[cichlidChad]

Hi all,

Here is my new UGJ system for my recently purchased 125. I have 3 closed loops and a total of 10 jets powered by 3 penguin 1140s with prefilters. I am going to fill the tank this weekend and make sure there aren't any issues. I am using pool filter sand as substrate. I am going to try and coat the actual jets with sand by using silicone. Has anyone tried this? I am worried that in the long run this might fall off or my plecos will get the best of this.

Let me know what you think!

-Chad

 

[IrkedCitizen]

Looks good but you may have crimped the jets too tight. This can cause excess head pressure which will slow the flow significantly. also you might have them angled downward too much which will blow the sand out of the way and won't look all that attractive. So test it first to see if the flow is good without adding the sand (of course.) Then you can add the sand and make sure it doesn't blow craters into the sand.

Other people have used silicone to glue sand to their PVC with great success. I don't know if plecostomus will suck it off or not though.

Good luck. :thumb: :fish:

 

[cichlidChad]

Yeah, I figure I can always reform the jets if the flow isn't what I want. I won't add the sand til I am sure everything is perfect. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Ravenatnm]

I hope it works out well. I thought you needed 125-150 GPH per jet to make them work well though. That pump does 300GPH, with 3 jets it is probably around 80GPH, 4 jets would be down to 60 maybe. I guess the tight crimps may help make up for the lower GPH though.

 

[cichlidChad]

That was my thought too. I tested the tighter crimps in my tub right after I set it up, and things seem to work ok. We will see what happens the actual tank though. I wanted to stay away from overpowering jets since I am using sand. Hopefully they will be powerfull enough...

-Chad

 

[acquario]

please keep us posted I'm in the process of doing the same with an established 125 g tank, I decided to go with 2 instead of 3, Rio 2100 (I think..), just out of curiosity what's your thinking behind the shape of the 2 outside ones?

 

[boredatwork]

Two comments...

1) I just built a similar UGJ. I glued sand onto the PVC and it didn't come out that well. But that doesn't mean much because most of the things I try don't come out well. Having done a poor job of it I would recommend either doing multiple coats of glue and sand, or really pressing a lot of sand onto the glue. When I did it I used silicone on the PVC and then pured sand over it. It looked fine when there was a lot of extra sand on it, but when i shook it all off it looked like PVC pipe with sand on it - rather than hiding the PVC behind sand.

2) I used three Rio 2100 pumps and made a system almost identical to the one in the library article. I would point out that those pumps are very loud. Loud in the sense of a very significant vibrating noise. I will admit I am very sensitive to noises, but honestly it sounds like I have 4 refrigerators on. And its a very resonant hum, so it easily passes through walls. I can hear it several rooms over. I dont have any advice - because I don't know if there are any other pumps that are quieter.

 

[acrosstic]

My problem when I set up my UGJ was the pipes pulling up and out of the sand bed. It doesn't take much force to pull them up and if you do it is a pain to get them down again. I also had a problem hiding the jets and I don't really like the look of PVC. I'm wondering if the negative look is worth the positives.

I have two systems like yours in my 75, but I'm using my Magdrive 95 to power both. I have some power heads I could use, but I liked the clean look of just two 1/2" pipes in the tank and not two power heads back there. Personal thing.

 

[cichlidChad]

Yeah, I am kind of worried about how things will look once it is all setup. I am also worried that my cichlids will be constantly digging and exposing the pipe. I figure I will at least give this a shot, and if I doesn't turn out well I will just use the powerheads for waterflow and remove the pipe. Hopefully the positives outweigh the negatives. I am filling the tank today, so we will see...

-Chad

 

[Doane]

Go with a deep sand bed, if that fails, try moving the jets so they are not in the front of the tank, but rather serpentine the middle.