Making a Biohome Ultimate cartridge for small filters

[MaloK]

I never been fond on using ceramic media in mesh bags, It's probably psychological, but I don't like the way they become with time. and it makes me think that most of the water ends up circulating more around the bag than trough.

So since the product is very uniform, I thought that I could make a cartridge with that.

Results are pretty nice and maintenance should be very easy.

 

[Uberhoust]

I understand what you say about some of the media bags but for media bags you only need a mesh that is small enough to contain the media, so it can be pretty coarse. With the design you are using now you will have most of the flow going on the right or left of the media group rather than through it. You will not get strong flow through the middle section of your cartridge unless you force the water through there. The method might work better if you put the cartridge horizontal over the foam and made a foam gasket around the media so the water doesn't flow over the ends.

I am not using AquaClear filters anymore but when I did use them, I found they worked good with a tight weave pre filter (that is where I used the media bags on the intake, traps the coarse material outside the tank, allowing the fish to pick the food out. Internal to the filter I ended up using a mesh bag with 1/4" mesh with biomedia along with the sponge filter that comes with the AC filters. With this method I cut the gunk in the filter greatly, and ended up feeding my fish less. During the weekly cleaning I just run the siphon over the prefilter. I did not have good luck with sponge prefilters, they trap particles within the sponge where the fish cannot get to them.

This is what I use for a prefilter on a Fluval 407. The finer mesh works good as a prefilter without a lot of flow resistance. I found I could not use this media bag in the basket because it would clog reducing the flow through the media. Inside is a 2" PVC pipe cutout so that there is more surface area. The bag is held in place with a lead weight hanging out of the tank.

 

[MaloK]

Yes, I understand your point.

I used Aquaclear nearly on 90% of all the setup I had. One factor that you cant ignore is" it must never clog" loll.

Under penalty of having a huge mess to cleanup.

It was exactly the idea, My input cover sponge is doing a great part of the mechanical filtration and the whole filter basket is dedicated to bio-filtration, With just a little space for finer mechanical or chemical filtration on top.

I also left a gap that is about 1/8 inch wide from top to bottom at the back of the media.

So a part of the water goes slowly trough the sponges up and a part of the water slides in the back and act like a back to front movement.

What I hope is that the flow of water is slow enough in the "cartridge" to make it grow denitrifying bacteria. As the other 2 space of the basket is occupied with the good old coarse sponge.

The modification is too young to "certify"... But it passes the smell test, it's already populated. And I think that denitrification is slowly kicking in. There is still nitrate present but... It's building slower.

In a couple weeks I will have a better pulse on the impact.

 

[Uberhoust]

I see what you mean, you are making the water flow through back to front. I would be curious to know how well it works. In the with the ACs I used I ended up essentially using the sponge as a biomedia, it has a lot of surface area that can be colonized but only if the gunk is kept out.

 

[Uberhoust]

One way I found to keep a overflow going out the back on the AC filters was to adjust the angle of the filter so that it tilts towards the aquarium rather than make it level.

 

[MaloK]

One way I found to keep a overflow going out the back on the AC filters was to adjust the angle of the filter so that it tilts towards the aquarium rather than make it level.

Absolutely true, But My braiiiiiiin fails and makes it level no mather what. lollll.

I see what you mean, you are making the water flow through back to front. I would be curious to know how well it works. In the with the ACs I used I ended up essentially using the sponge as a biomedia, it has a lot of surface area that can be colonized but only if the gunk is kept out.

For the moment gunk is building in the intake sponge and needs "some" regular maintenance... But I did it big enough that it nearly never clogs. and can last months... But When I pull it out it's super dense.

On the other hand the rest of the content of the basket has not been touched in the last 6 months and it looks clear.

Well except the small mechanical section on top, that I rinse every few days. and it worth's it.

Once a month I use a chopstick to clear the gap in the back of the media and let all that biofilm flow in the tank.

Makes a free instant shrimp party every time.

But I'm proud to say that this stack doesn't clog, has a really good maintenance rate, and a very low mulm accumulating in the tank.

But you have to modify everything.

 

[Uberhoust]

But you have to modify everything.

That's one of the interests with the hobby for me. The only thing holding me back from experimenting more is when things start to work with my fish I tend to leave things alone. My fish behavior changes when the tank changes, even slightly.