Surge Tank

[reef_of_flames]

After seeing Dave's beautiful tank at the Frag Swap, I got really inspired to build a surge tank of my own.

First, I wanted to ask what setups people have/had, how they built it, and the stats of the tank and equipment. (pipe diameter, length of the tank, pump size, etc)

Secondly, do you guys have any tips on building them?

Also, pics would be extremely helpful for visualization

[KWoo008]

Vivid used to have a surge coral raceway. From what I remember, water was pumped up to a reservoir tank and was triggered by a float valve that would release the water via gravity once water reached a predetermined level.

[REEForBANG]

Hopefully Dave will let us know about his set up and share some pictures on this thread.also any others with a surge set up.

[reef_of_flames]

Yes that would be very helpful!
He explained to me his setup, but pictures of everything would be better.

[cali_reef]

Had a Carlson device using a 15 gallons tank 3.5 feet above a 150g prop tank, TOO MUCH bubbles when it releases. Good thing it was a look down tank so the bubble didn't both me as much. Dave told me his set up have no bubbles, it didn't when we were first looking at it, until he forgot the pump was TURNED OFF..

[reef_of_flames]

Originally Posted by cali_reef

Had a Carlson device using a 15 gallons tank 3.5 feet above a 150g prop tank, TOO MUCH bubbles when it releases. Good thing it was a look down tank so the bubble didn't both me as much. Dave told me his set up have no bubbles, it didn't when we were first looking at it, until he forgot the pump was TURNED OFF..

I've been thinking about the bubbles, but couldn't they be eliminated with vents in the top part of the upside-down U??

lol when did he realize the pump was off?

[o2manyfish]

Hey Guys,

When I first built the surge it was a Carlson surge. I like the simplicity of it, because the only mechanical issue was the pump. Everything else is based on gravity, and gravity doesn't fail or break or require maintenance. I ran the Carlson surge for over 8 years, and other than the night the rat fell into the surge tank and got stuck in the pipe, there was never a hiccup.

There is no way to remove the bubbles with a Carlson device, because each time when the cycle ends, it empties the pipe and the expanse of pipe is filled with air. Now for my setup, the surge tank is on the second story balcony 10' above the tank. So that means I had 10' of 2" pipe full of air, that needs to be pushed out before the surge siphon starts.

Most Carlson devices create a large burp when they start as the air is pushed out of the pipe by the water trying to rush down the pipe.

I was able to minimize this by adding a small vent, above the water line of the tank, to allow the air to escape and building a small muffler for the surge outlet that broke the big bubbles into smaller bubbles, which stopped the burping noise.

There isn't too much to show photos of. On the balcony upstairs is the surge tank, which is a 30g water storage tank. For the Carlson device, there is a 2" bulkhead with what looks like and inverted J pipe inserted into it. The height of the J is several inches shorter than the max height you want the water level to be in the surge tank. When the water goes over the top of the J it pushed the air out and starts the siphon.

You must use a pump that's powerful enough to push the water in faster than the air comes out of the tube, else you can have an equilibrium where the water going into the surge tank, is just falling down the pipe and it doesn't build enough pressure to start the siphon.

Also, when the Carlson surge finishes it's cycle, the siphon break sounds like a wave crashing on the beach. Fortunately mine is outside, but I had to turn it off at night.

This past summer I converted mine from a Carlson device to a motorized ball valve. I switched because the motorized ball valve gives the same performance, but allows you to stop the flow down the surge pipe before the tank empties all the way, so the pipe is always full of water. This way the surge cycles with no air bubbles and no noise (in the tank or on the balcony).

The motorized valve makes a surge a more expensive project, as the valve is several hundred dollars, and then you need an adjustable timer relay. You now have a mechanical point of failure. So I had to add a float switch at the top of the surge bucket, so if the valve fails, the pump shuts off and doesn't overflow the surge tank.

The valve was a great upgrade to the surge, my surge is now silent, and there are no bubbles.

Dave B

[Anemone]

I used to have a surge tank in my garage connected to my 80 gallon tank. It was my "experimental" tank, so it wasn't pretty. The surge was a toilet flush style surge.

Basically, I took a 15 gallon tank and divided it in half. One half was an algae-filled refugium and one half was the surge. Water from the tank flowed into both sides, but the water going into the refugium side was valved back considerably. Water from the refugium side overflowed the center divider to enter the surge side. When the surge side filled high enough, the float pulled open the toilet flapper, allowing the surge to flush. One nice thing was that with a toilet valve, there is built in overflow protection, as long as the overflow tube is shorter than the tank glass.

Lousy pictures below:

The surge/refugium:



The tank from the front:



Kevin

[reef_of_flames]

Thanks guys!

Kevin, how big is that drain pipe??? 2"?

What do you guys think of this surge tank?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhrobcNZt0I

[REEForBANG]

Originally Posted by reef_of_flames

Thanks guys!

Kevin, how big is that drain pipe??? 2"?

What do you guys think of this surge tank?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhrobcNZt0I

Pretty cool vid there's some other interesting ones when you look at this one that show it on DT's and growth patterns sweet link thanks for sharing.