Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just finished enough of my filter to test it out and it seems to work. I still have some polying to do and I have to connect my spray bar, and I still need to decide what kind of media Im going to use. I still need a door for it too, cuz it sounds like I have a full size waterfall in the living room. But it moves a lot of water, and once I select some decent media, this filter should last me for years to come. Here is a photo of the media section.

I will be posting more photos next week in the DIY section of Aquariumhobbyist.com, and eventually I will create a page on iturnrocks.com.

The Link below shows the 3" siphon from the 120 to the 20, and the 20 to the Overflow box.

20 gal

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OK, so I have a question now...
You mentioned two siphons, and I only see one pump... So... What happens if your pump stops working??? Does your 120gal empty onto your floor???
I'm trying to figure it out because it looks GREAT, and I would like to do something similar, but I can't afford the chance of having my indoor stock tank emptying onto the floor. That's quite a few gallons of water...
Thanks,

~ El__Quijote

The photo below is the external overflow box I built. The second siphon goes from the 20 gal to it, which has a pretty standard overflow which prohibits the water in the 20 gal from draining below the height of the overflow. Since the only thing connecting the 120 and the 20 is a siphon (no pump) once the overflow stops flowing, the 120 and the 20 level off. The water level in the 120 and the 20 will remain pretty much the same all the time, depending on the size of the siphon tube. Bigger is better at maintaining the level.

I have one problem that im still working on a solution for. Since the water in my tank is so oxygenated, tiny air bubbles in the water get trapped in the top of the main siphon, slowly filling it with air. I have a valve in the top of the siphon, and I suck the air out every couple of days for now. Im not sure how im going to solve this problem, but I will think of something. That is the reason most overflows are internal, to take water from the surface so that no air bubbles get trapped in the siphon. The downside being that most of the crap in the water is at the bottom of the tank.

Most of the tiny bubbles are coming from the fact that my return pipe from the filter isnt completely submerged yet. I will eventually be adding a spray bar I mad which will be underwater and should limit some of the tiny bubbles, but highly oxygenated water is nice in case you lose power for a while.

I determined the height of the overflow based on how many gallons my sump would hold, relative to the mass of water in both the 120 and the 20. If for any reason the pump should stop, the water level in the sump will not be enough to overflow.

Im working a lot of hours this week, and dont know when Ill be able to provide a detailed explanation of the whole thing, but it will be soon.

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One more thing, the 20 gallon isnt required for the filter to work. I have some freshwater mussels, and I wanted to have a section where they wouldnt get harassed by the turtle and also they would have last grabs at the crap in the water before it went to the filter, since they are filter feeders. if you took out the 20 gal and the second siphon, and had the first siphon go into the overflow box, it would work pretty much the same.
Also my 20 gal is slightly higher than the 120 which means the 20 gal water level is a couple of inches from the top.

Also, on the return pipe to the 120 gal, I drilled a small hole in the pipe near the surface, otherwise, should the pump stop, the outflow pipe would serve as a backflow siphon and drain the tank back to the sump. Just make sure that hole points down, otherwise you will have a fountain shooting water into the air.

Ive also noticed that most of the bubbles in my tank are from the fact that my pump is pumping water faster than the sump fills. It is a 1300 gph pump, so I slightly closed one of the water valves on the return line to act as a flow regulator. Without so much air entering the pump, I may have solved my siphon stopping problem.
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and since youre talking about a stock tank, i assume its sitting on the floor. Youd be better off siphoning into a level container, letting the water pass thru whatever media you wish and having a pump at the other end that returns the water to the tank. This gravity filtering that I have is dependent on the tank being higher up than the filter. Below is a photo of my old side by side filter, which I think would work better for a stock tank.

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This one looks GREAT!!!
I think I am going to give it a try... It looks like it would work great with my stock-tank... I'm already working on how to include it into my new basement plans... Oh, and I'll try to post a picture when I'm done...
Thanks again,

~ El__Quijote