Bean animal in a center overflow drain3/19/2024 ![]() That will drain the 90 gallons out, creating the low tide. When it's time for the tide to ebb, the solenoid valve opens, and water drains out of the additional drain at a tuned rate of 15 gph for 6 hours and 12.5 minutes. It is backed up by the high tide Ghost Overflow with Bean Animal drains. It has two pipes which are under full siphon at all times. The lower overflow is tuned so that it matches the output of the main pump. Just think of is as two separate tanks with different water levels, each with an overflow and return pump. The plumbing looks complicated, but it really isn't. The outlets are just above the height of the shallow area of the tank and are low enough that they stay submerged at low tide. I have a glass box with Tunze pumps and a wave controller on the end of the tank pointing directly at the beach. The two stacked overflows allow for 6" of water to drain out, creating the low tide. The deep section is 3' long with 1.5' of shallow, 4' of slope and 1.5' of dry sand. The tank is 10' long, 4' wide and 4' deep with a 40" water depth. It's a drop off, because I wanted to have some deep water without having the sand slope over the length of the tank. This thing is big because I need a lot of gallons for these growing turtles, but I think this will scale well for anyone that wants to do it. So, here are my plans for my new, ridiculous tank. They're not shown in the diagrams, but I will plant them on the back side of the tank between the high and low tide lines. If waves will do that for my turtles, then tides will keep my mangroves happy too. I think a little wave action will keep the slope intact and the turtles happy. Only very rough waves from storms erode the sand. Waves lapping gently up on a beach help to replenish the sand there in the real world. So, how do I replenish the sand on the beach naturally? I think waves and a real beach will do it. The tank is too small to add a 3rd turtle, and I have this annoying issue where the turtles bring a little sand from the beach into the water with them every time they jump in. They're great: controllable flow, quiet, and efficient. The main return is an AquaMedic 3.0 DC Pump. The ATS pump is a AquaMedic 1.2 DC pump from an old tank. I have a DIY Algae Scrubber made from a 2.5g aquarium on a plywood base with 4x 24 Watt LED Grow Lights. ![]() There is a ReefSavyy Ghost Overflow with 1" Bean Animal drain system to my 40 Breeder sump. They breed like crazy, and sometimes end up on the turtle's menu. I have a deep sand bed, 15 pounds of live rock, all manner of CUC, and a bunch of mollies. The current tank is a 120g 4'x2'x2' with a 1'x2'圆" beach section and ramp. She has a female terrapin, and sine they grow to double the size of males, the tank will be way undersized. ![]() My girlfriend and I (we might have a better title sometime very soon) are moving in together soon. I currently have a tank for my two male diamondback terrapin turtles. So I've been mulling over how to put a beach and tides in an aquarium for a long time. I posted this also on ReefCentral in the Maintaining a Slope of sand? thread, but I also wanted to post my new dilemma/idea here. Everyone really is doing great in the tank. I have 4x 24w grow lights working now on a 20 on, 4 off schedule. My tank has been doing great! Nitrates are consistently low and the scrubber grows like crazy! Every week I pull about a cup of algae off the screens. I know a 40 breeder would be the next logical upgrade step, but why spend the money to upgrade when that's only a temporary solution? So, I decided to do it right and get a big tank. I've used a Bean Animal and an Algae Turf Scrubber since day one. Suffice to say that she should be much bigger than the male since they are the same age, but this is how big she was when I rescued her from her "rescuer."įor a while, I had her in a 10 gallon tank and him in a 20 gallon tank. Unfortunately, she had barely grown because her previous owner knew nothing about the lighting, water and tank requirements for turtles. Louie came to me next and already had a name. Taylor the Terrapin came to me first, and I decided on a somewhat unisex name. Yes, the names are a little weird, but it's hard to tell their sex until they are about 6 months old. Though they are two different variations, they actually came from almost exactly the same area. The male, Taylor, is a Northern Diamondback Terrapin and has both darker skin and shell coloring. She's a Concentric Diamondback Terrapin and has a lighter shell color and white skin with black spots. The female will grow another 4 or 5 inches in shell length, and the male probably only another inch or so. I've had them about a year now, and they grow pretty fast. If you don't know much about them, they are the only turtles that live exclusively in brackish water. I have two rescued Diamondback Terrapins.
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