Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Or improve the SLO?
If you have an SLO in and your tank overflows, your SLO cant carry as much water as you are pumping, in this case he may not have enough slots to equalise water flow?

Sorry i missed the 3000l/hr pump before.

ArBe



I don't have a lot height above the SLO outlet so I may have to make that the overflow and drop the SLO a bit lower.

Thanks ArBe


Yavimaya



I might look at increasing the slots or even add a few holes, I've got a couple of offcuts of pipe I can play around with and try a few different ideas.

Thanks Yavimava

Mine works like Arbe suggested but I wouldn't do it this way anymore - Just plumb a diversion into the pipe from the sump to the fish tank. Include a ball valve so you can adjust how much water returns to the sump instead of going to the fish tank. Use it to aerate the water - This has the advantage that fish waste will not be returned to the sump like it would with a fish tank overflow.

The SLO could also be the cause as Yavimaya mentioned.

Thanks Scotty

I've improved the SLO's performance on your advice.

Yavimaya:
Improved the SLO by shortening the length and adding extra holes along the bottom. I also placed a small air stone down in the bottom of the SLO and with the air rising inside the SLO seems helps to draw the solids into the SLO

Scotty:
I added a diversion with a ball valve in the sump so there's now more overflowing.

ArBe:
I added an emergency overflow from the FT to the sump and fitted a small guard to stop any fish ending up down in the sump.

So now everything is working well and there's no chance of the sump being pumped dry. Once again thanks for the advise.

Joe

Excellent news. It is good to get feedback on these things (good or bad).

Yes Arbe it's made a great difference, and it's all running well.

Can a open bottom SLO get fish caught in it if you are using gold fish? I know with larger breeds it would be fine.

What do you mean by open bottom slow? Just a pipe with no cover on it? Or a pipe cut in half length wise and sat on the bottom of the tank?

Im assuming you mean a vertical pipe hanging in the middle of the tank, a CM or so from the bottom.
Mine which is like that used to suck up dead (and live) trout yearlings (15 or so cm) and dump them into my goldfish tank.
I have the same SLO on my goldfish tank and have a guard on that one (which needs redoing) and my goldfish get sucked up and out into my growbed all the time - most are tiny (2-3cm)


Although this happens, i would never change from this style of SLO to go back to one that runs along the bottom with holes/slots.

Ya, an open bottom. Not just a pipe with slots cut in it. Yav confirmed that they would get sucked up if small fishies. I guess if you have an open pipe (Im thinking performance related) you could run it into a smaller sump where the pump is and just move the fish back if they get sucked up.

Never had a fish sucked up my SLO. My Koi when I put them in 12 + months ago were very small and would have easily fitted in the 5mm slots I have cut.

But that isnt an open bottom SLO, so i wouldnt expect any to get sucked out, maybe stuck to though.