filter box
filter box
Hi Floyd
Yeah, I do have a communication system, its really fairly simple. To me anyhow.
It uses 2 pumps, the return flow into the filter box from the tanks, looking from left to right the stock tank is in 3 sections(Acyrlic dividers), the section on the left I call the first and receives the water from the tanks, a pump in there picks up the water and moves it to the center section, which has a deep gravel bed, the frame for the AST sits on top of the gravel and the line from the pump goes to it, and the water flows out of the pvc over the mesh and down through the gravel bed.
At the bottom of the gravel is a screen to hold the gravel up, sitting on some pvc for clearance. The acrylic divider of the center and last section is raised up 2" off the bottom to allow water to flow under it into the far right section where the other pump returns it to the tanks.
The first divider on the left sets lower in the tank then the right hand divider in case the AST pump is off, its 3" lower then the 2nd divider so if the AST pump isnt operating the water can rise in the first chamber and overflow into the 2nd AST/Gravel section.
So the water flows by gravity into the filer box/sump, is picked up and pumped into the AST section and over the mesh, down through the gravel and into the other section to be pumped to the tanks, that section will also have a couple heaters and any other miscellaneous. Any water changes will happen in the first section coming from the tanks. Also from where water will be tested etc.
Liverock etc will be in the tanks, most of these in this first stage are for pairs, when done there will be ten tanks on this one, all for pairs, maybe an anemone in a couple.
I am almost finished with the stand for the first part, hopefully this weekend, picking up the pvc for the AST, getting the stock tank fitted under the stand, after the acrylis is installed, its a 100 gallon rubbermaid livestock tank, oblong, the two end sections will each be about 25% of the length with the center section the longest, it will have about 15" of aragonite gravel in it. Its very much like sump/refugia I have had in the past, just sectioned off , past ones have had a big gravel bed with the water flowing down through the gravel and being picked up at the bottom and returned to the tanks, on those I used the drain at the bottom to got to an external pump, this will used two submerged pumps. One in each end section.
I hope that is clearer, I was posting about the various parts before without thinking how it was coming across to others. At first I was thinking of a conventional sump in the first section with the AST there, but thought it was better to have it in this configuration. This way I can siphon grunge out of the first section, as well as off the surface of the gravel. Should be a lot of pods from both areas.
