plumbing larva rearing setup

L

LARRYTHEBIRD

New member
Im currently in the process of setting up a larva rearing set up. I will consist of 4 ten gal tanks and 1 twenty gal tank all plumbed into a 175 wet/dry trickle filter. My question is : What is the best way to run the 5 return lines into 1 line to get them all to connect to the wet/ dry filter? Thanks to everybody for all your help you have all made this hobby posible for me.:bum: :bum:
 
How is this set up going? Any pics? I am very interested in how you returned the water back to the tank, and how you overflowed from the tank without taking the lavae with the water.
 
Are the ten gallon tanks drilled? A 1" drain should handle the flow for each tank, run them into a 1-1/2 or 2" using "t" reducers and run the common drain to the sump. One tip: as much as you will probably want to do all the plumbing behind or underneath the tanks, don't. Having set up 6-8 systems now I have learned to put everything right in front of my face, the drains come out the front of the tanks and all plumbing is across the face of the rack. Also don't glue the connection from tank to drain, it's not under pressure so a little teflon tape is all you need. This makes it easy to remove a tank if you have to. To make assembly even easier use 1" spaflex for the drainlines rather than rigid pvc.
 
not an expert....

not an expert....

56462for_RC1.jpg


I'm not an expert, but this is how I did it. My tanks drain from 1 " bulkheads through flexible tubing to open Ts on a nearly horizontal 1.5 inch pipe that drains to my filter pads and then bioballs. If you go with a closed system remember that air has to be able to get in, so you need an opening somewhere.

The up an down pipe you see is a pvc overflow I made for one the tanks that did not come drilled. It also drains to an open T on the 1.5 inch nearly horizontal pipe.
 
Looks good Kathy55g, nice and simple but effective. I would be more interested in some details about the sump and filtration (dont mean to hijack the thread). Am i right in thinking these are growout tanks?
I am thinking/planning to set up a simple system, but have never run any other filtration technique other than the 'Berlin' method.

Am i right in thinking that the larval/broodstock systems should be run more like FO systems than reefs?

regards
Mark
 
Yea I have done it like Kathy but didn't like the splashing I got, too much salt creep to clean.

>> "If you go with a closed system remember that air has to be able to get in, so you need an opening somewhere." <<

True, often a problem with high flow reef systems, but probably not a concern for the flow rate in a 10 or 20 gallon growout tank with a 1" drain. If you are concerned just use a 'T' instead of a 90 at the bulkhead, one open end pointing up.

Kathy, is there an internal overflow box in the tank? Are you using the "up & down" pvc as a 'U' tube? I can't picture how you did that.

Mark, yes, set it up like a high density fish only system ( mostly because that's what it is :D ) Probably can't have too much water volume or bio filtration, use your imagination. Also take advantage of what you may already have to work with. I use bio-bals because I had a ton of them lying around, not because I think they are the best. Those golfball sized lava rocks used in gardens should work well. Heck, you can use plastic hair curlers if you have enough of them. You can use a rubbermade tub or garbage can to make a big wet dry or you could DIY a big bio-wheel. Maybe there are some cheap used fluidized bed filters available. Maybe your'e driving by a highway project and see a 6' section of 12" pvc laying around, heck, they won't miss it. Be creative, OR just mortgage your house to AES :rolleyes:
 
Cheers david,

I am still very new to the various filtering methods and have never tried a FO set up.
My breeding attempts are 'pretty' successfull, well successfull enough to give me the bug and want more!!

Though i am relying on breeding pairs in my reef tanks (which gives a poor collection yield before the rearing even begins).

Then rearing is in small tanks with lots of water changing.

A simple but quite effective start, but i would like to work on 'perfecting' some techniques in the hope of trying some harder species.
Very little help available here in the Uk though, you mention breeding marine animals and people look at you as if you have just grown another head! people here are just getting used to fragging i think!

Thanks alot for the help.
Mark
 
About the overflow,
It is all constructed of PVC. It is basically 2 U shapes connected over the top of the aquarium with an upside down U as a siphon. the U on th outside of the tank has a T on the unconnected arm of the U that is the drain and there is a ball valve on it. that 's the part you see in the picture. The rest of the unconnected arm of the outside U should rise above the rest of the pipes, and the drain should be close to the bottom, but above the inside the tank U bottom.

To start it you submerge it with care to get all the air out of the siphon, close the valve and lift it upright out of the water and put in on the tank. Open the valve and you are good to go.

If the siphon is prevented from filling by a power outage or whatever, the water level will fall inside the tank tube to the level of the drain, but the siphon is protected and does not fill with air. The water in the loops of the U's stays in there.

I have drained the tank several times with this in place, and it always restarts without a problem when I fill again. I am shy of drilling holes, so this is a good answer. I will use one on each of my 10 gallon tanks, and I have one on my sump to facilitate water changes. It skims the surface and drains to the floor drain in my basement.

Hope this helps,
Kathy
 
Sorry but I still can't picture it, any chance of getting a pic ? Just curious, I like to have options for quick set ups :D
 
sorry to hijack....

sorry to hijack....

56462Slide1.jpg


Here is a sketch of the pvc overflow. The blue line is moving water. In the top picture, the water flows in to the pipe on the left from the aquarium and goes down, then up over the side of the aquarium, and then down to the bottom elbow and up a short ways to the drain. The red thing is the handle of the ball valve. A valve is not necessary, but a handy thing to have. The water drains from there.

The lower picture is what happens if the water stops flowing into the overflow. The water level inside the pipe inside the aquarium falls to the level of the drain outside the aquarium by the ball valve, but the pipe that siphons over the side of the aquarium stays full of water.

When the water level inside the aquarium rises again, it fills the pipe on the left again and the water resumes its flow out of the aquarium without a hitch.

I found out how to do this by reading a thread on the do-it-yourself forum on RC.
 
Last edited:
Great picture, Kathy. Thanks! I like how your water gets murky near the bottom. : ) I wasn't following it either without the visual, so I really appreaciate the trouble you went to. Now if I ever have larvae that make it past metamorphosis...
 
Well that is just plain cool :cool: It's a new one on me, never saw that design before. The only mod I'd make is to use clear pvc so you can monitor air buildup in the top inverted "U".
 
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