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Will this work

dean

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Joined
6 Apr 2012
Messages
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Location
Warrington, Cheshire
I’m designing a fish holding system for a friend
It will have a constant water change to each aquarium via a Hma
But I also want to put in a manual water change without having to get out the syphon pipe

So here’s my idea

Please tell me if you can see any reasons why it would not work before I put together a tank as a trial

Inside the tank the pipe goes down to the base with slits or holes in it at the lower end to remove any waste
There’s a hole drilled in it at say halfway point - this will allow air into the pipe and break the syphon caused by opening the valve to waste

Outside the tank the waste pipe is Teed
Down to a valve
Up to be an overflow for the constant drip feed of hma water
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Couple of issues I can see straight away...

1. Cleaning the in tank piping is not easy (or safe !!!). This is why people have overflow type piping (outlet at water level) or "over the rim" type syphons, so can easily be cleaned without any risk of tank emptying whilst they are cleaning.

2. Biggest one I can see (other than cleaning) is a leaf blocking the hole could lead to tank emptying out during the time the waste is open.

Otherwise looks OK, but you need to think and contemplate every possibly failure mode to so as to not syphon your tank contents onto the floor.!!!
 
So only be fish waste or uneaten food to remove
Any possibilities of a dead fish?
Will it start up after a power failure, do you have enough room to handle the overflow after a power failure, is there enough water to keep it running after it started up after a power failure?
 
This may not work as you are expecting it to. If you don't add a vent on the top of this, when water gets to the top waste pipe, it may start a syphon and drain the tank to the hole in the inlet pipe (assuming you have the top waste pipe connected to something else like a hose).

You need an extra T for a vent in the top waste connection, and the hole in the inlet pipe won't actually do anything after adding this, because it will never actually create a syphon, it will only work with gravity.

Sorry about the bad explanation, hope you understand it.
 
Last edited:
Well spotted, absolutely correct, it will syphon the tank contents into your sump and onto the floor if you accidently over fill your tank.
 
There is no sump

This is not part of the filtration system, that is separate

This is just for continuous water changes
With the addition of the valve which when opened creates a syphon until the water level drops to the hole which lets air into the pipe and thus stops the syphon

There are 21 aquariums that hold 80 litres each for Discus

They all will receive 10% fresh hma water each day via a continuous feed

Then opening the valve will empty the tank to the desired level - removing 25 or 50% of the volume depending upon the height of the hole in outlet tube

The outlet is split into two
Top section sets the water level of the aquarium (it is open and is not connected to a waste system but is open ended so a syphon can never develop) to allow water to flow freely
The bottom section is closed by a valve

I hope this makes things clearer


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Top section sets the water level of the aquarium (it is open and is not connected to a waste system but is open ended so a syphon can never develop) to allow water to flow freely

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, that means you don't actually need the "syphon stop hole", as you will never have an actual syphon (vacuum suction), as air will enter from the top section never allowing a syphon to start and it will work as you intend it to.
 
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