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I recently posted a rant about eliminating tank clutter - all those tubes and hoses, and wires… really anything that is not a plant, animal, or water. If this is something that concerns you then please read on.
Setting Expectations
First, if you’ve been looking at Amano books, then you need to be aware… he usually has all sorts of equipment in hist tanks. He just removes it for pictures. But that doesn’t mean that you have to. And if you look at at The Inspired Aquarium by the Senske brothers, there too you won’t see equipment. But that’s partly because their clients have the money to hide equipment with custom furnishings.
I can’t afford that. And if you can’t either, don’t despair. With a bit of work, and a modest investment, you can get a lot of stuff out of your tank.
The Culprits
Let’s tick off the big offenders for planted tanks. Much of this will apply to fish only freshwater, and to a very limited extent saltwater tanks. The most common type of equipment we see are: water outflow tubing, Water returns, air stones, air hoses, HOB (hang on back) equipment, standpipes, overflows, pH probes, CO2 diffusers, CO2 drop checkers, thermometers, heaters, float switches, lights, UV filters, HOB filters, and of course, all the electrical cords, gas and water tubing that stuff needs to work, all hanging over the sides of the tank.
Approaches
There are a number of ways to tackle this problem.
Obfuscation
What? Hide the stuff. That’s the most common method, and a great compromise. I’ve got an air stone in my tank, and it’s hidden in plants. You’d be hard pressed to see the stone itself. The bigger trick is hiding the air hose - especially outside of the tank. Probes, like for pH or temperature have the same problem.
Camouflage
Or put another way - hiding in plain sight. That is what Amano does. Almost all of his equipment is clear glass or plastic - including is beautiful inflow “lily” pipes. I’ve done this myself, and the only real downside is that it requires a lot of manual labor to keep that glass or clear plastic clear. They are algae magnets, and it will require a time investment to keep it looking nice.
Another way is similar colors. I made a compromise in my tank - I wanted water flowing back into it at the top. Since water is leaving through the bottom, this would help circulation. But that meant either return tubes coming up through the bottom of the tank, or typical returns over the side. I chose the latter knowing I could get black returns - which fade visibly in front of my tank’s black background. Black returns would have faded too - of course - but like clear glass, everything gathers some algae, and I thought eliminating that tube coming up from the bottom would be the better path. I only have a slightly greenish black return flange at the top of the tank rather than that sitting on top of an also slightly greenish tube coming up from the bottom.
Removal
This is the big winner for hiding equipment. All kind of stuff can be pulled out if you are willing to do the work and go to some expense. There are a number of excellent options for removing that equipment.
Sumps
And many people will say that you can’t have a sump with a planted tank - that all your CO2 will outgass. Well if that is a concern of yours, just swing over to plantedtank.net and do a search on “sump”. You’ll find these can work very well with plants.
Though I’ve never had one personally, they are clearly great ways to hide stuff - not to mention other benefits. With a sump you can hide heaters, drop checkers, pH and temperature probes, fertilization injection lines, CO2 adding equipment and more.
In line equipment
If you don’t want a sump, much of that same equipment can be put in line if you have closed loop filtration. If you have a Hang on Back (HOB) filter, replace it with a canister you can stick in the stand. In my tank I’ve got heaters in line, UV filtration, CO2 injection, pH and temperature sensing, fertilization injection, and even tank draining and tank filling hardware.
Conclusion
Take a look at my plumbing diagram to see how some of this can be plumbed. And soon I’ll post on my in-line drain/fill, in-line CO2 injection, and in-line pH and temperature probes. With a bit of research, from info here and as can be found in the forums I’ve pointed to in my Links page, you can find out all you need to get a great deal of equipment out of your tanks and hidden from view, so your friends and family can see that they are really interested in - your plants and fish!
In a prior post I provided an explanation of the plumbing in the stand under my Son of Kahuna aquarium. But a lot of it did not really make sense (like the various solenoids) without a corresponding electrical diagram. So here it is. Here’s a link to the plumbing post. As you go through this diagram, sometimes it may be helpful to refer back to that.
The diagram above documents my electrical wiring. Clicking on it should bring up a larger, more usable picture. While there may be a lot of wires, it’s actually fairly simple. In fact, getting stuff to work was easy. But managing all those wires in the stand (where do you put all the excess wire?) wound up as a challenge in setting up the stand. But I think I took care of it. I’ll do a “physical stand” post later where I show how I dealt with that and other physical challenges.
Objectives
- I wanted it to be secure and reliable (no loose connections)
- I wanted it to be manageable (I’ll show that in the physical stand post)
- I wanted it all controlled by a single unit
Electrical Overview
Looking in the diagram you can see at on the left a Neptune Systems AquaController III (AC III). This simple device controls most of what is running in my stand. It can be controlled, or “programmed”, with the little buttons on front. But it also has a web server in it that displays web pages that you can control it from. That’s my preferred method of managing the AC III’s settings. But that requires that it be hooked up to an Ethernet network. I’ll get to that…
The power itself in the stand is simple. I’ve got a single multi-outlet powerstrip plugged into the wall. Everything that is not turned on and off by the AC III plugs into that. That list is the WiFi access point, three little halogen lights inside the stand (for illumination of electrical and plumbing equipment), and a ground probe. That ground probe is mounted in my plumbing (always wet) to capture any stray electrical current - if any. And finally, the AquaController’s Direct Connect 8’s (DC8) are not turned on/off. They are “on” all the time.
The DC8’s are really simple. They have a proprietary control cable that plugs into the AC III. Or rather one plugs into the AC III, and the 2nd DC8 is daisy-chained to the first one. The AC III individually controls each power outlet on the DC8’s sending control signals over that proprietary wire to turn the power to each individual plug on, or off, as needed.
The things that are turned on and off by the AC III all plug into a DC8. And the sockets are really solid - they grip a plug really tightly. Nothing is going to fall out accidentally.
Controlled Devices:
Lights
Turn on and off a little after sunset, and a little after sundown. The AC III would allow a normal “turn on at this time, off at that time” sort of programming, but it also understands seasonal variations in day lengths, and allows small incremental changes based on season.
Primary Pump
In my plumbing diagram you can see that this pump is on a filtration loop that has a lot of other devices on it, like all three heaters, CO2, UV and more. So I’ve got the AC III set up so that if this pump is turned off, then the AC III knows to turn all that other stuff off too without being specifically told to do so.
Secondary Pump
My pumps add some heat to the water, so during the warmest parts of the day, I have the AC III turn this on and off in 15 minute and 1 hour 45 minute cycles - on for a little while, then off for almost two hours.
Air Pump
Kind of a waste of a control slot really, as I usually leave it on all the time. But the option to control it is there if I need it.
Drain Solenoid
Each night the AC III turns this on three times for about an hour. In my plumbing diagram you can see where this will slowly drain water from the tank. This solenoid is normally-closed (NC) so if I lose power, no water is lost.
Fill Solenoid
After each drain cycle, the AC III turns this solenoid on to fill the tank. Again, check the plumbing diagram. The water is filtered for chlorine and particulates. And like the drain solenoid, if I lose power this shuts off. No power, no AC III controlling it, no tank filling.
CO2 Solenoid
The AC III is also a pH controller. So it has a pH probe plugged into it (see top of diagram). Based on the detected pH of the water, it turns the CO2 on and off, keeping the tank pretty close to my defined sweet spot for CO2 ppm all the time. And it also prevents end-of-tank-dumps, if you are familiar with those.
UV Filter
I fluctuate between loving this and thinking it masks problems. So sometimes it’s on all the time. Sometimes it’s on only a little, and sometimes none. Either way, it’s controlled.
Heaters 1,2 &3
The AC III is also a temperature controller, and I let it control the heaters. There is a temperature probe connected to the AC III (see top of diagram). When the temp gets a shade too cold, the 1st heater kicks in. If it gets ½ degree colder than that the second heater kicks in. And in the winter time when my fill cycle kicks in at night - I live in New England - the water is cold, and it drops a full degree less than optimal temp, and the 3rd heater kicks in. Just as the AC III knows length of day depending on season, it understands seasonal temperature fluctuations. It’s probably unnecessary, but rather than just setting it at a particular optimal temperature, I let it float up and down a degree or two over the months, depending on time of year. The heaters themselves have thermostats on them (most do), and I have them set for a little warmer than the the warmest the AC III will ever heat that water. That way, if something happens to the AC III, they still will shut off before it gets too warm. And no one heater can over heat the tank, so a single one getting stuck in the on position is a problem - should it ever happen - but not a crisis.
Fertilizer Pumps 1, 2, & 3
The AC III turns on peristaltic fert pumps as needed, for the programmed duration. See my plumbing diagram for more info on these.
Other Devices:
Some things in my stand are not controlled by the AC III, but work with it.
IO Breakout Box
This Neptune Systems expansion device allows non-AC III switches to be detected by the AC III.
Contact “Feed” Switch
This is a simple switch (little Radio Shack SPST contact variety) that I’ve got mounted to my stand door. It is connected by two thin wires to the IO Breakout Box, which is connected to the AC III. So if I hit the switche’s button - temporarily closing the circuit - the AC III detects it. I’ve got the AC III programmed to shut the two water pumps down for 10 minutes if that circuit is closed. So when I want to feed my fish without also scattering food all over the plants, I just tap that switch. The pumps shut down for ten minutes and then resume normal operation. A simple device that greatly reduces uneaten food in the tank.
Liquid Level Pressure Sensing Switch
This is just like the Contact “Feed” Switch, in that it is connected to the AC III the same way, and the AC III knows when the circuit is closed. But in the case of this switch - a World Magnetics PSF102 - it is plumbed to the bottom of the tank (see plumbing diagram) and can detect the height of the water column. It does not close the circuit - turn on - until the water reaches what I’ve set as maximum height. That is set with a little trim knob on the switch itself. When the AC III is filling the tank at night, and the water reaches that maximum height, the switch closes the circuit; the AC III detects it and is programmed to shut the Fill Solenoid off - to stop filling immediately. Even though the AC III might think it’s got a few more minutes left in the time it’s supposed to keep the Fill Solenoid on, if the Liquid Level Pressure Sensing Switch turns on, the fill process stops. And my floors stay dry! Never fails.
WiFi Access Point
As I indicated before, the AC III can be controlled by a little web site that is hosted right on the AC III. But you’ve got to have a network connection to it. I’ve got a small home network, and I could have just run an Ethernet cable to the AC III, and that would work just fine. But I didn’t want another cable running into the stand, so I connected it to a Linksys Access Point. That connects to my home wireless network, and thus connects to any device on my home network - wired or wireless. So I usually sit down at my PC to make changes to the AC III’s controls through the web interface. But I can do it on my iPhone’s web browser too. It would be possible to make the AC III’s web site available on the Internet, so I could control the stand anywhere in the world (that has Internet connectivity). But that requires getting Dynamic DNS (DDNS) up an working for my router, and I don’t want to be bothered. Many of you will know what I’m talking about. And if you don’t - bottom line, it can be done, but it’s a little bit of a PITA, and kludgy IMO.
Exceptions
The drawing is reasonably accurate. But not perfect. There are three aspects in my actual wiring that are not shown… to keep the diagram simple.
Plug-Switches
Sometimes you want something just turned on or off, independent of the AC III’s programming. The AC III calls this manual mode, but you have to go to a web browser, or mess around with the little buttons on the AC III (which I hate) to do that. Kind of a PITA if you just want to turn a pump off for a second. So I got some little devices - I’ll call plug-switches for lack of a better name - from Home Depot. It’s just an A/C socket with a rocker switch on top, and a plug in back. It’s one solid little plastic piece that you plug a controlled device (like a pump) into instead of directly into a DC8. Then you plug the little plug-switch into the DC8. So when you want to turn something off momentarily, just hit the rocker switch. Easier than buttons and more immediately gratifying than going to a web browser.
Stand Light Switch
The left side stand light A/C cord has a little Radio Shack SPDT contact switch that I wired into it. The switch is mounted just under the left side stand door. So when the door is opened, the light turns on. Simple. All of the electronics are mounted on the left side of the stand. So I get light when I need it - automatically.
Socket Expansion kit
The older DC8’s - like mine - have a design flaw. It’s been corrected in current models, but these cannot turn a device off if its current is too low. One of my fert pumps draws very little current, so the DC8 can turn it on, but not off. A recipe for disaster! Fortunately there is an easy solution - the Neptune Systems Socket Expansion kit. This is like a little miniature 2-socket power strip. It plugs into the DC8 and into the normal power strip. It senses when the DC8 has turned it on or off, and draws power from the power strip as needed. And my fert pump is plugged into that. And just in case you noticed… yes, that takes more sockets on the power strip than I’m showing. My diagram drawing tool only has an 8-plug strip. My power strip has ten.
Fertilizer Pump 3
This is not actually installed. It’s sitting on a shelf, waiting to be bolted in if I ever need it. But it is planned in - the plumbing and electrical is ready - so it will be easy.
Conclusion
With all this planning, there is one MAJOR mistake in this wiring. Have you seen it? My powerstrip is not plugged into a GFI outlet! I forgot about GFI as I was setting up the stand, and with 180g of water over it, I’m not exactly able to slide the stand out to install a GFI plug now. So I bought a big, cranking 15 amp GFI cord. I plugged the powerstrip into the GFI cord, and the GFI cord into the wall socket. But every time the HQI lights turn on the d*mn thing trips. That’s no good. I’m not sure if I’m running into an amperage problem, or something else. HQI ballasts can put out some funky line noise. So this is an area that I’m going to have to research because I really need to get GFI on that circuit.
With the exception that one major oversight, this all works very well. If I lose power, the AC III recovers very gracefully. I never exceed the capacity of our home wiring, and it all works like a charm. I hope this example is helpful to you in your own planning exercises. Setting it up was certainly fun for me!
This confusing looking jumble of tubing and equipment is a graphical representation of the plumbing in my stand. Clicking the picture should bring up a much more legible, larger diagram.
I have to begin with a disclaimer. This is not your typical planted aquarium plumbing layout. It’s extreme. IMO one of the highest expressions of the hobby is a “low tech” tank with little-to-no plumbing at all. This is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Even “high tech” tanks are almost always less technical than this. I went to extremes deliberately because I had a number of goals that I wanted to accomplish, and I wanted to do everything reasonably possible to accomplish them all:
- Remove as much equipment out of the tank as was reasonably possible
I’ve removed heaters, pH probes, temp probes, and even eliminated outflows from the tank by having water leave the tank through bulkheads in the bottom. - Automate water changes
There is a simple system to let water drain from the tank automatically, and a separate fill system that fills and tops off the tank again every night. This is done without having a sump. - Heat a lot of water fast
I live in the Northeast, and filling the tank with tapwater in the winter will give discus a nasty chill without being able to throw a lot of heating watts at the tank quickly. - Accommodate changes easily
The excessive use of PVC unions allows me to remove most any piece fairly easily… just unscrew the union at either end and pull it out. It’s also worth noting that I always put the small half of every union 2-piece pair on the downstream end of each piece of equipment. That way when I create any replacement piece it only takes 1 union (2 halves) and I know which end goes where - every time. - Provide some redundancy
If you look you will see that there are two filtration loops. The tank can run for a limited time on either one of the two. While a lot of things are only on one loop (UV, heat, and CO2 injection), temporarily dropping a heater in the tank, delaying, water changes, and adding CO2 though Seachem Excel will allow running without that loop for enough days to repair any problem without any real issue. Or, worst case in a pump problem, I can swap out the two pumps since they are virtually identical. - Make it bullet proof
There are almost no slip fitted flexible tubes for the filtration loops. It’s all threaded PVC. And it’s all firmly attached to the stand. No floppy wires or tubes in the main plumbing. There are some slip fitted flexible tubing for things like the fill and drain systems. But that tubing is such a small diameter that if any mishap did ever occur, any leak would be slow. And BTW, as of this writing this plumbing has been in place for a year and never leaked a drop… even though the cat and the ferret both think of this jumble as their personal playground.
- Dose liquid ferts automatically
This diagram does not show the electronic controller that turns the fert pumps on and off each day. But at least it shows how the liquid fertilizer is plumbed. - Be flexible
The many ball valves allow me to re-route water flows when things are being worked on. - Keep everything in the stand
There are a few obvious exceptions, like lights and the hidden tubes that take waste water to the drain and bring freshwater to the tank. Those can’t be in the stand. But pretty much everything else is.
This diagram does not detail the electrical system, which drives everything. You can find that tank electrical diagram here. Obviously I’ve got a lot of solenoids (CO2, drain, fill, ferts) that have to be controlled by some electrical controller. Same goes for heat. So making complete sense of this requires a review of that diagram too. This is just plumbing.
It may look confusing, but it’s really just a few simple systems.
Diagram Explanation
I’m going to try to explain this in the order that the water flows through the system. It’s not going to make much sense though without a good diagram, so if you haven’t done so already, please click on the diagram above and walk through this explanation as you refer back to the diagram. It all begins with water in the tank. But the tank is not shown. Instead…
Outflow Manifold
Water flows out of the tank through three bulkhead holes in the bottom of the tank. This is technically 50% more capacity for water flowing out than needed, but it makes sure the pumps are not restricted by too little water. All three of these outflows come into a single manifold constructed out of four and five way PVC pipes. The water leaves this DIY manifold in two ways. One flows to the primary pump loop which has most of the filtration, and the other to the secondary loop which only has redundant bio-mechanical filtration. By pulling water into this manifold a modicum of water mixing occurs, which is good for CO2, fert, warm water distribution, and in-line sensing.
In-line Sensing
While the water is in the manifold it runs past an in-line mounted pH sensor. This sensor is plugged into a controller that turns the CO2 on and off depending on the pH. Likewise it runs by a temp controller, which in turn is connected to a controller that turns the various heaters on and off depending on the water temp. And finally there is a ground probe, plugged into the home A/C ground to help control any stray electrical current - should such exist within the tank.
Tank Fill
It seems odd to discuss tank filling before talking about draining first, but the fill water comes into the manifold, so I’ll cover it here. The household water is connected to the inflow manifold, but not before it runs through two carbon filters and a solenoid. The solenoid is normally closed, so water cannot flow in if power is lost. But a controller turns the solenoid on periodically and lets fresh water flow in. Before it flows in though, the water first flows through a 10 micron carbon filter, which strips out chlorine from the water along with large particulates. Then it flows though a 2 micron carbon filter that strips out any last remnants of chlorine. These two filters help ensure that no particles clog the solenoid and keep it from closing.
Pumps
As mentioned before, once water exits the manifold it goes to one of two directions. Each goes to a pump. I think these are identical. They have the same specs and look identical. They are wicked quiet, but they vibrate a lot and require serious vibration damping in their mounting. And they also contribute heat to the water. But for discus that’s not too much of a problem.
Bio/Mechanical Filtration
The Ocean Clear filters that come after the pumps are great. They filter so well that changing/cleaning media only has do be done every 4-6 months. And their 50 micro filters keep the water crystal clear. I love that. Plus they provide additional biological filtration. One of these filters goes nearly straight back to the tank. So I’ll ignore that path, but will talk about the primary filtration loop (on the bottom of the diagram) that runs the water through all the other equipment.
Tank Drain
Like the fill system, this is also controlled by a solenoid. That normally closed solenoid will not let any water drain out unless it is powered on. So, again, no water is lost in a power failure. The same controller that turns the fill solenoid on and off controls this too. It’s placed immediately after the filter so that any particulates that could clog the solenoid have been stripped out of the water.
Heating
Three separate 300 watt heaters allows the water to be heated up quickly. They are in-line mounted Pentair modules, horizontally mounted to fit in the stand. Water flows sequentially through them. It’s worth noting that they are turned on and off by the controller that senses temperature as detected by the temp probe in the manifold - before it gets to the heaters. If I tried use the thermostats on each heater, being in-line means the I would to set the 2nd and 3rd thermostats to not turn on until the water was really hot, because the water is being preheated by the heaters in front of it. By controlling them by a temp sensor in the “cool” side of the loop, I’m always detecting tank temps, allowing me to set the thermostats on the heaters at a reasonable temperature… one that will not fry the fish if one ever gets stuck in the on position.
Ultraviolet Filtration
After the heaters is a 25 watt UV. The flow rate on this filtration loop is slow enough to allow a UV of this wattage to toast pretty much anything unfortunate enough to flow through it.
CO2 Injection
Rather than normal CO2 injections, I’ve used Tom Barr’s suggestion of a Mazzei venturi to dissolve CO2 in the water flowing by. This requires having water flowing by at the correct speed, so the ball valve (#19) is used to control how much goes through the venturi vs. going around it. CO2 is regulated by the solenoid on the CO2 regulator. As I mentioned before, this turns on and off - allowing CO2 to be injected or not - depending on the pH level measured coming out of the tank by the pH probe in the outflow manifold.
Fertilizer Injection
Fert injection is controlled by two peristaltic pumps which are turned on for a few minutes a day by an electronic controller. Peristaltic pumps allow injection of very precise liquid fert quantities. And it being automatic makes daily maintenance a lot easier too - no dosing!
Inflow Manifold
This just consolidates the flow from both filtration paths, does a bit of water mixing and returns the water to the tank. The important thing is that depending on the needs of the aquascape, water can be directed to either side of the tank, or flowing more to one particular side if slow flow is needed on the other. Also, the ball valves allow either of the two flows to be excluded if one is having maintenance performed. And needless to say, the large check valves on the end of the stand plumbing - last thing before water goes back to the tank - prevents a backflow siphon of water from happening should I be performing maintenance. The inflows themselves do go into the tank, and that violates my first goal of removing as much equipment as possible. I made that compromise because having water come in the top of the tank, and exit the bottom creates great circulation. But I did have extra, unused, bulkhead holes drilled in the bottom of the tank, should I ever decide to remove that last bit of visible hardware and plumb my inflows through the bottom.
Tank Aeration
Over on the upper right side of the diagram is a bulkhead attached to an air pump. Though it does not show in the diagram, the upper side of the bulkhead in the tank has a slip nozzle with an air stone on it. Planted tank filtration typically don’t do much aeration, depending instead on the plants to provide oxygen to the water. But a tank full of discus is quite a bit different then your typical planted tank with a small school of tetras. I’m personally convinced that my discus seem so little stressed, in part, because I aerate my water day and night. Not enough to out-gas a lot of CO2. Just a little air. And the great thing about bringing the air though the bottom of the tank is that I don’t have air hoses coming into the tank. It’s all hidden.
Water Level Sensing
Just to the side of the aeration bulkhead hole in the diagram is the bulkhead for the water level sensor. This is simply a hole in the bottom of the tank with a tube under the bulkhead, which is connected to a water pressure sensor. In the process of doing the automatic fills of the tank, when the water reaches the proper height (depth and pressure), the sensor switches on and electrically signals the fill controller that the tank is full, and the controller shuts off the solenoid to stop filling the tank. This enables me to have automatic drain/fill cycles every night, knowing the tank will be filled to the correct height and I don’t have to have any unsightly things in the tank like float switches. But that fill process is on a timer just in case this puppy ever fails, it won’t keep filling for too long.
Closing
I know that some of these systems require a bit more information. This certainly does not explain how it all fits in the stand. I just finished an electrical diagram that helps fill in some of the gaps. And over time I’ll work up some individual - more detailed - explanations of the CO2 venturi, fert injection, and the drain/fill systems.
In closing, if this is interest of to you, then by all means swing by my Son of Kahuna thread over at Plantedtank.net, where I discuss this setup ad nauseam with other posters. Also a large number of people there have set up some wonderful alternative ways to accomplish many of the same things.
And a lot of what I have here - like the auto water change and massive heating - are primarily because I am keeping discus in this planted tank. So if you want to see wonderful discussions of how to keep discus in planted tanks, the best site I know is Simplydiscus.com. I’ve got a Son of Kahuna thread there to.
Finally it’s worth mentioning that I know of no better English speaking site for hard-core plumbing than Reefcentral.com. I don’t post there much since I’m not a reef-keeper. But they can answer tough aquarium plumbing questions like nobody’s business.
So pick a forum, and come say “hi”!
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