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Adding an octopus tank to exisiting fowlr system, questoins?

wlyon

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Ok so I've been reefing for a little over two years now, I'm a grad student and work part time as the head saltwater guy at my local pet store. Currently I maintain 72 saltwater systems from a 600 reef tank to a 1 gallon nps system. I have been wanting a dwarf octopus for about a year now, and have been preparing for this moment ever since. I think I'm about ready to dive in to the amazing world that is cephlapods.


I currently have a hundred gallon fowlr tank with a 55 gallon sump, two skimmers combined rated up to 600 gallons, a 20 gallon display fuge with a deep sand bed for seahorses. I am wanting to add a 60 gallon cube plumbed through the wall into this system for an octopus. I already know about sealing the tank, lots of live rock, dont startle it, massive water change and carbon if it inks, and having that tank at a different temp than the rest of the system etc... but was wondering more about the filtration and the effects of my current system if the octopus does ink. I am wanting this as an add on to my system to have more water in the octopus system. Any input would be greatly appreciated before I punch a hole through my wall.

My plan is to have a sump under the octopus tank that is also drilled and simply overflows into the existing sump. The octopus sum will have its own skimmer and return pump, with that return pump not plugged in unless the octopus inks then I will simply turn off a valve on the overflow and plug in the return pump completely cutting it off from the big system, until I can get everything back to normal.

I've also heard of using a chiller on the return of the octopus tank, then when it drains back into the sump have it hit heaters immediately so my main tank stays at a constant 78 degrees.
 
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effects of my current system if the octopus does ink.
None. It happens usually not that often, but with such a large system you wont have any ink problems. in my 125 system it dissipates quickly and has never caused a problem.

FYI most octopuses available to the public are Caribbean or Indonesian so 78* is a perfect temp. the only octopuses that need to be chilled are the two species of bimac but they are very hard to come by. with your system I would suggest either a O. Hummelincki or A. Aculeatus.
 
Awesome, that's what I was hoping to hear. Those two species were on the top of my list.



Now to figure out how to escape proof the overflow system. Any hints would be awesome!

I was thinking drilling 4 holes in the back panel, two for the return with a flat loc line end piece so it can't squeeze through, and two for the drain. Using a 90 elbow on each one with a plastic grate much like the ones that come with most mag drive return pumps, then a sponge to ensure there is no escaping route into my sump.
 
Ok, So I've decided to drill the back of the tank with four holes, two for drains in the two top corners, and two for the returns in the top middle.

I'm going to use loc-line for the returns and use the flare nozzles, which is hopefully small enough so my new octopus can't get through it


If someone has a better idea or just knows the flare nozzle is to big please let me know.

As far as the drain goes I'm planning on having a 90 degree pvc elbow painted black plugged into the bulk head then have a (can't think of the name) its a strainer type thing that comes with some pumps to keep large debree from killing the pump, and then if that is to big add a filter sponge on top of that to ensure he can't escape through the drain line getting into the main sump.

I've got a snowflake eel so I'm somewhat aware of what escape proofing a tank involves but would really appreciate any input you guys have.
 

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I agree that ink, really isn't a problem, and certainly won't be in such a large system as yours. You won't need a complicated second sump, or different temperatures, just run water from your current system, through the octopus tank, and back to your current system. Your octopus might decide to cover one of the two overflows, just to see what happens, so make sure that, even with the strainer in place, the second overflow can handle the flow rate coming into the octo tank.

I currently have a small octo tank connected inline like that to my large octo tank. It was easy to set up, and works great.
 
Joe-Ceph;182280 said:
Your octopus might decide to cover one of the two overflows, just to see what happens, so make sure that, even with the strainer in place, the second overflow can handle the flow rate coming into the octo tank.


I thought about that at one point then forgot haha. I think I will have three drains now and two returns in case one gets blocked. Thanks for the helpful tip Joe.

I've got one more question. When it comes to the drains I've worked with having a pvc T where i can have an air hole above the waterline outside the tank. However I've yet to master this and if anyone has any experience with this drain type and would be willing to share some tricks/tips I would be your best friend!

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I've got one more question. When it comes to the drains I've worked with having a pvc T where i can have an air hole above the waterline outside the tank. However I've yet to master this and if anyone has any experience with this drain type and would be willing to share some tricks/tips I would be your best friend!

Interesting, why the air vent? Mine just drain directly to the sump from the strainer no T or vent.
 
When I built my display refugium for my sea horses I had two holes drilled on the back wall, one being the return with a loc-line and the other being the drain with nothing but a bulk head a 90 degree pvc elbow to control water height and the tubing. I had so many problems with it from being noisy to only being able to drain about 100gph when I wanted at least 200gph of overturn which I couldn't get with out overflowing my tank. I read on reef central about the whole air hole above the water line etc... and wanted to try it.

When I build tanks for customers I have just always used a standard overflow system with holes in the bottom of the tank and mega flow kits. So I have little experience with this at all.
 
I think the T fitting and air hole is intended to reduce gurgling noise, by allowing air into the pipe through a different hole than the one the water is draining into. I think it either prevents gurgling, or causes it to happen inside the T fitting so that the noise is mostly contained. I don't know how well it works.

How loud is such a fitting without the air hole? I have something similar set up (without the air hole), and it is rather quiet, but the drop from the strainer to the sump is only about 10", and it's a gentle slope to the side, not a long drop straight down, and the flow rate is low, so maybe that's why it's quiet.
 
My main reason for the air hole was to get more water through the drain, in my display refugium I could barely push 100gph through it. When I added the T and the air hole I was able to push closer to 300gph. I'm thinking if I used a bigger diameter pvc "T" that might help a lot even though the size of the bulk head will still be 1" I have very severe headaches and loud noises or random annoying noises set them off pretty bad, so the loud gurgling sound killed me to the point of not going in my living room for more than a few minutes at a time.

I am planning on having a 900gph pump run this system and with head loss and splitting the return that would be about 500gph that the returns have to handle.
 

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