"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:42:04 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My tank sits on a table of sorts and is 3 feet or so off the ground.
There
is a staircase behind it so building a filter above it, and letting it
gravity feed back into the tank could be problematic. Letting the tank
gravity feed down to the filter and then pump back up to the tank would
be
problematic (I think?) because then the tank can conceiveably drain.

One simple suggestion I might to keep from draining the tank, is a
siphon break on a pumped line can be a simple hole in the line/tube.
I pump from the pond filter up to a plant pond and to keep it from
draining/siphoning back I drilled a small hole on an angle toward the
flow just above the waterline at the outlet end and the flow draws air
and adds bubbles in the flow of water. When the pump shuts down the
air hole becomes a siphon break. I'm using 1 1/2" pipe in the pond, but
the same idea should work on a smaller scale.

It occurs to me now that my fear of a gravity mess is probably unfounded.
Since I do not plan to drill holes in my glass tank, I would have the feed
and return pipes going up over the top of the tank. I'd think in this
scenario, I'd have to have a siphon.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:42:04 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My tank sits on a table of sorts and is 3 feet or so off the ground.
There
is a staircase behind it so building a filter above it, and letting it
gravity feed back into the tank could be problematic. Letting the tank
gravity feed down to the filter and then pump back up to the tank would
be
problematic (I think?) because then the tank can conceiveably drain.

One simple suggestion I might to keep from draining the tank, is a
siphon break on a pumped line can be a simple hole in the line/tube.
I pump from the pond filter up to a plant pond and to keep it from
draining/siphoning back I drilled a small hole on an angle toward the
flow just above the waterline at the outlet end and the flow draws air
and adds bubbles in the flow of water. When the pump shuts down the
air hole becomes a siphon break. I'm using 1 1/2" pipe in the pond, but
the same idea should work on a smaller scale.

It occurs to me now that my fear of a gravity mess is probably unfounded.
Since I do not plan to drill holes in my glass tank, I would have the feed
and return pipes going up over the top of the tank. I'd think in this
scenario, I'd have to have a siphon.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:42:04 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My tank sits on a table of sorts and is 3 feet or so off the ground.
There
is a staircase behind it so building a filter above it, and letting it
gravity feed back into the tank could be problematic. Letting the tank
gravity feed down to the filter and then pump back up to the tank would
be
problematic (I think?) because then the tank can conceiveably drain.

One simple suggestion I might to keep from draining the tank, is a
siphon break on a pumped line can be a simple hole in the line/tube.
I pump from the pond filter up to a plant pond and to keep it from
draining/siphoning back I drilled a small hole on an angle toward the
flow just above the waterline at the outlet end and the flow draws air
and adds bubbles in the flow of water. When the pump shuts down the
air hole becomes a siphon break. I'm using 1 1/2" pipe in the pond, but
the same idea should work on a smaller scale.

It occurs to me now that my fear of a gravity mess is probably unfounded.
Since I do not plan to drill holes in my glass tank, I would have the feed
and return pipes going up over the top of the tank. I'd think in this
scenario, I'd have to have a siphon.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:42:04 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My tank sits on a table of sorts and is 3 feet or so off the ground.
There
is a staircase behind it so building a filter above it, and letting it
gravity feed back into the tank could be problematic. Letting the tank
gravity feed down to the filter and then pump back up to the tank would
be
problematic (I think?) because then the tank can conceiveably drain.

One simple suggestion I might to keep from draining the tank, is a
siphon break on a pumped line can be a simple hole in the line/tube.
I pump from the pond filter up to a plant pond and to keep it from
draining/siphoning back I drilled a small hole on an angle toward the
flow just above the waterline at the outlet end and the flow draws air
and adds bubbles in the flow of water. When the pump shuts down the
air hole becomes a siphon break. I'm using 1 1/2" pipe in the pond, but
the same idea should work on a smaller scale.

It occurs to me now that my fear of a gravity mess is probably unfounded.
Since I do not plan to drill holes in my glass tank, I would have the feed
and return pipes going up over the top of the tank. I'd think in this
scenario, I'd have to have a siphon.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:42:04 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My tank sits on a table of sorts and is 3 feet or so off the ground.
There
is a staircase behind it so building a filter above it, and letting it
gravity feed back into the tank could be problematic. Letting the tank
gravity feed down to the filter and then pump back up to the tank would
be
problematic (I think?) because then the tank can conceiveably drain.

One simple suggestion I might to keep from draining the tank, is a
siphon break on a pumped line can be a simple hole in the line/tube.
I pump from the pond filter up to a plant pond and to keep it from
draining/siphoning back I drilled a small hole on an angle toward the
flow just above the waterline at the outlet end and the flow draws air
and adds bubbles in the flow of water. When the pump shuts down the
air hole becomes a siphon break. I'm using 1 1/2" pipe in the pond, but
the same idea should work on a smaller scale.

It occurs to me now that my fear of a gravity mess is probably unfounded.
Since I do not plan to drill holes in my glass tank, I would have the feed
and return pipes going up over the top of the tank. I'd think in this
scenario, I'd have to have a siphon.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message
...

Hello tehre

You should go and check out Marc Levensons DIY for his ref setup.
(rec.aquaria.marine.reefs) there is some VERY useful information on his
website which may help you out with your plumbing issues, he's quite a
friendly chap and would probably help you out if you asked some questions!
snip

Does he have a URL?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:42:04 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

My tank sits on a table of sorts and is 3 feet or so off the ground.
There
is a staircase behind it so building a filter above it, and letting it
gravity feed back into the tank could be problematic. Letting the tank
gravity feed down to the filter and then pump back up to the tank would
be
problematic (I think?) because then the tank can conceiveably drain.

One simple suggestion I might to keep from draining the tank, is a
siphon break on a pumped line can be a simple hole in the line/tube.
I pump from the pond filter up to a plant pond and to keep it from
draining/siphoning back I drilled a small hole on an angle toward the
flow just above the waterline at the outlet end and the flow draws air
and adds bubbles in the flow of water. When the pump shuts down the
air hole becomes a siphon break. I'm using 1 1/2" pipe in the pond, but
the same idea should work on a smaller scale.

It occurs to me now that my fear of a gravity mess is probably unfounded.
Since I do not plan to drill holes in my glass tank, I would have the feed
and return pipes going up over the top of the tank. I'd think in this
scenario, I'd have to have a siphon.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message
.. .
BV,

You may not need any external filter.About 1 1/2" of medium gravel,
sub-sand
filter and good power heads will handle 2 12" oscars in a 70 gal tank. No
external filter needed for most 55 gal set ups. About every 6 mo to a
year
you need to clean the sand. You can do it in the tank if you strip out
plants, etc, toss the gravel to lift the gunk, and use a small under water
pond pump pulling through a tupperware and filter sponge. I could send
you
a pic of the tupperware setup. I have run my oscar tank for about eight
years now. Recently I added philadendron to pull out some nutrients and
decorate.
snip

Jim...I already have a hang on filter on the back of the tank although I
don't think it does much. The filters take about 4 months to get dirty. I
have a nice layer of substrate, and some bottom feeders and some plants. All
parameters are perfect. I can't explain how, they just are.

Anyway, the idea of this external pump is really two fold. 1) I am a geek
with no free time, so of course I am looking to make life difficult by
adding another project that I don't need. 2) I am thinking some day of doing
a reef tank, and for me to afford it, I'll need to be crafty with some DIY
stuff, so I figured I would experiment now....see item 1).

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message
...

Hello tehre

You should go and check out Marc Levensons DIY for his ref setup.
(rec.aquaria.marine.reefs) there is some VERY useful information on his
website which may help you out with your plumbing issues, he's quite a
friendly chap and would probably help you out if you asked some questions!
snip

Does he have a URL?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message
...

Hello tehre

You should go and check out Marc Levensons DIY for his ref setup.
(rec.aquaria.marine.reefs) there is some VERY useful information on his
website which may help you out with your plumbing issues, he's quite a
friendly chap and would probably help you out if you asked some questions!
snip

Does he have a URL?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message
.. .
BV,

You may not need any external filter.About 1 1/2" of medium gravel,
sub-sand
filter and good power heads will handle 2 12" oscars in a 70 gal tank. No
external filter needed for most 55 gal set ups. About every 6 mo to a
year
you need to clean the sand. You can do it in the tank if you strip out
plants, etc, toss the gravel to lift the gunk, and use a small under water
pond pump pulling through a tupperware and filter sponge. I could send
you
a pic of the tupperware setup. I have run my oscar tank for about eight
years now. Recently I added philadendron to pull out some nutrients and
decorate.
snip

Jim...I already have a hang on filter on the back of the tank although I
don't think it does much. The filters take about 4 months to get dirty. I
have a nice layer of substrate, and some bottom feeders and some plants. All
parameters are perfect. I can't explain how, they just are.

Anyway, the idea of this external pump is really two fold. 1) I am a geek
with no free time, so of course I am looking to make life difficult by
adding another project that I don't need. 2) I am thinking some day of doing
a reef tank, and for me to afford it, I'll need to be crafty with some DIY
stuff, so I figured I would experiment now....see item 1).

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message
...

Hello tehre

You should go and check out Marc Levensons DIY for his ref setup.
(rec.aquaria.marine.reefs) there is some VERY useful information on his
website which may help you out with your plumbing issues, he's quite a
friendly chap and would probably help you out if you asked some questions!
snip

Does he have a URL?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Happy'Cam'per" wrote in message
...

Hello tehre

You should go and check out Marc Levensons DIY for his ref setup.
(rec.aquaria.marine.reefs) there is some VERY useful information on his
website which may help you out with your plumbing issues, he's quite a
friendly chap and would probably help you out if you asked some questions!
snip

Does he have a URL?

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message
.. .
BV,

You may not need any external filter.About 1 1/2" of medium gravel,
sub-sand
filter and good power heads will handle 2 12" oscars in a 70 gal tank. No
external filter needed for most 55 gal set ups. About every 6 mo to a
year
you need to clean the sand. You can do it in the tank if you strip out
plants, etc, toss the gravel to lift the gunk, and use a small under water
pond pump pulling through a tupperware and filter sponge. I could send
you
a pic of the tupperware setup. I have run my oscar tank for about eight
years now. Recently I added philadendron to pull out some nutrients and
decorate.
snip

Jim...I already have a hang on filter on the back of the tank although I
don't think it does much. The filters take about 4 months to get dirty. I
have a nice layer of substrate, and some bottom feeders and some plants. All
parameters are perfect. I can't explain how, they just are.

Anyway, the idea of this external pump is really two fold. 1) I am a geek
with no free time, so of course I am looking to make life difficult by
adding another project that I don't need. 2) I am thinking some day of doing
a reef tank, and for me to afford it, I'll need to be crafty with some DIY
stuff, so I figured I would experiment now....see item 1).

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message
.. .
BV,

You may not need any external filter.About 1 1/2" of medium gravel,
sub-sand
filter and good power heads will handle 2 12" oscars in a 70 gal tank. No
external filter needed for most 55 gal set ups. About every 6 mo to a
year
you need to clean the sand. You can do it in the tank if you strip out
plants, etc, toss the gravel to lift the gunk, and use a small under water
pond pump pulling through a tupperware and filter sponge. I could send
you
a pic of the tupperware setup. I have run my oscar tank for about eight
years now. Recently I added philadendron to pull out some nutrients and
decorate.
snip

Jim...I already have a hang on filter on the back of the tank although I
don't think it does much. The filters take about 4 months to get dirty. I
have a nice layer of substrate, and some bottom feeders and some plants. All
parameters are perfect. I can't explain how, they just are.

Anyway, the idea of this external pump is really two fold. 1) I am a geek
with no free time, so of course I am looking to make life difficult by
adding another project that I don't need. 2) I am thinking some day of doing
a reef tank, and for me to afford it, I'll need to be crafty with some DIY
stuff, so I figured I would experiment now....see item 1).

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com