Water Polisher - fine particle removal

Been wanting to do this for a while ... understand that the batting in my filters do a great job, but some tanks like lucky 13 have no real mechanical filtration - so after two or so weeks things start to float around that makes the water less than crystal.

Been looking at my counter water filter - thinking that it would make for a nice polisher - the first cartridge goes all the way down to .3 micron. Spending loads of money was not an option - a replacement filters for my fish / drinking water is already R400 - this I only do every 9 - 12 months so it is not to bad.

While at the chemist this evening I spotted this unit for less than my current filter replacement - sold! So I dissembled the unit - replaced the existing tap connector on my kitchen faucet (now the other 1/4 is happy since we have better water pressure when not being filtered) and went to work on the DIY polisher.

The concept is simple - take a pump that has a pre filter (normal open cell does the job) and push output into 1 of the units that only has the micron filter material. As a pump I had a Style King 1200l/h in the draw and some pipes from previous experiments. All of the pipes are undamped at this stage. Truth be I have not switched it on yet .. need to find a tank that has floaters ... will probably get to test it on the weekend.



Nice thing is I have spares for another DIY ...

Later Ferdie

 

Could not wait - so moved it to lucky 13 ..

I have some leaks - so will need to get clamps in the morning. But I am not convinced that I am getting a good flow rate - Think the filter that I have is to fine - so will be looking for a rope filter instead - or maybe make a DIY batting one ..
The unit is now running in lucky 13 in the left corner and pump in the right .. I suspect that by morning the trickle will be but drops as the filter clogs even more.



Later Ferdie

 

under a hour and the filter is clogged .. even tried a bigger 2000l/h no go .. so either a rope pre-filter or a DIY batting filter.

Later Ferdie

 

Rather than having just 1 fine media you can stack up several not-so-fine about 2cm from each other? I remember using old rooibos tea bags in my filter chamber . . .(soaked every bit of tannin out first) The tea in the bag actually helps catch those finest of things . .the bag itself functions pretty well alone.

TM

 

Back from work this afternoon - and I was looking at lucky 13 ... and realised that I was a little sleep deprived this morning ... filter works fine if the plumping is OK.


Repositioned the filter to avoid the twist that got more restrictive as everything settled. Left the 2000l/h on - could probably go back to the 1200l/h.



So now I can start thinking about the final plumbing required for this polisher ...



Not sure if I should have the pre-sponge filter or rather just a fish grid. Starting to think that the pre-filter will have bigger chance of repolluting the water when I remove it.

Well lets see - still early days for the DIY experiment.

Later Ferdie

 

Ditto.

 

Thx Slojo .. removed the sponge filter .. and the cartridge is starting to darken a bit after 40minutes of filtering - water flow rate is still good.


So when would one user a water polisher? A few of my suggestions:
1) After a gravel vacuum
2) If you have rescaped
3) To extend duration between WC
4) In winter if you have reduced feeding and do not need to do a WC with cold water as polish could do
5) Maybe even after a BIG WC

Also read that it can be used to clear an algae bloom, filter out ich (filter need to filter below 30 micron particles)

I do still have a few concerns.
1) cleaning the filter
2) re-using the polisher in more than one tank - ( probably a good clean with jik would make that OK)
3) Size - this thing is actually a bit big .. my previous use of an HOB worked fine but took a while.

What would I want to improve - more water movement to stir more floaters.
Now when our water situation in ZA get to a point that we can not do a WC anymore - this might even be an option to do a once a week filter with an activated carbon filter or something like that.

Later Ferdie

 

Results time ... keep in mind that I was not unhappy with the way the water was before I added the polisher - but I could see floaters in the water column.

Total run time on the filter is now about 3 hours .. tank seems free from floaters with the obvious exception of air bubbles caused by lucky 13's shelf dripping into the tank.

I am actually rather impressed with the final result ... still not convinced that it would increase WC cycles but it does make the tank clear.


Keep in mind that this was snow white as a new cartridge.


Interesting that both ends are way more dirty - so have a snug fitting filter is crucial - I suspect that this will be the limiting factor when to comes to re-using cleaned filters. Still need to sit and figure how I want to clean the filter.

Later Ferdie

 

Have you guys seen the 1 micron filter for the AquaClean power heads? They work great

 

@Henk Hugo - If you mean Hagen Large Quick Filter Aqua Clear - nope have not seen them in JHB - they in CT? - see web price is $6 .. now that would be a cool solution.

BTW anybody know the Duty fees on tropical hobby stuff should one decided to bring this type of thing in for personal use? I am assuming one would pay vat but what else?

Later Ferdie

 

Not sure if that is the thing, but its a fitting that clicks into the bottom of an AquaClear power head, inside of this tube type thing there is a 1 micron filter pad that you buy refills for from the LFS. I'll go dig mine out and take some pics tomorrow

 

Please do, as this could be a very good add-on to consider.
Have spoken to my Brother-in-law and he says they stock filters from 10 to 50 micron on the water purifiers.

 

I think it is this ....

Sad that a $6 item would cost R190 to get here ...

http://more.take2.co.za/moreusa-large-quick-filter-aqua-clear-b0002566l0.html

then you still need to do the power head @ R610

Means R800 for something that is essentially a prefilter on a power head ...

Now the one thing that make this DIY bad and what I like about the Hagen solution the current DIY does no cause loads of flow in the tank - but should you be able to do the AquaClear 70 powerhead I assume that this would not be a problem anymore.

So what to improve on the DIY? Well look for a prefilter for the cheapo powerhead that I currently have and use the same concept that these guys have.

I rely like he idea of being able to dispose of a filter pad after each use.

Later Ferdie

 

If you talking about the sponge cannister under the powerhead. Check around at the LFS you can get them for cheap

 

Will do thanks Riyadh .... think I saw some a few weeks ago - I know it was not Hagen so it might work on my current powerhead.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks to @Henk Hugo for sending this DIY in a totally different direction - think it is well worth the journey and @riyadh that pointed out that most LFS do have stuff that look like this ( Only found 1 in JHB that had really old stock - still style king stuff ) I must have looked at this before - not grasping what it would be used for till he pointed it out.

This DIY started with a household water filter - some bad plumbing, then a commercial idea but cost prohibitive to something that was totally doable.
I found these two units in a LFS @ R27-50 each - no filter media and style king brand - lucky for me both my pumps are style kings - not knowing if it would fit I got them with the understanding that this might never work.


I installed the one on the 2000 l/h powerhead after adding some filter floss and open cell sponge. I like the flow rate even with filter media.



I really like the square container - will probably be using this for the rest of the now simplified DIY.

New challenge and this is closer to the idea that @TankMaster had.

Make a layered filter that will be able to filter the floaters. This will probably consist out of open cell sponge, batting and pot cleaning pads, but I still need to think about this a bit.

So the DIY is still on ...


Later Ferdie

 

glad to have been able to help! i cant find any of the boxes of this 1 micron filter media. I will keep on looking

 

I would like to make it clear that the AquaClear filter is perhaps the better one, as the inside filter media is very fine. Some one copy it (made it shorter), with replaceable open cell filter media, and it is distributed by Daro. I always look around for "scratch-bin" specials, and have picked them up for R6-50 (sponge) and R15-00 for the complete unit. Some of the Boyu power heads, can be fitted with this filter, as one can chain them together.
Back to thread:
This is a very nice DIY . I could also suggest looking at some aircon filter material.

 

f-fish, what does the round filter cartridge cost that fits into that domestic filter?

I saw a diy on the net where a someone fitted that cartridge into a let say 50mm pvc pipe or simular of about 500mm long and used that inline with his canister filter after the canister of course to polish the water, that way it wont clog up that fast

 

Yeah, this is true, you can use a pvc pipe, but what about using a 500ml bottle or a 2liter bottle, this is tank size dependant. drill some holes in it, add whatevr media you need or want. Attach the powerhead to the top.