The Filter Thread

I'll be using the 3ft I'm getting from @TroyFish, and the sand will be regular sea / play sand. The DSB is usually used in marine tanks, but the concept remains the same. Anaerobic organisms require an oxygen-free environment which is achieved in a DSB of 15cm and deeper. Couldn't hurt giving it a go i say... 3ft is more than enough space to fit it in!

 

Pictures of my External Canister Filter.

Size - 32x37x45
Max output - 1200l/h
Power - 40w
Impeller - 8 fins
Actual, measured output, like I have it set up, is 360l/h.

I must say, it runs very quiet.

 

Finally built my 3ft sump this weekend... behold it's awesomeness!



I stocked it with everything I have come to respect in a filter



Input Bay

- Overflow Gutter
- Heater

Filter Bay A

- Filter floss
- OC Filter foam
- Siporax
- OC filter foam
- Bio Balls

Filter Bay B

- Lava Rock

Filter Bay C

- Deep Sand Bed (DSB)

Output Bay

- OC Foam
- Pump

 

SHiBBY's Sump

@SHiBBY

Just bloody awesome! Makes me so jealous. :sick: But it also remind me of an old joke.

There is millions of battered woman in the world. And they all have one thing in common..... They don’t bloody listen!

I am now referring to the 'big bore' principle, vs your up and down.

And also sucking up to Prof! :blink1:

No, seriously, it is looking magic. I do not understand the DSB however. Looks like the water is just flowing over and not up and down? Also, how do you get O2 back before returning to the tank?:wondering:

 

Thanks bud!

Yes, water does just flow over it, but as it moves over the wall, it cavitates and mixes the water around. The purpose of a DSB is the cultivation of anaerobic bacteria which can only survive in an oxygen-free environment, which is why I'm not too concerned about the oxygen at that stage of the filter. The overflow puts plenty of oxygen in the water for the first two compartments, and as soon as the water re-enters the tank it's fed with a dual outlet airpump to put back what the filter has taken out as far as oxygen goes. After the filter, the water still passes through the UV sterilizer at which point I'd prefer the water to be oxygen free as the UVS is basically Chamber-O-Death where everything that was not removed by the filter gets a decent dose of UV radiation, so returning water is sterile and clean. I'll also implement my nitrate reactor pretty soon which will be situated between the filter and UVS.

Then, I'm done with filtration. Hopefully my water parameters will be stable and able to deal with nasties and prevent my new fish from suffering the same fate as the old ones...

 

nitrate reactor ?

link please!

 

Care to show us the plumbing and overflow? I also do not see the UV?

 

As soon as I am entirely happy with the plumbing, I'll be sure to upload a pic of it ;-)

If all goes to plan, I'll have total control over the flow to both the UVS and Nitrate reactor with the ability to either bypass or allocate percentages of the flow to these depending on the water parameters. The UVS should never have more than 600 l/h going through it, so at the moment I have a simple bypass just to split the pressure a bit. It's however just temporary. I had to wait for the new sump and nitrate reactor. I'm going to disconnect everything and redo all the plumbing returning to the tank. I'm also going to build a re-filter system, so when cleaning the tank I can simply bypass the cycle and only cycle water within the sump, thus removing the need to turn off the pump.

It sounds complicated. I'll draw up a diagram ;-)

A nitrate reactor is a tube containing a product like Seachem De-nitrate. Water enters from the top through a long tube and is delivered at the bottom of the tube. It then rises through the de-nitrate and eventually exits through the top again. This process focusses exclusively on removing excess nitrate from the water. Like the DSB, mainly found on marine tanks but the de-nitrate is certified for fresh and salt water use, indicating a possibility...

I like gadgets :-D

 

Looks great Shibby! Glad the tank worked out great!

 

PS: The UV is the black tube to the right of the sump in the first photo with the blue glow where the pipe connects...

 

thanks bud, couldn't have done it without you! At least, not without financial impact!

 

Can not wait!

I luv it!

Now, that is what I want!

Please do!

So do I!

You going to go CO2?
Cant wait to see what you are going to do there....

 

Thanks mate!

Yup, I've got one plant in my tank but like the look so I'll add some more...

Being an ex-paintballer I'll probably just get a 12oz paintball CO2 canister. They're cheap and refilled nearly everywhere these days. At the speed it's going to leech into my tank, it'll last forever! I import CO2 regulators and diffusers for next to nothing so I'll just hook those up and strap the bottle to the frame of my tank to ensure it's stable... CO2 done!

 

UPDATE: I added a bubble spraybar in my sump after the first compartment to reinject O2 used by the Siporax and BioBalls, thus providing new oxygen for the rest of the filter.

 

aha!


Can not wait for your plans/drawings and more pics.

 

I can't wait to build all my ideas! I just upgraded my Sonic 8900 air pump to a Boyu ACQ-001 DC Compressor in order to have some air pressure at my disposal as I am now running 2 lines to the sump and 2 lines to the tank, with an additional line that will go to the auto feeder pretty soon. It uses the air to keep the pellets airated so that they don't cling together. DIY protein skimmers also use air, but that's a whole other story... ;-)

There are a few things which you can never have too much of in an aquarium:

- You can never filter too much
- You can never have too much oxygen (providing you don't over agitate the water surface to an extent where it can scare your fish)

 

Any progress SHiBBY? I almost forgot about this thread.

 

Well seeing as it's long weekend I just might get some time to document my stuff...

 

Lets see if this uploads correctly...


I forgot to say: Blue is AIR, black is WATER, green is CO2 AND the tap to the left is the inlet regulator for the water entering from the overflow, with which I can control the water level within the overflow.

 

Indeed. Sorry if it's a little confusing. I tried my best