Snail guard ideas?

[mloebl]

Looking for some ideas on how to keep snails out of drain lines.

I have a 1" drain line into bulkhead in the back of my tank, inside the tank there is a pvc tube that comes out perpendicular to the glass from the bulkhead, then an elbow at the end cut with notches on the top which is level with the surface. Works well for surface skimming and get good flow. However I noticed I was getting a gurggling sound all of a sudden though flow seemingly was fine. Took the pipe out of the bulkhead and found not one but two snails hanging out inside. I have a float switch mounted to the top so if it the water level ever rises too high, it kills the return pump to avoid floods if they every clogged the intake.

Just curious what people use to keep the snails out of the pipe work. Thinking maybe cutting some of the light diffuser and sliding it in; large enough not to restrict flow, but small enough to keep the snails out. I was trying to avoid mesh as figured it would clog too easy.

Thanks!

-Mike

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

Try gutter guard. A small piece wrapped around the pipe should work.

 

[NateHanson]

On the intake of my durso, I made a guard out of 1" pvc by taking a 12" length and making saw cuts half-way through every inch or so, and then I did the same on the other side. Makes a great high-flow strainer that doesn't clog. Not sure that would work for your application though, as it sounds like you have an open pipe at the surface, right? not an underwater durso type intake?

 

[mloebl]

though, as it sounds like you have an open pipe at the surface, right? not an underwater durso type intake?

Exactly what I've got on this tank (I'm at work or I would have taken a picture.) It's open pipe at the top of the elbow. Foolishly I was hoping that with the top not being fully submerged that the snails wouldn't leave the water and go in, but they seem to have differeing ideas

Gutter guard isn't a bad idea, hadn't thought of that.

Thanks,

-Mike

 

[NateHanson]

have you thought about adding a Tee outside the tank, then turning your elbow downwards inside the tank? That way you'd have a durso, with no sound problems, and you could put a bigger PVC strainer on the intake so it wouldn't clog. Nate

 

[mloebl]

have you thought about adding a Tee outside the tank, then turning your elbow downwards inside the tank? That way you'd have a durso, with no sound problems, and you could put a bigger PVC strainer on the intake so it wouldn't clog. Nate

Do you have a pic somewhere by any chance? Having a hard time visualizing what to add outside the tank.

Thank you,

-Mike

 

[NateHanson]

If you search this site for "external durso" you'll pull up a bunch of threads, and one of them is bound to have a picture or sketch.

I'll give it another try explaining, and you can find a picture if you need it.
From your bulkhead below the desired water surface, put an elbow facing down with a strainer on it. Outside the tank (on the other side of that bulkhead) put a PVC Tee fitting with one outlet pointing straight up, the other straight down. The down will be your drain line. Stick a short piece of PVC with a cap on the up end of the Tee. Drill a hole in the cap. This is your Durso air vent. Start with a small hole, and make it bigger until it operates without "flushing" periodically.

The problem with this setup is that you can't really adjust the water level. It will wind up just about at the top of the bulkhead. If that's too low, you've got two options. You can use silicone to attach an overflow box around your bulkhead inside the tank (this has the added advantage of giving you real surface skimming). The tank waterlevel will be determined by the overflow box.

The other option is to raise the Tee outside the tank. From the back of the bulkhead, rout an elbow upwards, then use another elbow to go into a Tee as in the first example (position the Tee so it's center is an inch below where you want the water level). You can mess with the height of the Tee to fine tune your water level before you glue the whole thing together.

Nate

 

[mloebl]

Nate,

I see what you mean now, thank you No way to do this on this tank unfortuantely the way it's located... However I'm doing all my practicing/blunders on this tank so when I get to my main tank this summer, I'll have a lot of the kinks worked out

-Mike

 

[aweeks95]

all you need is one "bar" across the opening of the pipe to keep the snails out....as long as it splits the opening of the pipe in half...this way each openine is only 1/2" and most snails can't fit in there...if that won't work for you...try a plus sign.... + ....over the opening of the pipe..no need for a gutter guard or mesh or anything. if you drill two hole opposite eachother just bellow the opening of the pipe then you can slip an acrylic rod through them and there is your guard....if you want two rods then drill two more holes just bellow the first set so that when the rod goes through it comes in contast with the bottom of the first one. i have never tried it, but it seems like a simple idea.