CraigThor

Actually I believe that glass is on the inside of the tank. I know I'm more than happy with me 20H though as I'm turning it into a shimp only tank.

Craig

 

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helgymatt

Yes, the xtra strip of glass is on the inside of the tank.

hoppycalif

What purpose do the extra glass strips inside the tank serve? I can understand putting them on the outside, but not the inside. The silicone joint at the bottom of the tank is primarily a seal to keep the water in the tank, not a load resisting adhesive. Maybe I'm just confused. I wonder if they do that for drilled tank bottoms only?

helgymatt

Hoppy, the strips are set back 1/4 inch or so from the main glass panels and the gaps are filled with silicone. I think it is just extra support. Have another look at the photos

The tank has shapped up nicely after an hour or two of tediously cleaning up silicone and residue. I'll post some pics of the stand I build this week soon and the tank should be filled by next week.

AaronT

Matt - It looks like you setup your Ocean Clear 340 a bit differently than mine. I put the intake hose on the lower barb. Does it make a difference which way the water enters the filter, from the top or the bottom?

BTW: I'm running mine with an Eheim 1260 pump and it's doing great on my 75 gallon tank.

helgymatt

You know I was wondering about this! I did not have a manual so I just guessed and it has been working fine. I found a manual online and it does not say which way it should go. Maybe I missed it. Can anyone else chime in here?

Grubs

I assume strength. My 5x2x2 was constructed this way and I've seen other > 2' deep tanks with this extra "bead" of glass around the inside of the base. I always assumed it was to provide double the glass thickness of bond to the front and back faces of the tank to resist the water pressure that is pushing the sides out and putting that bottom joint under tension.

hoppycalif

That is interesting! I notice that extra thickness of glass strips is only about half the thickness of the rest of the glass. I'm sure Glasscages has a reason for making them like that or they wouldn't be adding that extra work for themselves.

About that filter and how the flow goes through it: Pleated filters like that are designed for the flow to be from the outside in. This is true in general for all such filters, but not necessarily true in every single case, so I think the odds are very high that the upper fitting, which seems to go to the outside of the filter element, is the inlet fitting.

AaronT

I used the manual online as well since I got my filter used. I went by the drawing that shows how to backflush the filter. It shows the inlet on the bottom and the outlet as being on top of the filter. Obviously, we dont' have the one wiht the outlet on the very top, but I figured on the side near the top was the next closest thing.

helgymatt

Quote from Tom Barr...


Helgymatt,

OC says to run it in from the top out the bottom for the canisters.
Other makers suggest the same thing on larger system.

I suppose you can run them in reverse, there's no truly good reason that it cannot be done. But the pleated side allows more detritus in there on the outside where you can see the filth, you cannot see it if you pump water through the bottom to the outside.

I like mechanical filtration, then chem/bio. The backwards method suggest the opposite.

But there's still no real reason why it would not work.

As far as plumbing goes, having a valve and loop to run the filter in reverse can help you a lot by backwashing it.

But the OC's have a drain garden hose connections for this purpose, so hook that up and back wash when you do the water changes every week or two.

I just keep a spare mechanical pleated cartiage around, and bleach the old one for 1-2 days and dechlor to clean them really good after I've run out of back washing options.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

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