CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I went back to work at a place where I used to work to help them out part time since their real busy right now and since I can do about 80% of the work at home and mostly at my own pace/schedule I figured why not.

Anyway,the best part of this and the decideing factor for me is for a short time I can get almost ANY kind of PVC or CPVC fittings,connectors and etc.. I could possiable need - for free
(within reason,well sort of - anything really expensive I can get at cost)

By almost anything I mean:
Valves,bulkheads (no screens though) , pipe ,T's,
connectors,reducers,limiting valves, all that kind of stuff in most sizes from 1/2 inch to 3 inch and some parts from 1/4 inch - 10 inch if I'd really need them.

acrylic tubeing in 6foot lengths from 1 1/4 inch to 2 1/2 inch

also spray nozzles in almost any flow rate from
1 gallon per 70 minutes to 6,000 gallons per minute ,wish I could get one of the pumps that back these but the boss/owner said they're to expensive but I can buy one at his cost if I actually find something I need one for

** yes all this stuff is plastic**




I'm trying to think of what kind of system(s) I could make?

Maybe something for drainage? to make water changes easier?


Some kind of filter system?

anything else?

If I was broke and had to pay for everything I'd probally have so many ideas I'd go crazy,now that I have access to the stuff I have no ideas . figures



anyone have ANY ideas? on anything I could make? or anything that would be useful?

so far
I made a huge adjustable flow,adjustable angle - rainbar/sprayer type return to use on my filter for my 400 already
and
I now have enough supplies to run more airlines then I'll ever need so just trying to think of other things I can do,while I can do it for either free or close to nothing

Maybe something for drainage? to make water changes easier?

Like some kind of gravity feed drain system? Noone has done this or seen it done?
I've tried a few things with no luck,but I still don't want to have to drill all of my tanks

For drainage just have a PVC pipe run to the a low spot in the tank and run the other end out of the back. Use a lever that can open and close so you can change the flow rate. Have the exit end threaded so you can screw a cap on it so in case your valve doesn't close all the way the cap is a back up. That shoud work because it will hold the siphon all the time so its always ready to drain.
Just a thought but the end that would be in the tank could be the size of your hose so you could just connect that end together then you could control the flow of the vac.

I tryed the "just put the pvc in the tank" methode over and over a few different ways and could only make it drain about 3/4 of a cup of water then quit .


BUT now I got a system that works SWEEEEEEEEETLY!

Here's what I did in case anyone else is interested.

After racking my brain tying to figure out an easy way to drain my tanks to help speed up water changes and cut down my work load. I got mad and stopped for a few minutes to put together some sponge filters,then the idea came to me.It was so simply I guess I just overlooked it.

After some tinkering and adjusting heres what I came up with in the end.
(see cheesey diagram below I'll try to post some pictures later)

Basically peices of pipe made into a U shape (upside down once in the tank) with an elbow on the end that sits in the water.I put an airstone down the section of pipe that sits inside the tank so it's suspended about 1 inch above the elbow.Where I drilled the hole for the airtubeing I slide in the tubeing then siliconed it to help keep this airtight to help the syphon effect work better.This placement of the airstone worked best.I used (tetra)fine bubble airstones because when I had the drain shut off,they seemed to cause alot less burping and water turbulance (but I also have it so the stones can be shut off) . Coarse or large bubble airstones made more burps,noise and water turbulance but offered no more flow to the drain.

I only used 1/2 pipe and to my amazement the flow seems AT LEAST double that of my python when used regulary but once I get everything done and tied in together I'll be adding a (airpowered/drawn) syphon with a threaded connection for my python- assuming I can make it work (find out soon I guess)




_______!_
_______!_
1 1 1!1
1 1 1!1
1 1 1!1
1 1 1a1
1b1 L L
1 1
1 1
1 1

It basically looks like this with the 1's and _'s = pvc , !'s=airline, a=airstone,b=ballvalve

All the connections outside of the tank were made with pvc cement and any connections that inside the tank or may contact water that will be used in the tank are made with 100% silicon (without midew resistors or etc..)

I tryed this on a few different sized tanks and it works on them all even down 24 inches (your pump size will dictate how deep you can go though) so I'm happy with this set-up

The best thing is since it's airpowered if I forget about it for a minute and it drains to far there is NO parts to burn out or overheat!
And as long as my heaters and filter intakes are below the end of the syphon tube there should be NO risks or other problems! Since once the syphon tube is exposed to air our out of the water the vacume/syphon effect stops.

Another good thing is I can regulate and/or stop the syphon by either adjusting the valves in my airlines or by adjusting the ball valves in the drain tube.
And if I either forget or just get lazy and don't turn off the airlines since I used the fine airstones,they'll just help airate my water.


Now they'll all be connected to each other (by tees or angle 3 ways) and a long section of pvc (probally 1 1/2" so I can drain multiple tanks at once) that'll run directly to my floor drain.

Since it'll go right to my basement floor drain this thing should be idiot proof!
It can't over flow,can't over drain,can't burn anything out and won't cause a flood - I guess I couldn't ask for anything more!
One less thing to worry about for those rare times I need to have someone watch my fish for me.

Now tommorw? an easier way to add water?

Explantion was good, but that diagram just made my head spin. Can't wait to see the final product. Sound like a great idea.


Good Luck.

I know my attempt at making a diagram with keys sucked- o well

I don't have my camera today so I took a picture with my webcam(pos) it's not good picture but maybe it'll work enough to show how it's made,and either later or tommorow once I get my camera back I'll take some better pics.

I had to take a picture unhooked to use my webcam but maybe this will make sense - see pictures below since I got slightly better ones added

The elbow you can see at the end of the pipe is the end that goes in the tank.
The black and red blur is the ball valve.
The little blue blur is the airvalve

Okay got it. Thats what I was trying to explain but I'm not very good at it. I just didn't think of the air in it. I like the ball valve idea.

yeah I kept trying similar ideas without the air to drive it,thats when I couldn't make it drain worth a d@mn.
This seems to work pretty good though.It drains about half of a 55gal. in about 2 minutes:D so it'll make my water changes go alot faster,especially since I can drain a few at once.

I wouldn't use it without the ballvalves because I want to be able to leave this hooked up all the time without worrying about it draining when I don't want it too.Even though I'll probally never need it I added a ball valve to the main drain these connect into just as a precaution.

Figured I might as well do it while I can ballvalves aren't cheap if you have to buy them

Here's what it looks like

angle shot -shows the inside part a little better




Normal shot (sorry the pictures kept messing up tonite) if you can see inside the tank.You can see how the filter intake tube has been extended(thats a aquaclear 500 in a 55gal) and the heater is lower then the intake for the drain so if I forget about the drain on accident,nothing will run dry.
The system is basically all the same just different length of drain tubes in different size tanks.
The larger PVC is just what connects all the individual drains together so I only have to run one drain pipe to the floor drain in my basement floor.

I still have to mount the system and finish it up so it's a little more appealing visually but the mechanics of it are working flawlessly (so far anyways)