Brhino's 300g megatank

[Brhino]

I've had good luck in the past treating with elevated temperature alone. That will be the plan if I have to do it again.

[Compass]

I've had good luck in the past treating with elevated temperature alone. That will be the plan if I have to do it again.

Well good, I hope you don't have to though.

[sheamurai]

fabulous! really enjoying this thread...keep the updates and pics coming!

[Brhino]

I had a one night business trip. When I got back, my wife mentioned that the tank seemed extra loud, so I went down to the basement to check it out. It was loud because the water level had dropped in the sump so far that the pump was sucking in air, which is noisy. And also bad for the pump. Why would the water level be that low? it shouldn't have evaporated that fast...

...and then I noticed the water all over the floor.

So naturally that was pretty scary, but in the end it really wasn't that bad. What had happened was, my second tray to the top, which has fine mechanical filtration, had gotten clogged and overflowed. It didn't have a lot of gunk in it - I think the 50 pores per inch stuff is just too good at soaking up water rather than letting it pass through. When it overflowed, it mostly fell back into the sump, but some of it also spilled over the edge, and from there on to the stand and from there on to the floor. I probably lost 10-20 gallons that way. It all ran under the furnace and washer/dryer. The only things on the floor that got wet was some dirty laundry waiting to be washed, so no harm there. The sump maintained the water level in the tank, so the fish were fine too.

I removed the 50ppi foam, and everything seems to be running smoothly now.

I confirmed the ich outbreak in the loach quarantine tank, so I've raised the temperature to 88f. The fish seem to be doing fine so far, and none of them have a really bad amount of spots at this point... although the loachs' natural tendency to lay on their sides is extra unnerving when you know they're sick.

[Compass]

Glad the problem cause no major damage and the fix was simple. I hope your loaches pull through. I know what you mean, they shouldn't be allowed to play dead when they might actually be dead. lol

[Knightia]

Blimey, with that much water I guess it's lucky you didn't lose more! A bit of fine tuning is always needed with DIY sumps (so I've read). Any more thoughts on increasing your hardscaping?

[Brhino]

Any more thoughts on increasing your hardscaping?

well, it's officially on my "to do" list, but there are some other things that are going to be higher priority. For now, while it might not be the most attractive setup, it does seem to be functional. The one loach that's in there now has several caves, and the pleco has driftwood... so it's likely to stay like this for the immediate future.

[wgoldfarb]

wow... close call! Glad to hear the fish were fine, and it was an easy fix.

[Brhino]

ugh. The ich is ravaging the new loaches. I've lost four, plus the one that jumped, leaving only three remaining. The elevated temperature treatment, which I started six days ago, has had no effect. I don't know if my thermometer is wrong and I'm not getting as warm as I think, or if I'm dealing with the heat-resistant strain, or what. So I'm changing tactics, lowering the water back to normal, and using medication. Half dose, as recommended for scaleless fish.

This is all extremely depressing for me. Worked so hard on the tank and now I can't seem to keep new fish alive to add to it...

[Plecos]

Put that over flow in the filter tray I was talking about. It will solve the back up of water if the media clogs up. Just a pipe in the tray bottom above the media a little to allow water to go in it to the next tray. It should stop any back up of water. These big tanks are good learning curves I have had a few myself.

Here is a write up on a Heater Control I did. They work great and give you a accerate temp and control of the heaters. You can control several heaters at once to heat the same time. The $14.57 free shipping is the best deal, I am waiting for my second one I bought for my 45 gal tank.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...d.php?t=119445