A Sediment substrate that works

[MikeS]

Sounds good Mojo....

on test #3....you are just going to observe diffusion with no pull on the system, correct? Or are you going to pull water off the plenum and observe the diffusion when that happens?

Equal diffusion is still one of my major concerns with the system...I still feel that when water is drawn off the plenum, areas in the sand bed with lower diffusion due to accumulation of more fine particles, dust, organic solids, ect....have the potential to become "compacted", possibly worsening diffusion in these areas, especially over time. Am I overstating the problem or overreacting here?

Mike

 

[mojoreef]

Mike I have no idea if it will be a concern or not. But the plan was to draw off the water and I will observe the die the best I can from below the tank. I dont think it will remain the same however, as time goes by it will flux. For me the main concept is how it remove the lower material trapped in the plenum.

Mike

 

[MikeS]

Mike I have no idea if it will be a concern or not. But the plan was to draw off the water and I will observe the die the best I can from below the tank. I dont think it will remain the same however, as time goes by it will flux. For me the main concept is how it remove the lower material trapped in the plenum.

Mike

Ok I see....my main concern is getting the material into the plenum in first place...

Mike

 

[zeltar]

Hey mojo, any news on the test plenum?

Have you had a chance to test drive the prototype plenum yet?
I understand you are reworking your big tank so this might have
taken a back seat.

Just curious, keep us posted.
thanks

 

[mojoreef]

Hiya Eric I got the unit on sunday, so the plan is to plumb it up this week and do some testing on the weekend. Work this week has been pretty hectic, so give me a couple of days.

Mike

 

[zeltar]

10-4, just getting closer to drilling my tank. SO if this looks like it is a good deal
I will need to compensate for the location of my lower CLS holes.
thanks.

 

[MikeS]

Excellent...I can't wait to read your feedback on the system, mojo....

MikeS

 

[mojoreef]

I picked up the plumbing for it today, so I will try to get it going quicker. I got the camera dusted off so I will take lots of pics.


Mike

 

[Maxx]

I got the camera dusted off so I will take lots of pics.
Mike

Just remember to keep the camera out of the tank this time....
Nick

 

[mojoreef]

Ok here we go. Now I have plumbed this one more for testing then looks, so dont worry about the plumbing to it. One could plumbing it alot more effective and clean in a reef tank. The way i am doing it is to accomadate it for testing.
Ok first picture is of it un-assembled. the picture shows the main frame and two top plates. In this case it is plates but one could just glue in strips also.

On the second picture Is the unit all plumbed up. I have use 1/2 inch plumbing on this unit as it is small. One pipe per section, on the bottom of the pipe are drilled two lines of holes pointing about 50 degrees to the sides. nothing is glued at this point. On the back plumbing I did this to even the draw of the water. it could again be done cleaner, but I was to lazy to go to the hardware store again, lol

On this pic it gives you an idea of how the compartments look.

Mike

 

[Macbeth417]

Oustanding to see the taking shape after following the idea for so long now. When do you think you will get to the first test?

-Erik

 

[MikeS]

looks great Mojo!

On the PVC pipe.....are you going to cut a long slot in each, or drill it full of holes?

MikeS

 

[mojoreef]

I ended up drilling it, but nothing is glues so we can change no problem. On the testing I am going to start tonite and tommorrow.

Mike

 

[Maxx]

Looking Good!

 

[mojoreef]

Ok first test. put the water in, then the unit. plumbed it to a mag 5. Sprinkled in a bunch of detritus from filter. This stuff was pretty thick and sticky, so a hard task.
The results were good and bad.
Good news is that the unit sucked all the detritus out from the bottom of the tank. It did so with just a 3 second click of the pump, virtually no detritus in any compartment.
Bad news. On top on the plenum where a large amount of detritus had landed, only the edges next to the opening sucked the detritus in. So strips of detritus remained.
Ok comments. For me the amount left behind is not acceptable. I can see a long term build up in that area, kinda defeats the purpose. I think the fix is to cut off the top plates and install some ridge peices to support what will be the eggcrate. I will do that in the morning.

let me know if you have any other ideas.

Mike

 

[Witfull]

it would be tedious to do, but an A frame inbetween each slit to funnel the shi....detrius into the plenum.

 

[Scooterman]

Pretty cool Mike, I think your idea of dumping the slots is a good one but I think the egg crate will have the same effect by collecting but testing will be the only proof of yea, or nay!

 

[mojoreef]

Dave I kinda had the reverse of that. before I cut it out.

Ok I got motivated and cut out the strips, pretty easy though.
The first pic is prior to the test.

I turned on the pump and would say it sucked out about 2 gallons of water/detritus.

Comments. To be fair thier was a little more detritus left then shows. It had a bit in the corners. When I shut the pump of it back drained and blew some out of the plenum. To be honest though I think when thier is a sand bed on top of this it will allow for a better suction. We will see soon.


what do you think???


Mike

 

[mojoreef]

Yea Scott but the concept here is to allow the detritus above the mesh to be processed. Or I am not understanding you??


Mike

 

[Scooterman]

Yep, you understood me correctly.


Still wonder if we need the mesh, insted we just suck it all out instantly.