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View Full Version : How do I stop leaks / minimise problems?



worley
10-23-2008, 03:18 AM
There are a number of things you can do to help prevent leaks and minimise any issues, mostly common sense!

Make sure the mesh that you grow the algae on is secure, if it comes out you are likely to get water splashing everywhere (been there, done that).

Make sure the pipe from the pump/overflow that feeds your algae scrubber goes up higher than the connection to the algae scrubber so that minor leaks ought to drip down the mesh instead.

Make sure as much as possible of the mesh/pipes are over the tank.

Put drip-loops on all electrical cables (pump, lights etc), this simply means make the cable go down at least a few inches before it's plugged into the socket to allow water to drip off the cable.

Use RCD circuit breakers wherever possible on all fish tank equipment, and best to do it on the lights separately too. If they get wet you want the RCD for the lights to trip and not the rest of the equipment for the fish tank, so get a sensitive one!

If your algae scrubber protrudes from the tank/sump, you can also put sheet plastic to act as a splash guard around the algae scrubber, make sure that the bottom of the plastic goes inside the tank/sump!

worley
11-17-2008, 05:41 AM
One more for the list:
If your mesh is splashing/spitting a lot, it may be worth slightly enlarging the cut in the pipe, ideally if it's very slightly larger than the mesh, so that it doesn't hold the mesh in when picked up, then the water shouldn't splash, if it does, it may need to be a bit larger than the mesh with algae on at the top, use cable ties to keep the mesh up (alternatively clean the top of the mesh).