April 2010 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society
April 2010 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society April 2010 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society
A P R I L 2 0 1 0Adventures in DIY – River TankArticle by Ryan Barton, KWAS (rabar10@yahoo.com). Photos by the author.Expanded from KWAS forum post “My 125 planted streamtank” in DIY section, Feb 2009:http://www.kwas.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=11510I have always been led to the more DIY aspects of the aquariumhobby, due to my love of tinkering and an educationalbackground in engineering. This is in contrast to mybiologically-inclined wife, who was the original fish-keeper andhobbyist, having even worked in an aquarium store severalyears ago. We originally hail from the States and spent severalyears in Indianapolis as members of the Circle City AquariumClub. For anyone who reads the CCAC's Fancy Fins newsletter,the February 2010 issue mentioned a certain 'Fish wives' club',and I think I was probably the first male inductee to thatorganization!When Kelli was admitted into veterinary school in Guelph, weknew that we would take at least part of our aquarium hobbywith us across the border. While we chose to divest ourselves ofthe rack of 8 tanks along one wall of our apartment, we agreedto bring our 125-gallon tank as well as some other smaller tanksand stands with us. We acquired the big 125 from a relative andhad it set up as a planted tank in Indianapolis with a Magnum350 canister filter and big Aquaclear HOB filter. Once I knewwe would be tearing it down, my mind started racing withdifferent possibilities on what to do with it once in Canada.I ran into some designs for stream or river tanks while perusingarticles and forum posts on the Internet, and particularlywww.loaches.com. These setups typically use long tanks andrecirculate the water from one end of the tank to the other viapowerheads and pipes or channels. This creates a constantcurrent-like flow of water through the tank, and whencombined with additional oxygenation of the water, theresulting environment is well-suited to fishes from cool, fastwatermountain streams.I was introduced to another novel aquarium concept during aninformal gathering at a local hobbyist's home in Indianapolis.Stephan Tanner introduced me and several others to a DIYsponge filter setup called the Hamburg-Mattenfilter. The filter'sGerman origin is clear from the name, and evidently the filterstyle is very popular among European hobbyists and breeders.A sheet of foam is placed across the entire cross-section of thetank. By moving water from one side of this foam “mat” to theother (typically with an air-powered lift tube), the tank volumeis slowly pumped through the foam sheet like a massive spongefilter. Other equipment like heaters and bulkheads can behidden behind the foam filter sheet, and filter cleaningmaintenance is greatly reduced due to the large filter area andvolume.As I sat there enjoying BBQ food and good company, it struckme: Why not combine the two designs? One could takeadvantage of the water movement of a river-manifold setup byplacing a Hamburg-style foam sheet across the tank and in thepath of the flow. This “sponge wall” could then be used toseparate one or more submersible pumps from the rest of thetank as well as to hide any additional equipment. With PVCreturn tubes buried in the substrate, a couple of risers withspray bars can return the water flow at the other end of thetank. This eliminates the need for additional canister or HOBfiltration, allowing the big tank to sit much closer to the walland take up less floor space. The master plan was comingtogether in my head, and I quite literally sketched out the ideaon the back of a napkin.At this point, all I could do was dream and wait. We weren'ttearing the tank down until a few days before the move, and allthe measurements and planning really needed an empty tankfor reference. I casually looked at pumps and PVC fittings, butthese thoughts were quickly pushed out by more pressingmatters related to moving ourselves and our pets to anothercountry. So, we eventually packed our things, tore the tankdown, and then moved everything to our new residence inGuelph.As an aside, I'd like to make a fairly obvious point here.Moving a 6-foot-long, 125-gallon aquarium constructed of 1/2”thick glass is a real pain! I would say pain in the backside, butthe pain wasn't restricted there―everything hurt after my wifeand I picked it up and carried it in one continuous step, out ofthe truck and up the slight hill in front of our place, up the fewsteps to the door, around a bend in the entryway, and finallyonto the waiting stand in our living room. At one point I askedmy wife if she wanted to stop for a few seconds to take a breakand adjust our grips. She said something to the effect of 'no, ifwe stop now we may not get started again!' In the style ofpolite Canadians everywhere, I've removed some expletivesthat made their way into the original phrase.16
A P R I L 2 0 1 0Once in place, the following days were taken up withunloading, unpacking, and settling in. Those days turned intoweeks and then months, as the few fish that were brought withus found their way into the smaller, easier-to-set-up tanks. I didmanage to mail-order some Poret open-cell foam from Stephan,but otherwise our “big screen aquarium” sat in the living room,empty and dejected. Who knew, tanks actually have feelings...Finally during the 2008 holiday break, I found time to really getthe project off of the ground.The massive 4” thick foam sheet was actually quite easy towork with. A straightedge and sharp knife were all that wasrequired to cut it to shape. Its rigidity meant that I could sizethe sheet to be slightly larger than the tank's internaldimensions, and it would hold itself in place quite securely.This was the first and easiest step to complete. I would cautionagainst using foam sheets or pieces that aren’t specifically madeor marked for use in an aquarium―foam designed for airfiltration may be impregnated with mold inhibiting chemicalsthat can wipe out aquarium fish.Next came the PVC manifold design. I decided that 3/4” PVCwould make a nice balance between size, ease of burying undersubstrate, and availability of parts at the local hardware store.After picking up a few T-junctions and elbows for measuringpurposes, I decided that I could fit 4 pipes down the length ofthe tank. The vertical connections to the pumps and risers ateach end could be made between the first and second, and thenthird and fourth pipes. Eight T-junctions, 4 elbows, and about25 feet of PVC pipe later, I had my manifold base dry-fitted intothe tank bottom. I cut slots for the manifold pipes into mysponge sheet so that it fit tightly down to the bottom tank glass.water at all through the tank itself. I looked for some backflowpreventingcheck valves in 3/4” PVC, but could not find anythat were small enough and had a low enough forwardpressure drop to work in this situation.This constraint led me to settle on using manual ball valves sothat I could isolate either pump from the manifold at will.Fortuitously, this also led to another significant designimprovement of the powered manifold system―active tankdraining. If I could keep a pump from supplying therecirculating manifold, then I could redirect its flow up and outof the tank and make water changes a heckuva-lot faster andeasier.I settled for a 3-valve setup. I placed one ball valve betweeneach of the 2 pump outlets and its manifold entry, and then athird valve formed a new vertical riser between the outlet of thepump closest to the front of the tank and a threaded PVC fittingwith screw-on end-cap, whose top remains below the tanksurface. I briefly considered putting this riser at the back of thetank, but in the end, ease-of-use outweighed aesthetics in mymind. Besides, I'm an engineer, I want to show off my work! Ibuilt a separate PVC drain adapter which, after the end-cap isunscrewed, screws into this riser and uses a faucet-style valvewith garden hose fitting at the top to carry water out of thetank.Now on to the pumps. I focused on units that were compatiblewith PVC fittings, and was looking for something with a fairlyhigh flow rate without breaking the bank. I finally settled ontwo Danner Supreme Mag-Drive 7 pumps, rated at 700GPHeach. I figured that in reality, I would probably get 600 gallonsper hour from each pump after losses in the plumbing. Thepumps had 1/2” male PVC fitting threads, so I used a threadedadapter and a short piece of 1/2” PVC to reach a 3/4” PVCadapter which connects to the rest of the plumbing.I decided to go with two pumps and two return spray-bars inthe design. Technically the manifold could have been created intwo halves, with each pump powering its own spray bar viatwo PVC pipes across the bottom of the tank. In the end Idecided to plumb them together, for the sake of structuralintegrity and ease of final placement and assembly more thananything else. But this design had one significant drawback―iffor whatever reason one of the pumps was not workingproperly, the second pump would simply push most of itswater backwards through the failing pump, rapidlyrecirculating water behind the sponge but not pushing muchI removed the stock foam pre-filters from the pump inlets. Iwanted to save them the embarrassment of sitting, near useless, 17
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A P R I L 2 0 1 0Adventures in DIY – River TankArticle by Ryan Barton, KWAS (rabar10@yahoo.com). Photos by the author.Expanded from KWAS forum post “My 125 planted streamtank” in DIY section, Feb 2009:http://www.kwas.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=11510I have always been led to the more DIY aspects of the aquariumhobby, due to my love of tinkering and an educationalbackground in engineering. This is in contrast to mybiologically-inclined wife, who was the original fish-keeper andhobbyist, having even worked in an aquarium store severalyears ago. We originally hail from the States and spent severalyears in Indianapolis as members of the Circle City <strong>Aquarium</strong>Club. For anyone who reads the CCAC's Fancy Fins newsletter,the February <strong>2010</strong> issue mentioned a certain 'Fish wives' club',and I think I was probably the first male inductee to thatorganization!When Kelli was admitted into veterinary school in Guelph, weknew that we would take at least part of our aquarium hobbywith us across the border. While we chose to divest ourselves ofthe rack of 8 tanks along one wall of our apartment, we agreedto bring our 125-gallon tank as well as some other smaller tanksand stands with us. We acquired the big 125 from a relative andhad it set up as a planted tank in Indianapolis with a Magnum350 canister filter and big Aquaclear HOB filter. Once I knewwe would be tearing it down, my mind started racing withdifferent possibilities on what to do with it once in Canada.I ran into some designs for stream or river tanks while perusingarticles and forum posts on the Internet, and particularlywww.loaches.com. These setups typically use long tanks andrecirculate the water from one end of the tank to the other viapowerheads and pipes or channels. This creates a constantcurrent-like flow of water through the tank, and whencombined with additional oxygenation of the water, theresulting environment is well-suited to fishes from cool, fastwatermountain streams.I was introduced to another novel aquarium concept during aninformal gathering at a local hobbyist's home in Indianapolis.Stephan Tanner introduced me and several others to a DIYsponge filter setup called the Hamburg-Mattenfilter. The filter'sGerman origin is clear from the name, and evidently the filterstyle is very popular among European hobbyists and breeders.A sheet of foam is placed across the entire cross-section of thetank. By moving water from one side of this foam “mat” to theother (typically with an air-powered lift tube), the tank volumeis slowly pumped through the foam sheet like a massive spongefilter. Other equipment like heaters and bulkheads can behidden behind the foam filter sheet, and filter cleaningmaintenance is greatly reduced due to the large filter area andvolume.As I sat there enjoying BBQ food and good company, it struckme: Why not combine the two designs? One could takeadvantage of the water movement of a river-manifold setup byplacing a Hamburg-style foam sheet across the tank and in thepath of the flow. This “sponge wall” could then be used toseparate one or more submersible pumps from the rest of thetank as well as to hide any additional equipment. With PVCreturn tubes buried in the substrate, a couple of risers withspray bars can return the water flow at the other end of thetank. This eliminates the need for additional canister or HOBfiltration, allowing the big tank to sit much closer to the walland take up less floor space. The master plan was comingtogether in my head, and I quite literally sketched out the ideaon the back of a napkin.At this point, all I could do was dream and wait. We weren'ttearing the tank down until a few days before the move, and allthe measurements and planning really needed an empty tankfor reference. I casually looked at pumps and PVC fittings, butthese thoughts were quickly pushed out by more pressingmatters related to moving ourselves and our pets to anothercountry. So, we eventually packed our things, tore the tankdown, and then moved everything to our new residence inGuelph.As an aside, I'd like to make a fairly obvious point here.Moving a 6-foot-long, 125-gallon aquarium constructed of 1/2”thick glass is a real pain! I would say pain in the backside, butthe pain wasn't restricted there―everything hurt after my wifeand I picked it up and carried it in one continuous step, out ofthe truck and up the slight hill in front of our place, up the fewsteps to the door, around a bend in the entryway, and finallyonto the waiting stand in our living room. At one point I askedmy wife if she wanted to stop for a few seconds to take a breakand adjust our grips. She said something to the effect of 'no, ifwe stop now we may not get started again!' In the style ofpolite Canadians everywhere, I've removed some expletivesthat made their way into the original phrase.16
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