Mass coral feeding tank design idea

[silverwolf72]

Main tank is fed heavily, has no filtering and large water movement. This tank is connected to a second tank that aggressively skimmed and other mechanical and biological filtered. Twice a day the water from the main tank is pumped into the second and vice versa. My idea is that this would work as a constant water change on the main tank and allow large amounts of food to be maintained.

 

[rcypert]

Man what a jumble of words. Is there a question in there? What is your goal of having the 2 tanks connected? And I dont understand the constant water change idea because there is no new water. The old water is just cycling back and forth from the tanks. And why only twice a day? I have 2 tanks a 40 and a 20 that both drain to a common sump. I have two return pumps going back to both tanks. My goal was to filter both tanks with one skimmer and also increase the amount of water for stability in temp and ph etc. Is that what your trying to do?

 

[dendro982]

At first, I'm not criticizing, only some thoughts - consider it like that:

If you discard the water from the feeding tank, then it is water changes.
This is known (not well known - too much troubles ) for a feeding of non-photosynthetic corals.
If I remember right, the saltwaterabout.com (or something like that) has the diagram of this, and the Melev's Reef keeps the sun corals this way, but just connected to the sump, not as water changes.
I also tried this, with discarding water, only twice a week. It works good, but with frequent water changes one will need a lot of saltwater.

As I understand, the main mass of heavy feeders uses very efficient oversized skimmers - they involve less human participation, than water changes.

There is a simultaneous thread at General forum, Continuous water change, with use of peristaltic pump. Again, if memory serves

Good luck!
Anything, that makes reefkeeping easier, is really worth to try.

 

[silverwolf72]

This is not a question, just theory. The Idea is to keep food particles suspended in the main tank as long as possible without filtering it all out. The second tank is used to do all the filtering. The second tank would be substantially clean at the end of 12hrs and would be pumped into the main tank at the same time the dirtier water from the main would be pumped into the second where it will be cleaned for 12hrs.
I suck at writing stuff up so I apologize.

 

[miwoodar]

I'll take a crack at summing up the OP (not that I am particularly good at describing anything though)

Tank 1 (display): Heavily fed with lots of circulation and no filtration

Tank 2 (sump-like): Aggressive filtration

Cycle: All the water from tanks 1 and 2 would be swapped every 12 hours. This would be different than a continous tank/sump system like we all have these days.

Water changes: Not discussed by the OP in the context of what is traditionally understood to be a *water change*. He/she used a poor choice of words to describe the cycle.

 

[JNye]

i have had similar thoughts on this...though for different reasons. Those who wish to keep non-photosynthetic coral and have large total water volume(TWV) systems could add a "fuge" tank, maybe 10 or 20 % of TWV and valve it off from the main sytem for feeding time and for X hours after feeding. When feeding time ends you flip 2 valves and the non-photosynthetic Fuge is back apart of the large system, the large system now gets fed also, but since the Fuge was isolated during feeding time you could add enough food to keep the nophotosyntheic corals alive and not cripple your main systems filtration and have poor water when you put the fuge back online. It should work perfectly if planned corretly.

 

[silverwolf72]

miwoodar thanks that pretty much summed it up

 

[Fiziksgeek]

If i understand correctly, you have described a display tank with a sump, except the sump is filled/emptied twice a day (sump water to tank, tank water to sump, no mixing).

I would think this could create swings in water quality through out the days. For 12 hours the display tank would not receive any of the benefits from the filtration system, so your likely to see swings in PH and oxygen levels just to start. And think of the sump, when filled, it gets the dirtiest water it will ever see and your skimmer for example will start putting out some goos nog! But by the end, the water will be the cleanest it will ever be and the skimmer won't be pulling much out at all.

It an interesting concept, but my first response is to believe that a traditional tank/sump relationship will provide better and more stable water parameters.

 

[miwoodar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12069758#post12069758 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by silverwolf72
miwoodar thanks that pretty much summed it up

Great. My day is done. I'm going home to take a nap!


Fzgk - I can see your point. What if the cycle durations were simply shortened?? Say, every two hours instead of every twelve? That could eliminate some of the swings in water quality but still allow for heavy feeding in the main tank. I'm just thinking out loud here...

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I believe it would, but how short is appropriate? Taking the time interval to the limit, what do you get...a regular display/sump set up.

Now that I think about it I should mention that I often shut down my return pump for up to an hour when feeding. I don't want all the food to go down the overflow, and I tend to get involved in other things around the house, and when I remember, I turn the return pump back on. I do leave my closed loop going to keep things stirred up though. Of course I only feed once a day. If you feed on a regular cycle, you could put the return pump on a timer. I just wouldn't recommend extended off periods (several hours). Its not quite what you propose, but is has many similarities!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12081572#post12081572 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by miwoodar

Fzgk - I can see your point. What if the cycle durations were simply shortened?? Say, every two hours instead of every twelve? That could eliminate some of the swings in water quality but still allow for heavy feeding in the main tank. I'm just thinking out loud here...

 

[EnderG60]

wouldnt it be alot easier to setup a dosing system to feed lots of food at a given time of day, then at the same time just turn off the return pump and leave one the power heads/closed loop going for most of the night. then in the monring turn the return back on, run everything through a filter sock and repeat the next night.

At least thats what I was considering doing to dose papeno(or whoever its spelled)