lincsflier said:
...have a range of pumps I can use so was thinking of using a 12,000 litre per hour pump which will have around the 9,000 lph mark when head etc taken into account. Also thinking of having several entry points from the sump possibly at different levels?.
Excellent! Massive flow will erase a lot of mistakes. Definitely have multiple entry points. It's not so important to have different levels so much as to have a good movement pattern. New entry water must touch all leaves and replace old water without having stagnation points. Don't try to get too fancy with the entry point design. Avoid entry points that are opposing, otherwise they actually cancel each other's energy resulting in stagnation.
lincsflier said:
The sump is a unit which has no splashing at all. It is actually a fibreglass filter designed for Koi ponds but have spare units available which I can use has around a 190l capacity along with a vortex chamber and brushes etc.. This unit can also be totally enclosed to ensure no loss of CO2.
Great! Not familiar with this type of system. "Vortex" sounds anti-CO2 though, but that's probably just a marketing term right?
lincsflier said:
Does this remain the same with T5 lighting this figure and would a dawn to dusk cycle be beneficial for plants and fish?.
I'm actually referring to T5. In and of itself, the dusk/dawn scenario does little for plants or critters. It's mostly an aesthetic, however, there is an advantage for doing it; The beginning of the photoperiod is THE most critical time of the day. It's at this time that the plant requires high, stable levels of CO2 the most. The more light striking the leaf, the higher the demand for CO2. With the large volume of water that you have, rapidly saturating it with CO2 can be difficult. If the light intensity is kept low at morning, i.e. "Dawn mode", this limits the CO2 demand and gives your injector time to build up CO2 levels for when the intensity increases to max. Many don't realize that the beginning of the photoperiod relative to CO2 often makes or breaks the system and means the difference between healthy plants versus algae. Be sure to study the article
CO2 Measurement Using A Drop Checker
lincsflier said:
EI used a similiar thing in my marine tanks. Thinking of using a dosing bag the type you get for medical purposes and then a peri pump to continually dose the system. What are your thoughts on this?.
Yes, this will be fine. As long as you dose the proper levels it doesn't matter how the nutrients get into the tank. LondonDragon has a thread in the fert section on this technique. I'd suggest you start off with the teaspoon method first though. It makes it easier to troubleshoot problems when you know exactly how much of what you added. Of course if your autodoser allows you to know accurately what is being dosed on a daily basis then yes, by all means, go for it.
lincsflier said:
By the way should I be posting all these parts in seperate forums or okay to do all in here?.
Well, technically, yeah, specific issues should be raised in their appropriate sections but the thread just kind of meandered as I threw various ideas at you, so no big deal.
Cheers,