True Conical Settling Tank

[ScruffyRubicon]

Instead of continuing to hijack another thread, I thought I might continue the idea here. Geoff had mentioned a True Conical Settling Tank for easy removal of detrius. He gave a link to a tank for this. Here is a pic of how I envisioned it happening:



Quoting Geoff:

"i plan on putting the inlet bulkhead just above where the conical area begins. the inlet pipe will be directed along the sides of the tank, creating a vortex. this keeps the flow to minimum in the center of the tank so that the detritus will stay once it has settled. a few inches above that i will put some eggcrate in the tank. this will act as a flow barrier. it will keep the flow below the grate more turbulent while the water above the crate will be calmer allowing more of the detritus to fall out of suspension. as close to the top of the tank as possible i will add the outlet bulkhead. the actual drain will be dead center in the tank. this will limit any chance that detritus will make it into the sump.

if all goes well. when i do a water change all i have to do is turn a valve on the bottom of the tank and all of the detritus will flow into a bucket."

The red line represents the above mentioned eggcrate.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Would it be beneficial to place another piece of eggcrate 2 or 3 inches from the bottom to stop the vortex at the bottom and allow the detrius to collect and remain there?

[mcarver]

I would agree on the second eggcrate neer the bottom. That looks like a great idea and if you dont mind, I am going to incorporate that into my next tank.

[Geoff]

if the inlet pipe is angles so as to create a vortex in the settling tank another eggcrate near the bottom should not be needed. eggcrate is cheap, so adding one will not harm anything either.

G~

[tabwyo]

Spinning the water will allow for optimum setteling. But the movement would have to be fairly mild. I'll look for the calculations today. I work alot with accelerated gravity and Stokes Law at work. But in a completely impractical application for aquaria. I agree with Geoff on the eggcrate at bottom. The idea would be to impeed the movement of detritus and water as little as possible. Spinning water through eggcrate would cause turbulence and slow settleing. But it is cheap so give her a shot and let us know for sure. It might also be an idea to have the outlet water go through a couple 50 micron filter socks to catch the really light stuff that just goes with the flow.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Geoff

Called the company on that tank today. The stand adds 12" to the overall height stated and the lid adds 2". Overall height is 36".

[Geoff]

are these measurements for all the stands for the settling tank?

that is way to tall for my application. i will need to find a way to cut the stand down or make my own stand.

G~

[ScruffyRubicon]

I couldn't get an email response from them so I called this morning. The stand that comes withit makes the overall height at 36". The tank alone is 21" without the lid.

When I started thinking about the size of a 10 gallon tank, I was not sure how a 15 was going to fit. Especially with a stand added.

[Geoff]

here is the cheapest place i have found online for the tank and stand.

hoping to order one by the end of the week, or next week at the latest.

G~

[sasquatch]

Hey Geoff did you get a tank? this used to be the cats bum for koi ponds, as the detrius was rather large lol, interesed to see what results you get

[Geoff]

it finally arrived. of course 1 day late for my plan. i need to have the stand shortened and it arrive a day after my dad left. he manages a nuclear weld shop, so i am sure he could find someone to tack a few roundbar lets together.

the measurements were a touch off. it is going to be a bear to get it to fit in the only spot i have for it. i will need to completely remove all of my current plumbing to fit it in there. i am hoping to get all the parts aquired by Christmas. i plan on bringing the stand down to my Dad's place, and he will bring it back up for Christmas when they arrive for the entire family gathering at out place.

i am really looking forward to getting it online. right now my 50g stock tank collects 90% of all of my detritus. with a 30g settling tank inline before the stock tank i really hope that it takes out this detritus so i do not have to siphon.

G~