Update on drip tank, no water changes for over 1 year

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billberet

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
393
WOW, it's been a while since I've posted anything, that's because the aquarium was taken out of the equation, except for feeding time. otherwise, my tank is maintenance free. don't get me wrong, it took years to get to where I am now with trial and error. but i'm happy to say everything is working great, I haven't lost a fish in years, they are all super healthy, their fins are large and smooth, no rot or nipping, cause everyone is happy.

here are some updates I've made to my system:


this was my original LED lights I made for the tank, I removed them and made some simple pendant lights, I've never had lights like that so I wanted to give it a try, so I made some.
led7.jpg



Here is a full shot of the tank with some new lighting I made.
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just wanted to give an update on some changes.
I've been playing around with lighting for years, and I decided to make some pendant lighting, super simple, cheap, and great effects, and no heat.
I made it out of a planter for $3, pendant fixture for $4, light was $11, that was the most expensive part.

here is the light
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as you can see, it sits night in the middle, and generates no little to no heat.
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here is how they sit on my tank behind the scene
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here is my filter for the drip system, I changed out the filters so far every 6 months, cost is cheap. this drips at 40 gal a day dilution, takes 7 days for 100% water change.

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my sump and fluidized bed is working like a charm, it's almost self cleaning.
all I do is use an air lift vac I made out of a baby bottle and some extra air tubing. sucks up the debris in 4 seconds, lol....
20170921_191752.jpg



here was my original configuration, as you can see all I did was remove the filter socks on the left compartment. I did this because I added filter floss on the overflow, it catches the debris before it enters the sump.
in the image above, where the full tank is in view with the lighting, you can see the corner of my overflow, look closely, I added a small spong and there is some filter floss sitting on top. I throw in a new square once a week, takes me 1 second... I have them all pre-cut. again, super cheap, and makes the maintenance overall easier.
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here is the top view, there is great flow, this causes a shimmer in the tank, looks great at night.
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finally, a quick blue led strip for the night light, this light is on all time, it gets drowned out when the main lights are on.
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it's a mess now, but on the return, I use a UV light to give the water a final cleaning. this is the back end, no one sees this side of the tank, so I really have to force myself to neaten it up, lol
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i'll post some more as they come.

here is the front view with the original lighting, as you can see it's even across the whole tank. the new pendant lights are more focused and causes a nice shimmer in the whole tank. i'll see if I can post a video, cause pics don't do it justice.
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here is what I clean the sump with, it's silly I know, but it works great.
A baby bottle converted into an aquarium vacuum. Works great. Runs on air. Bubbles go up the tube pulling water into the bottle where it gets filtered by floss and drips back into the sump.
baby.jpg
 
nice looking set up , I always wanted a in wall setup just don't have the room in my house ,
 
the fish are all at least 5-7 yrs old, I established this tank 10 years ago. had canister filters, FLUVAL's, then moved to sump, then moved to drip with sump. all the Fish in the tank were existing when I started my drip system.


Active charcoal carbon filters are most effective at removing chlorine, sediment, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), taste and odor from water. They are not effective at removing minerals, salts, and dissolved inorganic compounds. no need for me to re-mineralize

my system is not an RO system, it's a carbon block system.
 
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