And so it begins... 1300 gallon setup

chen88 said:
interesting....does this take your sump right of it? I wonder how easy it would be to change the filters in it? I'm going to look into this myself.
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hey chen
you should definitely look into it. you wont even need to get your hands wet to clesan the filter and it taskes only a few minutes.

skynoch said:
You won't have to drill your tank if you make a diy overflow (plans for it found in the stickies of the diy section on mfk) for it and have it tie back into the drain. Then it's just a matter of replumbing.
With your setup we could do it with a riser pipe on one side and then rework your plumbing, no drilling will be required but the re-work on the plumbing is to much to type out at the moment.
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i do have 2 over flows on this tank the only concern i really have is that my 2 sumps are attached to level out the water. i dont know if you remember this. if i use this aqua ultima does it matter that one overflow spills faster then the other. i was thinking of drilling the overflow box for my drain. am i making this more confusing then it really is?? essentially all i need to do is pipe all 3 pipes from my overflow into one and attached that to the ultima and then pipe one pipe to the pump to pump back into the tank and pipe one pipe to the drain for the backwash does that sound right??
 
glamit said:
hey chen
you should definitely look into it. you wont even need to get your hands wet to clesan the filter and it taskes only a few minutes.



i do have 2 over flows on this tank the only concern i really have is that my 2 sumps are attached to level out the water. i dont know if you remember this. if i use this aqua ultima does it matter that one overflow spills faster then the other. i was thinking of drilling the overflow box for my drain. am i making this more confusing then it really is?? essentially all i need to do is pipe all 3 pipes from my overflow into one and attached that to the ultima and then pipe one pipe to the pump to pump back into the tank and pipe one pipe to the drain for the backwash does that sound right??
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I think you have the basics of the piping. So we would take say the left hole from each side of your tanks overflow to the ultima or ultima's filter intake. Then we would plug your middle hole on both sides, and then we would put in a little riser pipe on the right side hole on both sides to up your water level a bit allowing the ultima intakes to be submerged (if this isn't possible we can still work around this) and this riser pipe would also act as your overflow for your drip system taking the excess water to the drain. Your returns of the ultima would tie into your header system that you are currently using and your backwash of the ultima to your drain. We would still need to add some valving and check valves and see if your pumps are able to be dry running also and stand hieght to boot but everything is fairly easy to do it just will take some time to replumb. But the good thing with your tank is it can stay running and we could do one side at a time.
 
chen88 said:
Ok, should look at these! How much for these guys!
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They very quite a bit in price and size but are very effective and easy I believe carcrazy on here is currently using them and Mattpf is going to be using them. I think Matt has also found the best price from an Ebay company so hopefully he will chime in and let you guys know some prices. The bigger ones can use alot of water on a backwash unless they are air assisted.
 
Just looked them up. Unfortunate I done have a lot of room under my tank so I will only barely be able to fit the smallest unit that is 22" high and not knowing what fitting might cone above that!

I'd definitely go for two of these units if they fit and gives me better water quality
 
skynoch said:
I think you have the basics of the piping. So we would take say the left hole from each side of your tanks overflow to the ultima or ultima's filter intake. Then we would plug your middle hole on both sides, and then we would put in a little riser pipe on the right side hole on both sides to up your water level a bit allowing the ultima intakes to be submerged (if this isn't possible we can still work around this) and this riser pipe would also act as your overflow for your drip system taking the excess water to the drain. Your returns of the ultima would tie into your header system that you are currently using and your backwash of the ultima to your drain. We would still need to add some valving and check valves and see if your pumps are able to be dry running also and stand hieght to boot but everything is fairly easy to do it just will take some time to replumb. But the good thing with your tank is it can stay running and we could do one side at a time.
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so essentially speaking, my overflow has 3 pipes, one being used to drain into the ultima, one plugged and the last one will have a riser on top in the overflow and the bottom of the pipe will be replumbed into my existing drain. the ultima has 3 valves one piped from the overflow one for the pump and one for the backwash which will also be piped into the existing drain? am i getting this right? where would i need the valving and check valves? also on each side of my tank the glass isnt perfectly measured so the right side spills more water then the left side that is the reason i plumbed both sumps together for the water to equal out, by using 2 ultimas would it matter??
 
Hey glen can I get you to take some pics of the ends of your tank where the 3 holes are and the overflow so I can remember exactly how it is and the current water hieght?
 
skynoch said:
Hey glen can I get you to take some pics of the ends of your tank where the 3 holes are and the overflow so I can remember exactly how it is and the current water hieght?
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hey scott here are the pictures, durso pipes arent working 100% yet as you can see the one with the higher level of water is gargling and the quiet side is draining the water too fast
 

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What size of holes do you have in your caps??? From what ive gathered the water level should right in the center of the T for them to work perfectly, Mine the water is still an inch above with a 1/4 inch hole?
You guys are doing Amazing things..... Keep it up
 
Hey glen I'll try and give you a call on the weekend and I'll do some drawing on the pics and repost so everyone can give an opion on it or make corrections to what I'm thinking can be done. Just maybe pm me your number again in case I can't find it.
 
hey guys
couple questions here, i was deciding upon using 2 ultima 2000 one on each overflow and now considering closing one overflow and grabing the ultima 4000 and getting a bigger pump, what would you guys do??. Also right now i am using my heaters in my sump by taking out the sump where would you guys think would be the best way to achieve heat without placing the heaters in the tank?? also my drain is an inch diameter if the ultima is 1.5 inch backwash will i have problems if i plumb the 1.5 backwash to my 1 inch drain? any help would be great thanks!
 
so after a year of major headaches i am finally done this tank. i will post some pictures up later this weekend. Stock is 5 bbxb and 4 SR as well as a pair black diamond and a pair of regular leos and 40 clown loaches. i am running the ultima 4000 along with a drip system. shout outs to Rudy and skynoch for helping me with all my questions as well as cirrus and mike at h2o for my stock. I will also be posting another DIY thread because i went crazy and built another 600 gallon tank.
 
hey guys
heres basically the finished product, all i need to add is a UV sterilizer and I think im done. some pictures here for aronoob as well for the ultima. what do you guys think?
 

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I still think your tank is the best I have ever seen. Man that would be cool to see in person....
 
man the boys have grown up eh!....have they ran into that big stump? I find putting driftwoods with so many aros is a risk as when they start chasing they run into things...very nice system as always.
 
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