Joined
·
1,245 Posts
Im in the planning and construction phase of a small fishroom ( 15 tanks--approx 500 gallons ) and Im wanting to install drip water change systems on all of the tanks so their is constant water changes going on. Im mainly worried about the overflow setup in the tanks and making them less visible and less likely to clog and overflow into the floor.
I will have a drainpipe system behind the tanks that will drain directly into a floor drain. I will also have a spot on each rack that I can drain into with a siphon hose for gravel cleaning if needed. It will have a water line around the perimeter of the room with individual valves for each tank so I can adjust water flow rate. Most of the tanks will be filtered with canister filters since I already have them. I may use air driven sponge filters on the shrimp rack if I go that route.
Ive never used any sort of overflow system but Ive read horror stories of them clogging and flooding the floor/house. Now, those stories have mostly been with sump systems and not with a system like Im planning.
Any insight to this? Recommendations? Sites to do research? Overflows that are better or worse than others?
Also, I want at least two of the tanks to be high ph hard water tanks as opposed to my tap that is low ph soft water. I know I can use substrate and additives to buffer the ph, but Im concerned that a constant water change system might not work in those tanks--thoughts? experiences? Should I just avoid trying to have a tank with a different water chemistry than my tap? I was wanting an mbuna and some sulawesi shrimp tanks.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading and for any input.
edit---is there any real good reason I couldnt use this type of overflow? I mean we are talking about draining fairly small amounts of water ( less than 1 gph in all but the largest tank and it will be around 2gph and some of that will be lost with evaporation instead of going down the overflow ) That style is easy to make, fairly easy to hide if I make it black and looks pretty effective for what I want to do.
![]()
I will have a drainpipe system behind the tanks that will drain directly into a floor drain. I will also have a spot on each rack that I can drain into with a siphon hose for gravel cleaning if needed. It will have a water line around the perimeter of the room with individual valves for each tank so I can adjust water flow rate. Most of the tanks will be filtered with canister filters since I already have them. I may use air driven sponge filters on the shrimp rack if I go that route.
Ive never used any sort of overflow system but Ive read horror stories of them clogging and flooding the floor/house. Now, those stories have mostly been with sump systems and not with a system like Im planning.
Any insight to this? Recommendations? Sites to do research? Overflows that are better or worse than others?
Also, I want at least two of the tanks to be high ph hard water tanks as opposed to my tap that is low ph soft water. I know I can use substrate and additives to buffer the ph, but Im concerned that a constant water change system might not work in those tanks--thoughts? experiences? Should I just avoid trying to have a tank with a different water chemistry than my tap? I was wanting an mbuna and some sulawesi shrimp tanks.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading and for any input.
edit---is there any real good reason I couldnt use this type of overflow? I mean we are talking about draining fairly small amounts of water ( less than 1 gph in all but the largest tank and it will be around 2gph and some of that will be lost with evaporation instead of going down the overflow ) That style is easy to make, fairly easy to hide if I make it black and looks pretty effective for what I want to do.
