Will This Work?

[Rorie]

In prep for my fish room project to comence, i am trying to make all the planning decisions now.

Filtration is one issue that is bothering my just now - air filters are the best for energy efficiency, it saves having a plug for each tank for each filter. But sponge filters are only biological.

I thought about having a sump, so there was some form of solids filter, but having everything plumbed in together gives its own problems - disease transfer, water temp and parameters all have to be the same.

So i wanted a way to have an air driven filter, with loads of media, which would act as a bio and partical filter.

This is what i have come up with.

The water level is above Section 1 weir, so Section one will be level with the tank. An air lift will then suck the water through the media and put it into Section 2. Section 2 and 3 will be the same water depth, with is equal to (well, slightly higher than) the Section 3 weir.

The water will travel down Section 2, across to Section 3 and then up and over the weir. This weir will need to be above the tank water level.

Will this work? I cant see whey it wont.....

I am also looking at making the top part of Section 2 a wet/dry filter - i hear these are really good! But i would need to play about with the height, otherwise i wont have any water in my tank haha as the weir in bay 3 will need to be lower....which means bay 1 is lower, which means the over all tank depth is lower.

Suggestions and comments please

 

[Rorie]

nobody?

 

[Tolak]

Have you looked into box filters? Given enough air, as is easily provided with a larger linear air pump they will filter as well as a hob filter. This provides mechanical filtration, floss in bulk is cheap filter media.

I run the LJRBF's from Jehmco with a few rocks for weight, floss on top of that. While they're a US suppler I'm sure there's comparable in the UK, here's a link to the box filters I'm running; http/www.jehmco.com/html/box_filters.html

Here's one running in a 29 gallon, bare bottom; http/img406.imageshack.us/img406/7827/tanks0042mw5.jpg

You can load them with whatever you want, mechanical media, bio media, peat & so on.

 

[Rorie]

Yeh i looked into them..... i have some (i think i mentioned that in another thread?). I dont know, i dont like them too much. You cant get a huge amount of media in them by the time you have stones to weigh it down and then some floss for the top as a 'disposable' part of the filter for cleaning. Thats why i went towards this type and figured doing it this way would allow a lot more media (is there a bad side to having loads of media?) and it would be really easy to clean out by simply dropping the water level.

Is there a down side to my proposal? i guess it takes up more space in the tank, and will take time to build.

i am just put off the box filters....and the fact they are WAY over priced here for what they are! £5 each per tank for an empty box!

 

[Tolak]

Besides the build time & using tank space that you mentioned, you're pulling water from close to the surface of the tank, most debris accumulates at the bottom.

 

[Rorie]

hmm. yeh. I could make an arrangement so that there is an intake tube from the aquarium into the filter system i guess, also air driven.....would need to look at that.

Maybe boxes are easier...

Is there a benefit to having loads of media? Is it possible to have a larger bio system with more media, or is it the same level, just spread out. So if i increase my stocking level with the purchase of a breeding group, for example, will hte bacteria grow at the same rate in a small box filter, where the bacteria colony is packed together, as it will in a large filter which has a trickle filter?