Quote:
Originally posted by melev
Reef Cherie had one of those Zero Clearance tanks and the day before MACNA, the pump failed, the check valve failed and here livingroom was flooded, with all of her clams exposed to the air for an unknown period of time. She quickly acclimated them to her reef tank and then left for MACNA.
The problem with the checkvalve was that the gravel substrate was constantly drawn in to the return line each time the pump turned off, because the tank would automatically try to drain. The vacuum of this event drew in the gravel, and thus the valve could not seal.
The concept is great as long as the pump is running non-stop. The checkvalve is the flaw, but I still can't come up with an alternative solution.
I love the pictures in this thread, and the tank looks excellent. I'd make one myself if I could figure out a solution. The only one I can come up with is a tower in the center that breaks the surface unfortunately.
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This is what my husband designed as the solution for my zero-edge clam tank. This is basically a standpipe, but modified in a way that still allows the top to be virtually ripple-free. It isn't as attractive as having no standpipe in the center, but it does the job and doesn't look all that bad.
Cheri