juliovideo
Premium Member
Carlson Surge Device?
- Thread starter happyclam
- Start date
seaskraP
New member
resurgafugium, ha, i thought you were kidding.
really great info, thanks.
i'm in the process of redoing my fish room, and am going to have to incorporate a resurgafugium or a surge at least. although this is an old pic, im thinking the window above the tank (the fish room is behind) is a perfect spot for it.
the hood is much taller now because of MH's and i think i could easily hide the plumbing.
any suggestions?
really great info, thanks.
i'm in the process of redoing my fish room, and am going to have to incorporate a resurgafugium or a surge at least. although this is an old pic, im thinking the window above the tank (the fish room is behind) is a perfect spot for it.
the hood is much taller now because of MH's and i think i could easily hide the plumbing.
any suggestions?
Justjoe
New member
I have a 300 gallon CSD and 4" pvc pipe for the siphon, and it takes about 30 seconds to dump.
To help break the siphon more quickly, I have installed a second 1.5" pipe on the back of the internal pipe within the CSD.
So, inside the CSD, there is a 4" "T" and the back side of the "T" is reduced to 1.5", and that pipe extends down to a few inches above the bottom of the 4" pipe, which drops down from other part of the 4" "T".
The 4" pipe does not extend to the bottom of the CSD.
So when the siphon starts, water is drawn into both the 4" and 1.5" pipe. The velocity of the water in the 1.5" pipe is really fast, and it sucks in a tremendous amount of air very quickly and stops the siphon very quickly, so the amount of air introduced on the break is reduced, versus it trying to siphon break in the large diameter 4" pipe.
To help break the siphon more quickly, I have installed a second 1.5" pipe on the back of the internal pipe within the CSD.
So, inside the CSD, there is a 4" "T" and the back side of the "T" is reduced to 1.5", and that pipe extends down to a few inches above the bottom of the 4" pipe, which drops down from other part of the 4" "T".
The 4" pipe does not extend to the bottom of the CSD.
So when the siphon starts, water is drawn into both the 4" and 1.5" pipe. The velocity of the water in the 1.5" pipe is really fast, and it sucks in a tremendous amount of air very quickly and stops the siphon very quickly, so the amount of air introduced on the break is reduced, versus it trying to siphon break in the large diameter 4" pipe.
JNye
Moved On Up
Joe-Holy crap! what size tank is this monster dumping into?!? where did you find 4" bulkheads?LOL. PICS!
Helter-good thought, I never considered putting a glass baffle in but it would be paramount if you wanted cheato or sand in there, I don't think mine would have it, so i never thought of it. I think all you gotrta do is put some LR rubble in yours and you should have some pod action.
Helter-good thought, I never considered putting a glass baffle in but it would be paramount if you wanted cheato or sand in there, I don't think mine would have it, so i never thought of it. I think all you gotrta do is put some LR rubble in yours and you should have some pod action.
Justjoe
New member
300 gallon CSD with 4" pipe, the return in the display is split to two 4" fittings as it was too strong coming out of one 4" fitting.
Below is inside the beast, the 4" T goes into a 2" pipe (originally I had it at 1.5" but that wasn't enough to get a complete siphon break. The 2" pipe goes down and is several inches shorter then the 4" pipe, and the bottom of the 2" pipe steps up to a 3" coupling to provide greater surface area to help break the siphon. The 1.5" pipe on the left side of the pic is the fill line.
Fill time is currently set at about 7.5 minutes and it dumps about 300 gallons in about 30 seconds.
Below is inside the beast, the 4" T goes into a 2" pipe (originally I had it at 1.5" but that wasn't enough to get a complete siphon break. The 2" pipe goes down and is several inches shorter then the 4" pipe, and the bottom of the 2" pipe steps up to a 3" coupling to provide greater surface area to help break the siphon. The 1.5" pipe on the left side of the pic is the fill line.
Fill time is currently set at about 7.5 minutes and it dumps about 300 gallons in about 30 seconds.
Helter Skilter
OT Community Organizer
It's a tight fit. I can still access every part of the tank though. It's a worthy sacrafice.
thanks for the inspiration, I got busy in the last day and built three for my frag tank out of IO buckets. They work great but I do see what every one talks about in regards to bubbles. I am tempted to make some thin, tall resevoirs out of plexi-glass and see if that helps. here is some video's I shot of them in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FfSKHTySVw
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v672/RonDronD/EQUIPMENT/?action=view¤t=MVI_6821.flv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FfSKHTySVw
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v672/RonDronD/EQUIPMENT/?action=view¤t=MVI_6821.flv
mikeintosh
Mikeintosh
I built a dual csd with 2 boxes positioned a couple feet above and on opposite ends of the display. Had a little giant feeding both and adjusted the feed into each with a ball valve. Each would do it's surge at random times and it worked great!
Unfortunately I had to ditch the idea because of the overwhelming amount of bubbles. The bubbles in the tank weren't so much the issue as I thought it looked very natural. It was the bubbles popping at the surface and wetting EVERYTHING. Not to mention that very loud flushing noise after every surge.
It was fun tinkering, but I wouldn't recommend it for a display in the house. I do intend on finding a way to incorporate it again... someday. If anyone solves the noise and bubble issues please pass it on!
Unfortunately I had to ditch the idea because of the overwhelming amount of bubbles. The bubbles in the tank weren't so much the issue as I thought it looked very natural. It was the bubbles popping at the surface and wetting EVERYTHING. Not to mention that very loud flushing noise after every surge.
It was fun tinkering, but I wouldn't recommend it for a display in the house. I do intend on finding a way to incorporate it again... someday. If anyone solves the noise and bubble issues please pass it on!
One mod I did this morning the helped keep the refilling process a little quiter was to run ( I fill mine from the top) a pipe from the upper fitting almost to the bottom of the bucket. I drilled a 1/4" hole at the top of the pipe just below the fitting. This keeps the splashing sounds to minimum and all so allows equal pressure to each of the buckets and so one that bucket doesn't get all the water and starve out the others.
couple questions
1. If I added a foot of pipe to the over flow portion of the bucket.. how much more force would I see coming into the tank below.
2. I have my buckets being filled from the top now. If I were to plum it to come up thru the bottom, would this be more pressure on my pump.
3. Is there a reason why most of the diagrams of these devices have the water being pumped in from the bottom? is it a benefit or ??
Thanks for your help
1. If I added a foot of pipe to the over flow portion of the bucket.. how much more force would I see coming into the tank below.
2. I have my buckets being filled from the top now. If I were to plum it to come up thru the bottom, would this be more pressure on my pump.
3. Is there a reason why most of the diagrams of these devices have the water being pumped in from the bottom? is it a benefit or ??
Thanks for your help
Chrisrush
New member
Any updates on these CSDs? Helter, your picture links are broken, could you repost them?
I really like the idea of using a pair of surges on my next tank. Helters comments about a refugsurge is a great idea. What about filling a 10-20g tank, and having that overflow into a pair of surge tanks which surge into the display tank?
I really like the idea of using a pair of surges on my next tank. Helters comments about a refugsurge is a great idea. What about filling a 10-20g tank, and having that overflow into a pair of surge tanks which surge into the display tank?
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Helter Skilter
OT Community Organizer
Sorry, I tidied up my albums...
My surges are all fed from a Barracuda (I have a Hammerhead Gold on order), and are the only source of flow besides a 1" Sea Swirl. They take about 40 seconds to fill, and maintain siphon for about 20 seconds, which works out to about 900 gph per surge. In my case, I'd say that is too much flow for a refusurge, and a DSB in there would be way out of the question. I guess it all depends on your application.
