20 gal tide pool tank

natep206

Blenniella chrysospilos
so im thinking of making my old 20 gal frog tank in to a tide pool tank.

what i would do is have my 20 gal display. and a 10 gal tide creater tank ( dont have a better term ).

im thinking it will be draining and filling 4 gallons. for the drain i will have a plastic tube that gose through the bottom of the 20 and the stand and down to the 10 gal. (that you wont beable to see because it will be kept in the stand.) the tube will go 4/5 of the way up the tank (16 gallons up the tank.) so that when it is filled up, 4 gallons will drain.

will find the right size tubing so that the 4 gallons will drain in about 1 min. and 30 sec. (it will probly be a small tube)

then for the return i will have 2 or 3 power heads (enough so it will fill up faster then it drains. ) in the 10 gal, hooked up to a tube that gose to the display. i will have the power heads set on the right power so that it will fill the tank in about 30 sec.( i will also have all the powerheads set for high air flow so it can have that bubbly ocean feel.) the powerheads will be hooked up to a wave maker, and the wave maker will be set for every 2 min.

so it will drain be still then fill back up in a 2 min a 30 sec cycle.


here is my rough plan
tidepool.jpg

what do u think? cool idea? im crazy? any suggestions or ideas are greatly appriciated!

thanks
nate:beer:
 
cool idea....... I dont know enough about returns and everything to help you out, but ill be following along!

Bump
 
Problem is that it'll drain as fast as you fill it, you need a surge device. Typically they're above the tank so you have a surge in, not out.

Carlson Surge


That should help............
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7540029#post7540029 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frostyeel
That'll be cool if you can make it work, what do you think you would stock it with?

im thinking im going to get a tiger stripe serpent star, a very small red slate urchin, a coral banded shrimp, a couple small hawaiian feather dusters and maybe a couple little hawaiian zebra hermits. not sure on fish yet but i plan on three very small fish. im going to do some research and get back to u with the final list later today. ofcoarse i may add some things along the way.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7540152#post7540152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Agu
Problem is that it'll drain as fast as you fill it, you need a surge device. Typically they're above the tank so you have a surge in, not out.

Carlson Surge


That should help............


im going to have 2 power heads 250 gph each. thats 500 gph total. 500gph divided by 60min = 8.3gpm. thats 8.3 gallons a minute. 8.3gpm divided by 60sec is 0.1383gps. 0.1383gps times 58sec is 8.02. thats 8.02 gals every 58 sec. if i have the wave maker set on so it stays on for 58 sec. and the drain drains 4 gallons every 30 sec. it will fill 4 gallons in to the 20 in 58 sec.

i dont need a surge...

thanks tho...

nate:beer:
 
A very interesting topic, but whats the point of having a tidepool effect if your going nano? Im not trying to harp your idea or anything but just curious as to what benefits you will get from having your tank empty every "X" amount of time, and "X" amount of gallons. Granted I will follow this thread, and wish you luck.. Just never seen one so small, I guess. Maybe going to the Scripps institute and seeing their HUGE tidepools ruined it for a nano idea.
 
You're going to have it drain and fill every 2.5 minutes? If you're trying to recreate low/high tide, shouldn't you have it last for hours at a time?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7540708#post7540708 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by natep206
im going to have 2 power heads 250 gph each. thats 500 gph total. 500gph divided by 60min = 8.3gpm. thats 8.3 gallons a minute. 8.3gpm divided by 60sec is 0.1383gps. 0.1383gps times 58sec is 8.02. thats 8.02 gals every 58 sec. if i have the wave maker set on so it stays on for 58 sec. and the drain drains 4 gallons every 30 sec. it will fill 4 gallons in to the 20 in 58 sec.
Good idea but it does not look like you took the head loss, air injection, and pipe friction of the return into account. I don't think you will get 250 GPH out of the return pump if it is below the tank. You will be filling the tank slower.

Also from your diagram and where you placed your return hoses, they will act as drains when the tank is filled and the pumps are switched off. You will be actually be draining the tank faster with 3 drains.

I have to agree with Agu. Easier to have your surge device above the tank than below. It's more reliable, you don't have to drill your Nano, and you don't have pipes taking up room in an already small environment. JMO
 
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