RonS
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
So, I bought an Aquamaxx AF-1 automatic roller feeder, and I'm looking for setup opinions
First - I know there are those whose philosophy is "I don't use mechanical filtration"... I've already decided that I am definitely using it, so no need to start up that debate, please : )
I am using a "Bean Animal" overflow drain setup. The result is that I always have some amount of overflow water entering my sump via the 1st backup drain. It's not much, but I don't really have a way to meaningfully quantify the amount of water passing through that drain vs what coming down via the primary siphon. I estimate I'm moving about 750 gal/hour through my sump system, and I would guess the backup overflow is moving 5% of the primary, so let's call it 35 gal/hour.
Mostly what I am trying to accomplish here is:
1) reduced maintenance
2) reduced detritus in the sump
3) reduced time for detritus sitting in filter media / sump water
4) ability to feed the tank more than I already do
However, I am also sensitive to the fact that the mechanical filter removes a lot of good things, namely pods, from the system
So, my question: should I tee/wye the two 1" overflows together and run all of my overflow water through the roller, or should I let the secondary just flow itself into the sump without any mechanical filtration?
Thoughts:
1) This will result in some detritus in the sump, but is it enough to matter?
2) Is plumbing them together worth the risk of a creating a single point of failure for my overflows? Does this matter since I do have a tertiary emergency overflow?
3) Is 5% non-mechanical flow even going to allow enough "good stuff" through to matter?
I'm leaning toward plumbing them together. Right now, there's "no way" for detritus to get into the sump chambers later in the flow, and not passing everything through the filter will allow this to happen. But I'm definitely open to suggestions if anyone sees it differently.
It may not matter anyway - if I can't get the extra plumbing to fit then I'll just have to let the secondary overflow run without mechanical...
Thanks for reading this far : )
--RonS
So, I bought an Aquamaxx AF-1 automatic roller feeder, and I'm looking for setup opinions
First - I know there are those whose philosophy is "I don't use mechanical filtration"... I've already decided that I am definitely using it, so no need to start up that debate, please : )
I am using a "Bean Animal" overflow drain setup. The result is that I always have some amount of overflow water entering my sump via the 1st backup drain. It's not much, but I don't really have a way to meaningfully quantify the amount of water passing through that drain vs what coming down via the primary siphon. I estimate I'm moving about 750 gal/hour through my sump system, and I would guess the backup overflow is moving 5% of the primary, so let's call it 35 gal/hour.
Mostly what I am trying to accomplish here is:
1) reduced maintenance
2) reduced detritus in the sump
3) reduced time for detritus sitting in filter media / sump water
4) ability to feed the tank more than I already do
However, I am also sensitive to the fact that the mechanical filter removes a lot of good things, namely pods, from the system
So, my question: should I tee/wye the two 1" overflows together and run all of my overflow water through the roller, or should I let the secondary just flow itself into the sump without any mechanical filtration?
Thoughts:
1) This will result in some detritus in the sump, but is it enough to matter?
2) Is plumbing them together worth the risk of a creating a single point of failure for my overflows? Does this matter since I do have a tertiary emergency overflow?
3) Is 5% non-mechanical flow even going to allow enough "good stuff" through to matter?
I'm leaning toward plumbing them together. Right now, there's "no way" for detritus to get into the sump chambers later in the flow, and not passing everything through the filter will allow this to happen. But I'm definitely open to suggestions if anyone sees it differently.
It may not matter anyway - if I can't get the extra plumbing to fit then I'll just have to let the secondary overflow run without mechanical...
Thanks for reading this far : )
--RonS
