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New custom build, 50L divided long tank

Each compartment today. Still not sure what to do with Princess' compartment. Algae building up, but I think getting CO2 working from day 1 has probably avoided the worst of it.

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Little update to this - we'll soon be welcoming our newest addition, Blueberry:

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I've decided I'm going to rescape her compartment completely to a sort of rocks on mars type thing with JBL Sansibar red substrate, should be here in the next week.

Unfortunately the little mini Fluval 250lph filter has started failing, and is randomly overheating/cutting out. Not overly surprised as it's being used way out of spec, and I imagine pushing the water up through that spray bar is adding a lot of workload. So I'm going to try and replace it with an APS 500lph canister/HOB hybrid thingy I found:

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Which conveniently comes with a spray bar attachment. My plan is to hang it where the filter media compartment currently is, and 3D print an adapter to join the outlet to the spray bar - as unless I'm very lucky they won't quite align properly. Added bonus is that all the filter media can be hidden in there (currently it's infested with snails and is an absolute pain in the backside to clean).
 
Wookii said:
Given you have a dedicated filter compartment, wouldn’t you be better with a proper pump, and a big block of foam the height of the compartment between the weir and the pump. Easy simple maintenance.
Click to expand...

I'm just thinking it at least would give me some extra space for other things in those compartments (CO2 diffuser, heater etc). Plus there'd be the hassle of gradually changing over the cycled gravel media to a foam block.
 
spleenharvester said:
I'm just thinking it at least would give me some extra space for other things in those compartments (CO2 diffuser, heater etc). Plus there'd be the hassle of gradually changing over the cycled gravel media to a foam block.
Click to expand...

It’s your tank, so ofcourse, set it out how you prefer. But if it were mine, I’d have a main coarse sponge (green) and a prefilter sponge (blue) on top of it, that would leave your pump compartment free for the CO2 diffusor (red) and heater etc.

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If you have a couple of spare prefilter sponges (blue) you can easily change them out weekly, reducing the need to maintain the main sponge (green) very often.

While you’re waiting for the main sponge to seed with bacteria, just sit your current media bags on top of the main sponge where the prefilter would normally be, for a couple of months.
 
Wookii said:
It’s your tank, so ofcourse, set it out how you prefer. But if it were mine, I’d have a main coarse sponge (green) and a prefilter sponge (blue) on top of it, that would leave your pump compartment free for the CO2 diffusor (red) and heater etc.


If you have a couple of spare prefilter sponges (blue) you can easily change them out weekly, reducing the need to maintain the main sponge (green) very often.

While you’re waiting for the main sponge to seed with bacteria, just sit your current media bags on top of the main sponge where the prefilter would normally be, for a couple of months.
Click to expand...

This was actually the plan when I first designed that section - I just didn't want to go through the hassle of seeding new filter media, I've had issues doing it before despite being really careful.

Anywho, new filter arrived today. Actually really impressed with it, the filter baskets are really well orgnanised and I could just dump the gravel straight in:

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Outlet was also just the right height so it was just plug and play. A bit unorthodox but looks much neater than it did (there's also now space for both a Taifun S diffuser and the heater, which there wasn't before).

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Any ideas how to improve the flow rate through the dividers? The new pump is 500lph but I can't get over 250lph without the level falling. Would reducing the thickness of the vents reduce the resistance perhaps?

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Also, Blueberry

 
Sorry I can't help with the pump flow rate issue but I think Blueberry is beautiful!
I thought female bettas were nondescript but she is actually nicer looking than the males with their huge flowing fins. 😊
 
The Miniaturist said:
Sorry I can't help with the pump flow rate issue but I think Blueberry is beautiful!
I thought female bettas were nondescript but she is actually nicer looking than the males with their huge flowing fins. 😊
Click to expand...
Yes they definitely don't get enough love! I've got two in my community tank too and they're absolutely beautiful (weren't cheap though!):

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spleenharvester said:
Any ideas how to improve the flow rate through the dividers? The new pump is 500lph but I can't get over 250lph without the level falling. Would reducing the thickness of the vents reduce the resistance perhaps?

View attachment 189615
Click to expand...

Sorry if you've already done this, and I'm teaching you to suck eggs with the below, but you can calculate the flow rate through a weir mathematically, but fortunately there are some handy online calculators to make it simpler for us mere mortals:


Add up the total width of all your weir openings (on one weir) and enter that in the calculator (e.g. if you have 20 openings at 5mm each you have a weir width for the calculator of 20 x 0.5cm = 10cm - remember to change the unit type as it defaults to feet). For the height, enter the height of the weir opening from the bottom to where you want the typical water level. so if you have 10cm of weir opening width in total, and a height of 2cm, that results in a flow rate of 0.5 litre per second, or 1800 litres per hour.

That should then tell you the max flow rate you can achieve through those weir openings whilst maintaining the chosen water level.

You also need to bear in mind (if you haven't factored it in already in the weir designs), that the first weir only has to deal with 1/3 of the volume, the second has to deal with 2/3 and the final weir has to deal with the entire volume, so it will be the final weir that will solely determine the water level in the tank.

So long and short of it though, if your seeing the pump chamber emptying, you'll have to reprint that final weir with larger (width or height), or a greater number of, openings to get more flow through it.

spleenharvester said:
Also, Blueberry

Click to expand...


Beautiful fish!!
 
Wookii said:
Sorry if you've already done this, and I'm teaching you to suck eggs with the below, but you can calculate the flow rate through a weir mathematically, but fortunately there are some handy online calculators to make it simpler for us mere mortals:


Add up the total width of all your weir openings (on one weir) and enter that in the calculator (e.g. if you have 20 openings at 5mm each you have a weir width for the calculator of 20 x 0.5cm = 10cm - remember to change the unit type as it defaults to feet). For the height, enter the height of the weir opening from the bottom to where you want the typical water level. so if you have 10cm of weir opening width in total, and a height of 2cm, that results in a flow rate of 0.5 litre per second, or 1800 litres per hour.

That should then tell you the max flow rate you can achieve through those weir openings whilst maintaining the chosen water level.

You also need to bear in mind (if you haven't factored it in already in the weir designs), that the first weir only has to deal with 1/3 of the volume, the second has to deal with 2/3 and the final weir has to deal with the entire volume, so it will be the final weir that will solely determine the water level in the tank.

So long and short of it though, if your seeing the pump chamber emptying, you'll have to reprint that final weir with larger (width or height), or a greater number of, openings to get more flow through it.



Beautiful fish!!
Click to expand...
Many thanks for this - pretty much confirms what I suspected, original vent design can only handle about 350lph but the new one I've designed can handle up to 1000lph. Unfortunately my 3D printer has died quite spectacularly so I can't tested it yet.

In the meantime, I've rescaped the end compartment with red Sansibar substrate, lava rock, some twigs and some red plants, with more red plants on the way to fill it out:

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Blueberry now lives next to Riz, who is continuing to make magnificent bubble nests - she's clearly impressed as she spent hours trying to get through the glass to reach him:



And the nymphaea lotus is growing really well:

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Also found out my tap water has really high phosphate levels, so I've added some PhosGuard. Hopefully this'll do something about the green hair algae plagueing the tank.
 
Update on the end compartment, added some more plants. Hopefully they'll redden up soon. A red tiger lotus will also be going in there, just growing it in another tank with higher lighting/CO2 at the mo.

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3D printer back up and running, finally got round to 3D printing supports for the light, looks a lot neater:

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Here's the final filtration system, with vents enlarged to turn flow up to maximum, and custom designed coupling integrated to connect the filter to the spray bar, very happy with it. Heater, PhosGuard and Taifun S CO2 diffuser are all in the spaces where the pump used to be, so it's well utilised:

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PhosGuard has been in the tank since the end compartment was rescaped. Still having green string algae issues in the existing two compartments, but touchwood little to none has appeared in the end compartment since it was rescaped, so I think it is helping.
 
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