Through the wall / My Fish Room

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
Drains and return mocked up. Just need to figure out what pump to get. I'm second guessing the 3/4in drains.
I'm running a Jebao DC control pump on the 260g but I don't know what size it is as there are no labels. If I were sure of what size I would consider stealing it for the rack and just running a mag 9.5 on the 260 temporarilyPXL_20210529_011125055.jpgPXL_20210529_011101064.jpg.
 

John58Ford

Well-Known Member
.75" ID pipe has about .44 square inch effective cross sectional area. .44 x 3 gives you 1.32sq.in. effective total cross sectional area (CSA) which can be handled by a ~1.3" ID. This would be close and after the friction loss by the smaller pipe might be close enough.

Issue is in schedule 40 PVC the average I.D. for nominal 3/4 is actually .824 (.53CSA), the average for 1 1/4 is 1.38 (1.49CSA). You end up about .1sq.in. shy, or about 15% under sized. With vented drains like you've done I would have gone 1.5x safety for noise reduction, or 3x if it was in someone else's home. And aren't there 4 x 3/4" lines on that run?

3-4" pipe is pretty expensive for messing around with though...


Now there are 2 easy solutions that are off top of my head in the nano plumbing world that may work for you in this situation too.

1. You're going to pre filter those with sponge anyhow right?, once it's gunked it should provide adequate resistance.

2. On your 3/4 pipes, gently/slowly heat an area the size of a quarter with a mini torch, once it starts to yellow gently press a marble against it. This will give you a dent to limit flow where a gate valve won't fit. You can usually get away with heating a PVC once or twice, and cpvc up to 5 times to get it right without cracking it. This trick doesn't work on cellular core pipe but it's great for PVC and cpvc in the smaller sizes. It's how I tune venturis in my nano spray bars and match pump head across tanks.

Plumbing and sump is looking good, you've done allot of drilling and filling in a week. I'm still a bit jealous of your flood safe fish room. It would make building so much more fun and less math intensive.
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
.75" ID pipe has about .44 square inch effective cross sectional area. .44 x 3 gives you 1.32sq.in. effective total cross sectional area (CSA) which can be handled by a ~1.3" ID. This would be close and after the friction loss by the smaller pipe might be close enough.

Issue is in schedule 40 PVC the average I.D. for nominal 3/4 is actually .824 (.53CSA), the average for 1 1/4 is 1.38 (1.49CSA). You end up about .1sq.in. shy, or about 15% under sized. With vented drains like you've done I would have gone 1.5x safety for noise reduction, or 3x if it was in someone else's home. And aren't there 4 x 3/4" lines on that run?

3-4" pipe is pretty expensive for messing around with though...


Now there are 2 easy solutions that are off top of my head in the nano plumbing world that may work for you in this situation too.

1. You're going to pre filter those with sponge anyhow right?, once it's gunked it should provide adequate resistance.

2. On your 3/4 pipes, gently/slowly heat an area the size of a quarter with a mini torch, once it starts to yellow gently press a marble against it. This will give you a dent to limit flow where a gate valve won't fit. You can usually get away with heating a PVC once or twice, and cpvc up to 5 times to get it right without cracking it. This trick doesn't work on cellular core pipe but it's great for PVC and cpvc in the smaller sizes. It's how I tune venturis in my nano spray bars and match pump head across tanks.

Plumbing and sump is looking good, you've done allot of drilling and filling in a week. I'm still a bit jealous of your flood safe fish room. It would make building so much more fun and less math intensive.
Yes, there will be 4 drains running into the collection pipe to the sump. I have yet to drill the planted 29g because of the time needed to dismantle and replant.
I only friction fit the drain pieces so I will try to redesign and will reposition the sump behind the rack so it is 2 into 1 rather that 4 into 1.
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
Reworked the drains into a double down spout collector. I may have to do four down spouts once the last two tanks are brought into the system. Set up a 4g/hr pressure compensating drip emitter for an auto water change. Test will be to see if the controller works.
PXL_20210608_005848648.jpgPXL_20210608_005823720.jpg
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
I obviously am a keeper of primarily smaller fishes because I like keeping variety together so keeping larger fish is a new experience for me. I am really enjoying the mix and getting to watch them grow.
I was able to run drip line to the 260g, 220g, 120g and the 29g rack so that they are all on a continuous drip.
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
I had time to run home at lunch to get a better idea of the carnage the fish room experienced from the loss of fish in the 29g rack. I lost the 5 Redhead Tapojo grow outs, almost all of the G.B. grow outs, all L104 and some of the BNP grow outs. The small Green sev is still alive but its fins are nearly destroyed. I added 8 TBS of salt and a dosage of Paraguard and rinsed sponges. I noticed some of the fish have ich as well. :(
 

lloyd378

Administrator
Staff member
Contributing Member Level III
I had time to run home at lunch to get a better idea of the carnage the fish room experienced from the loss of fish in the 29g rack. I lost the 5 Redhead Tapojo grow outs, almost all of the G.B. grow outs, all L104 and some of the BNP grow outs. The small Green sev is still alive but its fins are nearly destroyed. I added 8 TBS of salt and a dosage of Paraguard and rinsed sponges. I noticed some of the fish have ich as well. :(
Yikes, I’m so sorry. That sucks.
 

DMD123

Administrator
Staff member
Contributing Member Level III
WOW, Looking good! Is that the same cholate that you had got on the Imperial order? He is looking huge!
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
The 4 LED strips I purchased from Current USA were the right price but they are very dim. I have the top row of the 29g rack using 2 and the 260g using the other 2. I decided to move some lights around so that I can see the interiors better on the rack and the 260g. I stole the light of the 120g for the rack, the 48in Finnex plant light from the cube for the 260g, the 24in Finnex for the cube and one of the LED strip lights went to the 120g. I may move the other to the shellies 100g.

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John58Ford

Well-Known Member
If you're running a 12v power supply, I have found Led driving/fog modules work great, I use the lower output strip lights like those to widen the spectrum and/or for Twilight with colors only.

Can't find the exact ones but basically these:Linkstyle 12PCS Daytime Running Light, Car Interior Exterior LED Strip Light Super Bright 12V Underglow Lights Universal Waterproof COB DRL Running Lamp for Truck Boat Bike RV Motorcycles, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DCKB41W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_fabc_FD866XJJ6J6Z3QAA5W00

A few of these per tank and plants grow like mad, you do need to put a drip off epoxy where the wires run into the cage though, these guys get too hot for the adhesive the factory used.
 

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
I have single LDA068 that I moved to the 260g to avoid hybrid crossing with my L446 colony. I have looked for it in all the bamboo/alder caves in the tank without success. Today, I was granted a look.PXL_20211114_220554227~2.jpg
 
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