# 3x10G linked surface skimming syphon...



## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

Hi,

Some people have been asking about my tank setup so I finally got the time to take some photo while I was rescaping my tank - yet again.

I'll take this opportunity to keep a journal of my latest arrangement in which the three 10G tanks will hold Neocardina Shrimps var. Blue, Yellow, and Red respectively. A fourth tank which is a new addition will hold the dwarf puffers and bumble bee gobies.

My prized German Ram is being sold along with a pair of awesome looking Galaxy Rasboras. Photo can be found here.










Above is a top view photo of my latest setup prior to the rescaping. My initial setup was only 3 tanks in which the pump, water level regulated reservoir, and CO2 reactor were placed in the corner of one tank.

That took up quite a bit of space so a fourth tank (right most in the photo) was added to house the equipment, and remove the need for the water level regulator contraption.

The whole setup is power by a Quiet 10 pump which provide enough flow to circulate the water. It also runs quiet as these tanks sit at the head of my bed!

The fifth tank (left most) is a DIY 7G cube made from old window glass. Old window glass is a pain in the a.. to cut!

Below is a photo of the tank after my rescaping. I shifted the feed tube toward the front of the tank, and adjusted the port to spray downward. This provide a much better water circulation and allow CO2 + nutrient to get to the Glosso and HC more directly.



















Above is the front view of my setup. I hope to not have to rescape again in a long while.

Below is a diagram of the setup.










I have excluded the left most tank as any extension beyond the three shown is simply a clone of what is shown.

So we have 3 tanks with the "sump" in black.

The cyan lines are the tank's waterline.

The bold green lines are the return lines using 1/2" pex because it's cheap and easy to work with. I would prefer to use 1" if possible as this would make the setup less sensitive to feed flow, and sump water level.

Because I already have 1/2" CPVC fittings and didn't want to spend the money buying 1" fitting, I stayed with the 1/2" pex. I may make the change as the benefit is significant as explain later.

The bold red lines are the main supply line using 1/2" pex and CPVC fitting. This line did not need to be any larger.

The small black box in the sump is the QuietFlow 10 pump taken from the QuietFlow Canister Filter. This filter came with the tank, and it was meant for used with fish only tank, not a planted tank setup.

As I don't need a lot of flow, this one pump was enough to circulate water between the tanks to distribute CO2 and nutrients.

The blue lines are 1/4" PE tubing or airline that are tapped into the 1/2" PEX. It is pointing directly down to the substrate where my carpet of HC and Glosso are planted.

The glosso and HC are indicated by the green oval.

There are plenty of website describing how a syphon and overflow work so I won't go into their details here. If there is a demand, I will do my best to explain them.

My motivation for using the overflow syphon stems from the fact that I do a lot of change up and I love to tinker. Everything in my plumbing are dry fitted meaning no silicone, no solvent and no glue.

Furthermore, the overflow setup allow the water surface to be skimmed so there are no nasty scum build up.

Another benefit is the tank levels are always topped up.

There are no leaks as the pressure to low, and if there were ever leaks, the joints are sitting over the tank so water will simply drips back into the tank.

There are two problem associated with using a syphon overflow.

Firstly, air pocket inside the syphon can build up breaking the syphon. If the flow is "fast" enough, air won't have a change to build up as it gets washed out in the flow.

With my setup up, I adjust the flow by adjust the water level in the sump. The difference in the waterline between the main tank and the sump determines the flow. Typically, one would install a valve at the exit point to the sump to do this. I didn't need one simply because the way my sump is situated.

Note also that there is no U-tube in the sump. As my tanks are planted tanks, I try to minimize surface agitation where possible. By removing the u-tube configuration in the sump, I need to ensure that the water line in the sump is always higher than the bottom of the u-tube in the main tank.

Technically, a u-tube can be installed, but it's redundant for my setup. Furthermore, the outlet of the syphon dips only about 2" into the water line. This is a tweak to help bubbles get flushed out of the syphon.

A break in the syphon would mean a wet floor if you don't have a water level limit kill switch. I don't have one currently but planning to build one. I don't know if one is sold anywhere? I know home depot has huge float switch, but it's HUGE!

The second issue is debris can plug up the inlet and the consequence is a wet floor if you don't have the kill switch. There are ways to minimize this problem, like install a grating, sponge, or any other strainer at the inlet.

Unless the grating size is large enough, you will effectively lose the surface skimming benefit of the overflow. From my experience, the grating has to be larger than 3mm. Surface tension of water, especially "nutrient" rich water, is incredibly strong.

If there are no grating or it is two big, your fish will most likely get suck in and flushed down to your sump. If you have shrimps, they will definitely get flushed through. The inlet are full of goodies for the shrimp to munch on!

There's nothing special about the supply line so I'll leave it to Q&A if there are any.

I'll will post a photo of my DIY pump/co2/filter when I have a chance.

I am not sure what else can be said, but I'll wait for question if there are any.

As this would be a tank journal, I'll post tank photo at various stage of it's growth.

A lot of my attention is currently focused on my Sulawesi Shrimp setup. It's new and novel hence exciting for me. A shrimp setup is so vastly different from a planted tank that I find a lot of the shortcuts taken cannot be applied to a shrimp setup. I have the shrimp community to thanks for in most part.

That's is for now unless there are questions.

Thanks for viewing and commenting on my post. I appreciate all comments and suggestion for improvement.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

I'm waiting to see more about how this is set up and works 

Thanks for sharing


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

Jackson said:


> I'm waiting to see more about how this is set up and works


Me too. I have been intrigued since the first time I saw it in his signature.
Its the beauty of this hobby...infinite permutations and combinations.

Al.


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

*CO2 Reactor*

Below is the photo of my latest and probably last revision of a CO2 reactor. I've attached a diagram of the setup for clarity.



















This is nothing new or novel, but I feel that is the most effective and efficient CO2 reactor configuration. Here are the parts of the setup...

A - CO2 from needle valve entering the pump Venturi via the red check valve and brown airline Tee.

B - Reactor output port feeding the 3 tanks.

C - Pump prefilter to keep the shrimps and snail out, and "stuffs" from getting into the reactor that can clog the venturi input.

D - Elite 200 Powerhead with Venturi port providing tanks circulation and CO2 diffusion through the reactor. Note that the Quietflow 10 was replaced as has no Venturi port and thus cannot be used in this reactor setup.

E - Reactor housing made of a 750mL Coke bottle. Good size (diameter), length, clear, and free.

F - Waterline inside the reactor. The empty space contain a mixture of CO2 and other gases, probably O2. It's mostly "O2/other gases" most of the time as the CO2 gets dissolved almost instantly.

Red Arrow - shows CO2 and CO2/O2/Gases mixture flow directions.

Purple Arrow - shows water flow directions.

Green tube is 1/2" PEX used to ensure CO2/Gases flow downward against gravity and deeper into the water for higher pressure. This encourage better dissolution of CO2.

Blue Tubes are 1/4" airline.

Brown Tee connects CO2 from the reactor and the CO2 tank.

Red check valve ensure no backflow, but I current have a cheap one that doesn't really work that well. Will need to upgrade this.

I am not sure if any explanation is need as the operation is pretty straightforward.

Here is the video  of my current tanks setup and of the reactor in operation. I am currently rescaping again using Safe-T-Sorb as a substrate. I am also trying out a PPS-Pro dosing regime. The HC is growing slowly. Will likely get rid of the Glosso when it's time to rescape the last tank.

Note that the last tank hasn't been changed yet because I've got babies shrimp in there right now. I'll wait for them to get a little bigger before rescaping. It's looks out of place with the other two.

During normal operation, you see a constant streams of small bubble coming out of the pump.

The large bubbles float to the top and back into the pump's Venturi port. The small bubbles flow with the water toward the 1/2" pex opening at the bottom. Most of the bubbles dissolved, some flow back up the reactor housing, and a few super small one out the pex opening.

I believe these bubbles are O2 or other gases that are not or could not be dissolved. The reason I say this is once in a while, there is a large burst of bubbles coming out of the pump as seen in the video.

I believe this burst occurs when the CO2 build up enough at the top of the reactor that it starts to overflow into the Venturi. Within 2-3 seconds, this burst is gone telling me that the CO2 were completely dissolved.

Note that the same amount, next to nil, of bubbles escape the reactor even during the burst.

Note also that my drop checker shows yellow green in the video, and the DIY 4dK solution has been calibrated this time! Bubble rate is at 30bpm or 1 every 2 seconds in effectively a 40G setup.

I'll post the photo once the rescaping is done, and change my sig when the HC grow in. Thanks to manhtu for trading the HC. It was a small bundle, less than a dollar coin, but it was super healthy!


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