New Build

That is going to be a decent size sump ... you decide on the design yet ?

Some good reading on filtration ...

From https://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/filtration-rates-flow-and-other-questions.6105/page-2


Later Ferdie

 

Thanks Ferdie, I'll read that.
So the total internal volume is 39l operating vol will be around 25l.
The main tank is 120 so this represents around a 19% increase in water volume.

The design is straight forward:
- DT overflow into it's own compartment
- Over baffle onto 2 trays, first coarse mechanical then fine mechanical
- Under a baffle into refugium with heater;
- Over baffle onto biomedia
- Under baffle to pump

I may add charcoal in the biomedia section after flooding before fish. I may need a bubble trap after biomedia, don't know yet.

 

These okes with a Ph D in biochemistry.....

 

Tbo you only need 3 compartments. Water can enter directly onto the mechanical filtration. Next will be biological and lastly return pump and heater. The bigger the biological part the better.

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Thanks Pierre, something like this?

 

yeah once you have read it ... the idea is less compartments means more flow as in less obstruction long term.

Later Ferdie

 

That will be much better. If it is possible to have the heater vertical you can reduce the last part and increase the bio part

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I agree with @pierreschoonraad , try have the heater either vertical, at a slant or at the bottom but the other way round and make the bio bigger

 

Thanks for the advice guys. The silicone is in so I can't change it now. It's too shallow for a 150W heater to stand vertical, I built the cells around a my filter baskets. It is a lot of media for a 3 foot tank. I have always used ceramic rings but now I'm looking at bioballs. The theory is dead bacteria doesn't stick on plastic. I'm sure ceramic has a lot more surface area than plastic but it gets clogged. Price wise; I'm not sure if you've seen China has hit the ceramic media market recently, I was at Jungle Aquatics today and I saw a box of ceramic media larger than a box of boyu that comes in a filter bag for R100.

 

Yes, those are plastic shot glasses for feet on the media baskets

 

Looks awesome, can't wait to see it in action

 

So when are you adding water?

 

Yeah as you said, it is glued .. you might want to look int @TrevorR 's thread on his filter media bags .... at least you have some space in your pump heater area that you can dump such a bag with a truckload of hydroton / leca.

So my understanding about the plastic and dead bacteria is that them dropping off is the downside ... this makes it very hard to remove them form the water column so now one needs to look into filtering the water before it is returned to the tank or all the dead bacteria gets into the tank, decays and well you get the picture. The idea that media gets clogged is helpful cause when we now clean it and remove the clogging ( wash the filter media ) thus removing the dead bacteria from the water column ... don't know if you have noticed if you dose probiotics into your tank, a while later you need to do more filter / canister / hob cleaning than before, that is parcially because you now have more bacteria that needs removing. Leave it and you filter flow reduces and your tanks water quality get very very bad quickly.

Later Ferdie

PS as for LFS prices ... yeah not just the media - but seems like they are all looking at getting one of those new merc bakkies as delivery vehicles.

 

I'm not really in a rush, still got around 7 weeks before the DP is flooded.
Anyone got advice on which pump to get? I need about 800l/hr & 1.2m head. I was planning to go 12V DC but I'm abandoning that idea....for now.

 

Thanks Amith

 

Thanks Ferdie. I did see Trevor's thread on the anchovie nets. I am hoping the media baskets will suffice. Anyone know where I can get eggcrate?

re: plastic vs ceramic....I have so much to learn. 25 years ago I had 3 tanks all running HOB filters and everything was fine with a little sponge. Hell my first tank 2ft had one of those triangle corner platform filters driven by air and it was fine.

The LFS comment went straight over my head like a frisbee

 

True that - as time goes by we seem to want to strive for "everything must look and be perfect / optimal" ... this was my idea of a drip filter in a pinch back in 2009 - a used breeding box ...


ha ha frisbee - the brought back good time feelings. I look at LFS pricing and the item on the shelf and sometimes catch myself thinking - is that 100 - 200 heck 300% mark-up really sustainable in the hobby or are you taking all you can because you need to upgrade your office vehicle.


One thing I do think - the quality of the fish DNA was way hardier a few years back and somehow it was ok to not push everything in your tank for max growth as quick as possible ...

BTW HOB filters still rocks .. but the wife might not allow your 25 years back setup in the lounge ;-)

Later Ferdie

 

One week in and there is no movement. I'm misting daily and running strong light for 12 hrs on 12 off. Maintaining 26 degrees. The chinese weeds havent sprouted, the plants havent melted so I guess patients.