Completed above the tank sump, HOB

Well this first started as a way to totally eliminate all the noise that was coming from the tank and I realised that I really needed some biological filtration as my power head was only providing minimal amounts of bio filtration and was blasting the plants around the tank. I have been thinking of many cheap efficient ideas to use and have been looking around the internet for any ideas I have modified a few and came up with the above tank sump as the best idea. The water is first filtered through the power head sponge for mechanical filtration then into the first chamber of the sump containing filter floss for additional mech filtration and biological filtration then flowing through to the ceramic rings and into the overflow into the tank in less than 20 min the tank looked cleaner than it ever has before and the plants are not getting blasted everywhere the water flow reaches the gravel and the 70l tank gets filtered at about 200+lph. The sumps pipes are set at heights to ensure that no overflow takes place with power cuts and the media fill stay covered with water when the power cuts an additional airline from a battery powered pump will be connected to the sump and the tank to provide aeration to both the media and tank. Here are some pics there is a lid with holes its just off to show the media. The power head is the only unit in the tank now and no additional aeration is added the fish seem happy and none are gasping. Ill just be keeping an eye on them to make sure everything is good. If anyone wants detailed plans ill post some if needed.

Here is the cycle of the water:
Up through the mech filter in the power head
Down through the filter floss
Up through the ceramic rings and down through the overflow pipes into the tank (the partition in the filter forces the water up through the rings as it is sealed off on either side of the filter)

 

hehe, not sure why you asked if anyone wants the plans, we all want everything!!

Looks good, Is the powerhead pumping the water up to the top sump and then the water just flowing through the floss etc and then coming down with gravity?

 

nice one there, i bought myself a ohf yesterday for R250 including powerhead. Money well spent. I was gonna make me one as well but when I saw the price for a brand new complete model, i was what the hell

 

Wow R250 is a really good price but i had the powerhead already and i love diy and this is the test filter ill get i nicer container etc but the design seems to be working very well. here are the plans.

 

What happens when your filter floss gets clogged up?

 

There is mech filtration taking place in the powerhead that will remove all the debris but if the floss happens to clog there is a water runover directly over to the 2nd compartment as a fail safe just incase that happens

 

You go to a fabric shop, like mine ;-), buy about 20cm of the thickest dacron that they have, then you wash it with hot water, then rinse with cold, you will then be good to go, dont forget 20 cm by however wide it is, so you will have to trim to size and you will have left over.

 

snyper, wouldn't it look better if the filter was under the tank stand, hats off to you for doing something out of the ordinary though...is there away to cover that filter so its not in plain view...if so then i wouldn't mind looking at this as an alternative to a sump...

 

I hope the plans cleared everything up with waterflow etc. I no its not pretty to look at at the moment but its in my room so it doesn't bother me at the moment it was just a test to see if it would work which it does so later ill get a new container that will look prettier that will run the length of the lid and look a lot better. I almost went with the below the tank sump the problem is the powercuts and with that it would have been a nightmare this works the best for me. And I don't have to got cut up the tank or drill overflows etc

 

I love DIY threads Wish we had more though. Snyper let us know how that works out for you.

 

snyper, after looking at your plans, i must say man, very impressive/brilliant...it works the same like a sump, but i see you have taken care of flooding problem, excellent stuff man...think i'm going to make one on a larger scale..hehehe

 

A sump under a tank if Designed properly will also not flood if designed properly,,, normally the glass that separates the chambers is almost all the way to the top of the sides if you drop that height of the glass of just increase the height of the overall sump then it will be able to handle excess water and when the electricity comes back on it will pump it back into your main tank, hopefully without flooding.

 

Nice set up there snyper. Basically you have a canister filter there, with a sump principle. I would believe that the water cleared up so fast because of the filter floss. People seem to underestimate the power of filter floss!

The principle is brillian, I would agree with you that I would make it the full width of the tank, and add a few more compartments to add some extra filtering material. And yes, it dos kinda look a bit messy right now... but you have a very good set up going there.

Well done.

 

If the table of the tank is wider than the tank i would build a filter like this that can fit in behind the tank.

 

I think Snyper has a good principle going here. If the elecricity goes, he's going to drain the sump (in the top) if it's not set up properly, and in theroy not drain the tank. When power turns back on, the water level might drop in the tank because you now have to refill the sump.. But your fish will still have water.

It's a good PRINCIPLE... just the asthetics needs to be sorted out. If you have it at the back behind the tank as Donny say, they you back to the sump principle, where you could drain the tank, and not the sump.

I've actually seen a pet store before running their sumps in the top tanks, and the display in the bottom 2 or 3. Thus they don't have to get ladders etc to get the fish from the top when you want to buy. Only DOWNSIDE is cleaning that sump!!

 

zoom is right, but the entire sump won't be drained in snyper's design, just the last chamber where the PVC pipes are, once the water level drops below the PVC pipes, then thats the end of the draining...and in theory that shouldn't be too much of water...there should still be quite a bit a water left in the sump after the power cuts off...plus theres minimal chance of a reverse syphon...

 

Ok there seems to be a little confusion at the moment I hope this clears everything up a bit there will be no reverse siphon created and the water will drain exactly 2mm in the sump therefore it will hold more or less 4l of water everything is set up for a power cut the pump will stop and the sump wil drain hardly anything just the 2mm just below the pvc pipe and the media is covered with water and with the airline and bat pump in I can keep all the goodies alive in a power out and nothing drains or floods cause I have tested everything with the water levels etc look at the design again and u will see this isn't possible I hope this clears it up

 

thats what i said snyper...

 

Yes we read that snyper... I'm just saying the principle works well if you want to do a main sump above a tank

 

Haha ok