using solenoid valves on the WC drain valves. Turn off the sump pump, open the solenoids, wait 10 minutes, close the solenoids, turn on the sump pump, and the automatic top off refills the sump from a resovoir with pre-mixed/aged water. Yum, automated water changing goodness! I like.

So what am I missing? What could go wrong?

If the solenoids are only opened when supplied with power, then they shouldn't get stuck in an open position during a power outage. The sump pump would go off in a power outage, but that just means no filtration/flow, not tanks draining onto the floor.

If the solenoids got stuck in the open position, or did not turn off after the sump pump comes back on, then the sump would get drained and the ATO system would fight to keep it refilled. If it's pulling water from a resovoir, that will eventually empty, the sump pump would run dry, and all the tanks would drain to 50%. Not good, but not a disaster necessarily.

If the WC (lower) bulkheads get clogged, then the tank won't drain during a WC, but when the sump pump comes back on, the overflow will just go out the overflow bulkhead. If the overflow (upper) bulkhead gets clogged, then bad things happen - tank overflows onto the floor, and the sump eventually runs dry (after the ATO system drains the reservoir). Oooh, not good. I'll have to think about how to safeguard that. At Home Automation stores there are devices that will shutoff the water supply or power to your clothes washer if water touches a sensor (usually placed on the floor under the washer drain), I could probably use one of those on the sump pump.

Thanks for letting me consume your time (and Internet bits) thinking out loud.

 

[Billy Rocket]

I just built a new fish room. It turned out REALLY NICE. If I do say so myself You are welcome to come up and check it out. It has most of the stuff you are talking about.

 

[danger_chicken]

I wouldn't daisy-chain the tanks. Despite the overflow issues you'd just be moving crub from one tank to the next. I have dual drilled tanks and the bottom was used as the drain with an extension that held the strainer at the top. You can adjust the water level by tilting the pipe. I don't know if this was the orginal intent but the top hole can be plumbed as the return so you can have a tight fitting top for evaporation control or as a back-up overflow. As far as disease goes - don't get any. It doesn't matter if the tanks are not connected if they are on the same filter they share the water. I see that as a benefit since you are increasing the total water volume to all tanks.

My inwall tank has a water changing system using solinoids like you mentioned. It was fun to build and it works great but I've since discovered drip systems and find them much easier and cheaper to install. The link details the water changer. I plan to change it over to a drip when I redo my sump in the next month or two.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152445

 

[Billy Rocket]

I think Michael is right. The bottom bulkhead is for a standpipe.