Post by benturner89 on Jan 13, 2013 9:01:10 GMT
Hey everyone, I hope your all ok! Now a few months or more ago I was asking advice on this forum to do with ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and I'm sure you guys know all of that so I'm not going to get into it..
Anyway, my filteration is brilliant, my nitrites and ammonia are always 0 or close too, but I do get a problem of fairly high nitrates, so I do a regular water change to sort this, and my new project is only to go alongside my water changes, please do not expect to get rid of them as they are necessary.
I'm going to build a refurgium, which is in basics a sump tank filled with plants. Plants take nitrates as fertiliser, just like plants on dry land, aquatic plants love them. Here's a link to a brilliant YouTube video on refurgiums. www.fishlore.com/fishforum/advanced-freshwater-aquarium-topics/118738-freshwater-refugium-tank.html
So this came into my head, and I started thinking oh no I've got to drill my tank, what a pain, then I see these HOB boxes, (hang on back overflows), great I thought, till I realised they only work on tanks filled to the brim, which like many turtles I don't have... Hmm bummer.. Then I found these..
youtu.be/Cmhu7uxPIm4
youtu.be/65yVr7DiDls
youtu.be/7DFk4bnIxEg
As you can see these are cost effective simple ideas, and I've made one already, it's great, due to funds I haven't got any further yet, but i will carry on this thread for my idea..
Now we've got the water out of our main tank we need to shoot it back up, I'm going to go for a lower litres per hour pump than my overflow, because as you can see by the videos once the overflow is primed it starts and stops automatically. But just Incase it doesn't, I'm going to fit a simple float switch, readily available for a couple of quid on amazon or elsewhere, directly into the mains lead on the pump, so that once my sump is too low on water the pump will stop. This means if the overflow fails, so long as you've allowed the set up correct you shouldn't flood your main tank. The sump shouldn't flood so long as your overflow is just under the water level and you've allowed the space for it to drain into your sump.
Now you can either hide your sump if you have a good tank with a cupboard ect, but my tank is on an old solid coffee table, meaning my sump will be on show, so I'm going to make it a feature to my room.
Finally, (I'm a determined person with a project, and I like to research, honestly I do have a life too!!) I was yet again on YouTube, looking at DIY co2 ideas, as plants also need co2, and this simple idea came up
youtu.be/zHy4CtmnzeA (I would suggest looking through all this guys vids, there is great ideas on a budget!)
So, that's my plan guys, a planted sump, which hopefully will not only provide extra litres of water for breakdown and flow of the chemicals in a tank, but hopefully the plants will take away those nitrates, making a very economical tank. Like I said earlier I wouldn't expect this idea to completely remove water changes, if anything keep them the same and provide a real good tank for your turtles.
If you are all interested in progress I will keep on posting as I go.. It's up to you!! ;D also if you wish to add, comment or correct I won't take it offensively as I'm only just beginning on this idea! Cheers guys, Ben.
Anyway, my filteration is brilliant, my nitrites and ammonia are always 0 or close too, but I do get a problem of fairly high nitrates, so I do a regular water change to sort this, and my new project is only to go alongside my water changes, please do not expect to get rid of them as they are necessary.
I'm going to build a refurgium, which is in basics a sump tank filled with plants. Plants take nitrates as fertiliser, just like plants on dry land, aquatic plants love them. Here's a link to a brilliant YouTube video on refurgiums. www.fishlore.com/fishforum/advanced-freshwater-aquarium-topics/118738-freshwater-refugium-tank.html
So this came into my head, and I started thinking oh no I've got to drill my tank, what a pain, then I see these HOB boxes, (hang on back overflows), great I thought, till I realised they only work on tanks filled to the brim, which like many turtles I don't have... Hmm bummer.. Then I found these..
youtu.be/Cmhu7uxPIm4
youtu.be/65yVr7DiDls
youtu.be/7DFk4bnIxEg
As you can see these are cost effective simple ideas, and I've made one already, it's great, due to funds I haven't got any further yet, but i will carry on this thread for my idea..
Now we've got the water out of our main tank we need to shoot it back up, I'm going to go for a lower litres per hour pump than my overflow, because as you can see by the videos once the overflow is primed it starts and stops automatically. But just Incase it doesn't, I'm going to fit a simple float switch, readily available for a couple of quid on amazon or elsewhere, directly into the mains lead on the pump, so that once my sump is too low on water the pump will stop. This means if the overflow fails, so long as you've allowed the set up correct you shouldn't flood your main tank. The sump shouldn't flood so long as your overflow is just under the water level and you've allowed the space for it to drain into your sump.
Now you can either hide your sump if you have a good tank with a cupboard ect, but my tank is on an old solid coffee table, meaning my sump will be on show, so I'm going to make it a feature to my room.
Finally, (I'm a determined person with a project, and I like to research, honestly I do have a life too!!) I was yet again on YouTube, looking at DIY co2 ideas, as plants also need co2, and this simple idea came up
youtu.be/zHy4CtmnzeA (I would suggest looking through all this guys vids, there is great ideas on a budget!)
So, that's my plan guys, a planted sump, which hopefully will not only provide extra litres of water for breakdown and flow of the chemicals in a tank, but hopefully the plants will take away those nitrates, making a very economical tank. Like I said earlier I wouldn't expect this idea to completely remove water changes, if anything keep them the same and provide a real good tank for your turtles.
If you are all interested in progress I will keep on posting as I go.. It's up to you!! ;D also if you wish to add, comment or correct I won't take it offensively as I'm only just beginning on this idea! Cheers guys, Ben.