Starting my first planted FW

[AquaBry]

Hi! This is my first post, I have spent the last few months on here "lurking" as a visitor gleaning as much knowledge from you fine people as I can and recently decided to take the plunge and register. So here is what I have going on. I currently have a Aqueon 26 gallon bowfront FW with fake plants, a castle, a cave and black and white aquarium gravel substrate. In this tank, I have 2 creamcicle lyretail mollies, 3 dalmation lyretail mollies, 2 orange balloon mollies, 5 zebra danios, 6 blackskirted tetras, 3 longfin black skirted tetras, 3 cardinal tetras, 1 male betta, 2 small plecos, 8 ghost shrimp, and one fiddler crab. Obviously, I am quite overstocked. Everyone is healthy and happy, but I feel disaster in the air if we don't get some more room soon. I have been looking at a 56 gal "column" tank at my LFS and I would like to set it up as a planted tank next to my 26 gal and water bridge it with shared filtration. I have never setup a planted tank before but I really wanted to go with a planted tank this time around and also wanted to incorporate a sandy open area in the new tank for my fish to enjoy. Times are tough so I dont want to break the bank on this project right now either. This is going to be a fluid work in progress and is really in the planning stages at this time so input is highly encouraged.

Thanks
Bryan

 

[AquaBry]

Update with graphics

So here is what i am thinking of doing. the internal filter is a cascade 600 (already own) and the sponge filter is a penguin 660 (already own too.) I am still fleshing out the stand, lighting options, and method for retaining wall for planting substrate... Would love some thoughts. The 56 gallon "column" aquarium is 30 inches across the front, 18 inches front to back and 24 inches deep. My bowfront is 24 inches across the front, 13.5-15.5 front to back and 21 inches deep. The bridge I am planning on building out of 4 in diameter acrylic tubing and the aquariums will probably be a little further apart to allow for a longer bridge...

 

[CTD]

Interesting Nice and job on the Diagrams!

 

[AquaBry]

Interesting Nice and job on the Diagrams!

Thanks, CTD!

 

[Jagwa]

what are those things called that come out of the canister filter that spray the water out at all the points along the pipe. i think i need one because it looks like it will make much less of a current

 

[AquaBry]

what are those things called that come out of the canister filter that spray the water out at all the points along the pipe. i think i need one because it looks like it will make much less of a current

That would be a spray bar. I lucked out and have two from other purchases. I have seen them included in some plumbing kits but I am sure if you do some hunting you might find some online somewhere or I have heard of people drilling small pieces of PVC and capping one end to make a spray bar...

 

[Jagwa]

cool thanks. do they decrease the current in the tank or am i just being thick.

 

[AquaBry]

Good question and since I am kinda new to this I don't know with certainty. I think it would depend on the length of the spray bar, angle of the holes, and power of the flow entering the spray assembly. Longer bar = less pressure (more holes). In my limited experience, vertical placement results in more even current creation with good mixing top to bottom (which is why I want to use vertical placement on the return) but if you set it at the water line in a horizontal position angled slightly up you get nice surface agitation with gentler current generation. At least that is what I have found in my limited experience. Hope that helps!

 

[Jagwa]

that makes sense to me. thanks. ill definitely be making one of those in the next week.

 

[czcz]

Awesome. I think you should consider a float switch (off when low) for the power head feeding the current tank's spraybar, though I understand its unlikely the siphon in the bridge would break. Or maybe position the powerhead in such a way that if the siphon did break it will go dry after only a few gallons.

For this reason, I think its smarter to have the powerhead in the current smaller tank, too, fwiw.

 

[AquaBry]

Best plans of mice and men...

Awesome. I think you should consider a float switch (off when low) for the power head feeding the current tank's spraybar, though I understand its unlikely the siphon in the bridge would break. Or maybe position the powerhead in such a way that if the siphon did break it will go dry after only a few gallons.

For this reason, I think its smarter to have the powerhead in the current smaller tank, too, fwiw.

I must admit this issue concerns me a little bit. Let's assume that the powerhead extends into the water column by 34% that equals 19 gallons that could be pumped into my 26 gallon with no where to go but over at a max flow of 175 gph (rating of the powerhead I plan to use) that would mean over 19 gallons pumped over the top of my tank in about 6.5 minutes. At that rate some fish would be sure to go over too so we are talking water damage, burned pump, and casualties... hmm... not good. So I am no where near an electrician is there a stock solution for configuring a float switch for a powerhead?

The other option is by far a better solution to murphy's law but my hope was to bring the water from the unplanted 26 gallon through the bridge into the planted tank and then pull the water from the planted tank into the unplanted tank via the sponge filter on the power head. I was hoping this would help pull nitrates and miniscle free flowing organic matter through the bridge to the plants who might help use these particles and pump cleaner water back to the 26 gal.

If I changed the powerhead to a horizontal orientation 1.5 inches below the water line it would still extend 15% (or 3.5 inches) into the water line which is still 8 gallons (approx) better but still not a good solution....

definitely food for thought...

 

[al398247]

Amazing diagram! I don't know how you made it move that way. The idea is also very interesting. I can see that there's a fish tube going from one tank to the other and vice versa; but isn't the second, smaller tank going to be planted and/or accessorized? Also, what are the sprays for? Other than that everything looks perfect to me.

 

[czcz]

Here's a howto on the float switch. I'm sure you'll be able to find more: Snailman's DIY Top Off Float Switch In your case it should go off when too low of course, so it would be upside down.

Another idea: what if you used a U then DIY'd a surface skimmer, like this? Aquarium Surface Skimmer Pump still goes dry but its just a powerhead pushing zero head height.

I don't think the direction matters. Plants will uptake regardless.

You also may be able to leverage the lights on the new tank on your current tank! With them so close together you should be able to get away with some Anubias or Crypt or Java Fern or whatever low light plant and maybe even some medium light and higher plants where the light from the new tank spills into the current tank.

 

[AquaBry]

Amazing diagram! I don't know how you made it move that way. The idea is also very interesting. I can see that there's a fish tube going from one tank to the other and vice versa; but isn't the second, smaller tank going to be planted and/or accessorized? Also, what are the sprays for? Other than that everything looks perfect to me.

al398247-The image is a GIF, I created it in Photoshop CS and animated it in imageready. As far as deco, the tank is already decorated and looks like this. I just didnt want to draw everything over again...The sprays in the smaller tank (return line) are for current generation and mixing the water column, in the larger tank they are for surface agitation and oxygenation.

Here's a howto on the float switch. I'm sure you'll be able to find more: Snailman's DIY Top Off Float Switch In your case it should go off when too low of course, so it would be upside down.

Another idea: what if you used a U then DIY'd a surface skimmer, like this? Aquarium Surface Skimmer Pump still goes dry but its just a powerhead pushing zero head height.

I don't think the direction matters. Plants will uptake regardless.

You also may be able to leverage the lights on the new tank on your current tank! With them so close together you should be able to get away with some Anubias or Crypt or Java Fern or whatever low light plant and maybe even some medium light and higher plants where the light from the new tank spills into the current tank.

i will look into the float switch links and see what i can incorporate, i was thinking about this some more last night and was wondering about putting the float switch in the 26 gal and then wiring it to the powerhead in the 56 gal but will need to look at your links in more detail and will try and post more later.

As to the lights, The tanks will actually be about 1 ft apart and I am going to have to get new lights for both tanks...this thing is gonna get expensive quick, isn't it....

 

[AquaBry]

Float switch update

CZCZ- I spent some time looking at float switches and even more time at Home Depot looking at PVC fittings. I am planning on switching to 3" PVC due to the size and cost of fittings and 4" clear PVC. I like the idea of the float switch for the main pump (green in diagram), interrupting the circuit if the water level in the 26 gal gets too high but I thought it might be nice to incorporate a second float switch into the water bridge (black in the diagram.) This pump would normally be off. In the event of the water level in the bridge dropping (aka siphon break) the second pump would be turned on by the second float switch. Seems that this would help if the siphon break was due to bubbles building up in the bridge but would do nothing (except maybe kill the second pump) if the siphon breaks due to a seam failure or critical water level. Here is the new diagram with the fitting modifications. Let me know what you think...

 

[czcz]

Nice. If you put that second float switch near the top of the pipe near the center instead of the bottom near the edge I think you'll better leverage the design for the air bubble scenario.

IME, while powerheads can be great for removing trapped air bubbles/preserving the siphon, its not strong enough to prime something like that. Figuring out a way to self prime it would be extra cool, though. Else your plan is to cap the submerged entry/exits and just fill it up through that attachment from the venturi? Its a quick release collar/adapter thing?

 

[AquaBry]

I should have included this animation when i posted last night instead of the static image. I am planning on gluing it into 3 pieces. 2 bases that stay in the tank and then one upper assembly that extends into the water column. See Below.

The upper assembly I am also planning on suspending with these neato brackets I found on the Aquatic Eco website.

In reference to the float switches. The switches I found online have a normal state of closed (on) with a float state of open...nevermind it just made sense to me. I do have it backwards, so imagine the small elbow turned up instead of down. The middle section is a 3x3x1in tee with a threaded adapter and a cutdown bulkhead screen to keep fish from ending up in the tube when it is not pumping.

 

[AquaBry]

Maybe this is too complicated. Looking at it I see many more risks for a failure, more exposed seems, vinyl tubing, threaded adapters, the extension with the float valve. My hope was to have a way to continue flow between the tanks in case the siphon failed while I was not present. So what about this alternative.

The first float switch shuts off the primary powerhead stopping the flow into the 26 Gal. The second float switch would activate the 2nd powerhead if an overflow is detected in the 26gal and pump water out of the 26 gal back to the 56 gal. less hardware on the bridge means less above water seams for potential leaks. What do you think, on the right path or still too complicated?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I dont have much to contribute in regard to the actual connection, but I will give you a word of advice on the 56 gallon column.

Its not an easy tank to have planted. Its deep, which means you are going to get wet when trying to prune. Its deep, which means you need a pretty strong light to penetrate the water column to get to the ground cover type plants. Its deep so water flow can be an issue if you don't get a nice filter or power heads. Its deep... you get the idea.

See my photos, I have one that is planted. I think its beautiful... but difficult.

Just my .02

 

[AquaBry]

jcarlilesiu- Thanks for your .02 on the Aquarium. I really like the "idea" of the depth and am very glad to hear of your experiences with this tank. I only have an idea, so it is good to take into account the experience of someone who has actually been there. I don't have the room for a traditional 55 gal long and wanted to maximize my gal/sq.ft. footprint for the space I did have. I am planning on building a custom stand for this tank that will keep the top at a height of 50". I experimented in the store with their tank and could reach to the back edge of the tank even with theirs at a 56"height.

The pics of your tank are quite lovely. What have you found to work well lighting your tank? I am not planning on using CO2, did you ever try planting this type of tank without it?