Clownfish breeding project

[Dsnakes]

I have 1" overflow, 3/4" return and sicce 3.0 714gph return. What should I change? Smaller overflow pipe? I really need to put valve on each side I'm sure.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Following. Always been intrigued about raising fry. Seems challenging.

 

[WesleyC]

I have 1" overflow, 3/4" return and sicce 3.0 714gph return. What should I change? Smaller overflow pipe? I really need to put valve on each side I'm sure.

No valve needed. Just make the overflow higher, and the most you get from siphoning is an inch of water from the tank above.

Read around about the return pipe design. It can be another project on its own.

EDIT: Looks like you drilled a hole at the bottom of the tank? If that is your water drain, put a pipe in it. The pipe has to be almost as tall as the tank. So water would only flow out at that height.

 

[Dsnakes]

Following. Always been intrigued about raising fry. Seems challenging.

Please don't take advice from me! This is my first attempt, and I don't even have the tank ready yet first for everything though!!

No valve needed. Just make the overflow higher, and the most you get from siphoning is an inch of water from the tank above.

Read around about the return pipe design. It can be another project on its own.

The overflow pipe isn't glued, just wanted to test the system. I didn't think about if I had tested with it shorter, it would've kept less water from draining. Duh ;Facepalm. I was thinking for the return as well, running a pipe along the side and cap the end with holes drilled to spread the flow.

 

[Dsnakes]

No valve needed. Just make the overflow higher, and the most you get from siphoning is an inch of water from the tank above.

Read around about the return pipe design. It can be another project on its own.

EDIT: Looks like you drilled a hole at the bottom of the tank? If that is your water drain, put a pipe in it. The pipe has to be almost as tall as the tank. So water would only flow out at that height.

The tank isn't drilled, just the pipes over the top.

 

[WesleyC]

OK. Just the pipes higher should be good enough then.

 

[Dsnakes]

Hopefully I get to continue this project. Needless to say, my wife was not thrilled as I scavenged every single towel in the house for the floor. ;Blackeye

 

[WesleyC]

LOL. Because of that, you learn to have a stack of dry towel every time you work on the fish tank. It still apply up to today for me. Accident does happen!

 

[Jlahr16]

Hopefully I get to continue this project. Needless to say, my wife was not thrilled as I scavenged every single towel in the house for the floor. ;Blackeye

Oh man, I know exactly how you feel! today I was doing a water change on my frag tank, but before I started siphoning water out, I decided to scrape some tough algae off the glass with my kent scraper. I knocked my par38 gooseneck and the internal screw part of the socket broke, Bulb fell out of the socket housing and straight down into the tank and water went EVERYWHERE .. you just never know with these tanks!

 

[gar732]

Do yourself a favor and drill the tank for the overflow, it really isn't that hard. With a simple syphon like you have there it's only a matter of time until it fails. Tiny air bubbles will collect at the top until the syphon breaks. If you don't feel comfortable drilling see if someone in your local reef club would be willing to help. After having a tank the wasn't drilled myself I'll never do it again.

 

[Dsnakes]

Should the hole be 1"? Or should I go with 3/4"? I have an overflow box I can put in front of it.

 

[WesleyC]

It doesn't quite matter. It is not a reef tank. As long as you have some form of water filtration and clean up, it's good enough.

 

[Dsnakes]

It doesn't quite matter. It is not a reef tank. As long as you have some form of water filtration and clean up, it's good enough.

Ok thanks. My main concern is having too much water drain in regards to return pump. Maybe I had that issue before due to it was siphon and not normal drain.

 

[WesleyC]

Yea, siphoning is powerful. Even you have a narrow pipe, it can drain very very fast! You'll need an overflow box to keep the siphoning pipe continuously working. Since you don't have much experience with pipe works, like gar732 said, drill the tank. Depends on siphoning alone can lead to another water flooding easily.

 

[WestOhooligan]

I've been plumbing for years and your drain line is terrifying. Any type of suction drain can and will fail for sure. If you're not going to drill an overflow, it's worth the money to pick up a quality external overflow. My favorite is the CPR brand with an aqualifter pump attached. Works all the time, and doesn't lose siphon.

 

[Dsnakes]

I will find a hob overflow. For now, I went with aquaclear 70 and small offbrand little pump I had. This seems to work for QTs, it should work for this I would imagine. Aqua clear will have the sponge and siporax. The other is just providing more flow to the other side, as the holes don't allow too much from the 70. Didn't have spare powerhead. Only possible issue I can see, is if the clowns decide to lay the eggs on the small internal filter. Even then, I suppose I could turn it off and remove to hatch tank.

 

[Dsnakes]

I also forgot to add that the siporax came from my nuvo 20 where it has been hopefully seeding for a week. I moved it over tonight to the breeding setup and began dosing seachem stability.

 

[gar732]

Honestly clowns aren't too picky with their water conditions. They will even still breed in a terrible tank. When I moved, my broodstock system wouldn't fit in it's new location so I had a couple pairs in an aio 20 long. With the move and working on the house and work it didn't take too long before the tank was neglected. Both pairs were still laying, though not like clockwork as they did in the past. Although I can't imagine those fry will grow up too healthy, like I mentioned before most defects can be attributed to poor water conditions. My point is your setup will work for the time being but definitely get your sump going before you attempt to raise your fry.

 

[jackson2424]

Cool project

 

[Dsnakes]

Honestly clowns aren't too picky with their water conditions. They will even still breed in a terrible tank. When I moved, my broodstock system wouldn't fit in it's new location so I had a couple pairs in an aio 20 long. With the move and working on the house and work it didn't take too long before the tank was neglected. Both pairs were still laying, though not like clockwork as they did in the past. Although I can't imagine those fry will grow up too healthy, like I mentioned before most defects can be attributed to poor water conditions. My point is your setup will work for the time being but definitely get your sump going before you attempt to raise your fry.

Thanks for the advice and tips!

Cool project

Thank you!