Filtering Tanks 500 - 5000 Gallons

[nolapete]

I've always wondered why a lot of people rely on one or two large filters when filtering tanks 500+ gallons. This applies to smaller tanks as well, but for this thread I'm more interested in filtering 500 - 5000 gallon tanks. This is of particular interest by no surprise because of my current 3600+ gallon tank build.

I plan to use a variety of smaller filter subsystems. One of which is a sock filter water polishing array. In short, it's a collection of various micron size sock filters that do a focused cleaning of part of the water column on timed cycles.


If you have a 500 - 5000 gallon tank,

what filtration do you currently use?

why did you choose it?

how well has it worked for you?

what would you do differently? (if anything)


If you don't have a 500 - 5000 gallon tank,

what filtration would you use if you did have one?

why would you use it?

what do you base your choice(s) on?

[xdragonxb0i]

I dont have a 500 gall set up
but i still think a w/d sump is one of the better ways to filter a tank. You would probally need like well over 200 gallon sump for a 3600gallon tank.

If you use a glass tank for a sump, u could make a refugiumin it , for injured fish, or maybe even have another stock of fish in the refugium, Also u could plant the refugium for better quality of water.

[nolapete]

I think I've read somewhere that the sump should be bare MINIMUM 1/10 of the tank capacity. I'm more of a 15-20% kind of person, but regardless 200 gallons would be too small for my tank. :eek:

Space is at a premium in the fish room with this design, so efficiency and total space utilization are concerns. That's moreso geared toward my build thread though and I would like to keep this rather generic in nature.

I'm not looking for ways to filter my tank per se. Even though I draw from other people's ideas all the time. This is more to get the logic behind having one or two large filters.

[akskirmish]

If you have a 500 - 5000 gallon tank,

what filtration do you currently use?
I use a sump on my 500 gal-Sump is 4 ft long by 2.5 ft tall by 2 ft wide

why did you choose it?
Came with tank-Use to be setup for holding King Crab

how well has it worked for you?
It's decent but certainly could use more-I'll be adding another 90 gal sump soon

what would you do differently? (if anything)
Double filtration......

[Fuzzy Duck]

I think the guy above has a good idear. But on setups that big is there not other types of filtration for big tanks?
I have 900 Ltr with sump and it works great, I can use it for rearing fry etc.
Only down side is that its noisey but im half deaf but wife is not Ha Ha

[Ullopincrate]

What about pond filters coupled with some fx5s?

[dogofwar]

You could use one of the Rubbermaid feeding troughs (100-300g) either as a sump...or as a "dump" filter (if you put it on blocks so that it's elevated above the water line).

I'm a fan of dump filters because they maximize the power of your pump (less head loss than with a sump), are easy to clean, and result in lots of water movement. Rubbermaid tubs are even plumbed with a 1 1/4" drain on the bottom.

Either way you'll need a (probably a couple) of good sized pumps.

I (home made or commercial) pond filter would another option.

[cassharper]

Differential level canisters for mech (not commercial, but a descending micron size made in a chain, i.e. from old RO setups of PVC), fluidized sand filter for bio, if you want chem you could tag them on at the end of the mech or make a seperate set up that's timed. With any big setup I would want a water polishing system done in canister style as well.

[Wheat]

I don't have a 500g tank, but a 2000g central system.

It uses a 6' x 2' x 3' wet/dry sump with 5' x 2' x 2' biotower. Filter bags for mechanical, 160w UV, 2 cartridge/chemical canisters (not used but plumbed in).

The reason I chose this was that it's the easiest to plumb (being in the basement) and can be easily changed or customized if necessary. Overall, the system works well. Never had even a trace of ammonia, even with high fish load.

I'm planning on building another system (about 1000g). This time I'm going to try one of these:
http://www.aquaultraviolet.com/newproducts.htm

I used one on my pond last year and it worked really well. For mechanical filtration I will always use filter bags because they are so easy to maintain.

[nolapete]

I think the guy above has a good idear. But on setups that big is there not other types of filtration for big tanks?
I have 900 Ltr with sump and it works great, I can use it for rearing fry etc.
Only down side is that its noisey but im half deaf but wife is not Ha Ha

Look outside the aquarium hobby realm and delve into aquaculture, mariculture, public aquariums, and aquaponics and you'll find a wealth of possibilities. Simply explore aquaticeco.com and you'll find all kinds of stuff.

[justin guest]

The use of one or two large filters decreases the maintenance if well designed. See the double rapid sandfilter in this link for my favourite. If done properly they don´t even need much more energy than some other systems.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158808

j<><

[wolf13]

I am a ways off from a large tank (need a new place to live first), but it has been on my mind. Since i know what i'd like, but not what i'll end up with, i haven't settled on any real specs and theres always a few new ways of looking at things. I might also be overdoing things.

I have tended to dislike the idea of special purpose filtration, with a couple of exceptions. For instance, saying this filter is just for mech filtration while this one is just for bio is kind of hard for me, fish poo doesn't recognize that I am sure. I would much rather integrate everything into a linier progression when possible.

the current setup in my mind is two sumps of the same design. I'd rather have two smaller sumps to maximize the benafits and minimize the chance of getting wiped out if just one component fails; I feel rather then one large sump. Knowing what I like in fish and my penchant for overkill, I would be looking at 33% or more of tank volume for sumps. first chamber would be progressively finer mesh filtration leading to a fluidized Kaldnes media chamber in the secound to a refugum in the third with live plants. depending on final specs, maybe even a 4th mixed chamber of one or two other media types, probably primarly submerged types before exiting. each sump would have its own heaters and uv sterilizer. The biggest concern of course is space so they would virtually have to be specially made to make maximum use of avaialble space.

chamber one of course is mech filtration with progressivly finer mesh sizes. Easy to clean and monitor and realitivly cheap.

Originally I had wet/dry bioballs planned for chamber 2, but after reading about the kaldnes media, I think i'd prefer to try it out. it might be expensive hype, but a lot of people swear by it for heavy dudty use and the logic behind fluidized media seems sound. the big fear here of course is if the power goes out the bacteria has a shorter lifespan then a fully submerged type. It does make me want to be sure I have some capacity in longer lasting wet media in a pinch.

chamber 3 derives partially from the fact that I am just a big beleiver in plants in a healthy system. Anachris, hornwort and pennywort are all heavy duty nutriant sinks and anachris has the added benifit of breaking down calcium carbonate (which is heavily present in my region) when co2 deprived. part of the reason for doing two sumps is here in that with two sumps i can run the lights on alternating clocks so there is always one sump doing photosynthisis.

chamber 4 is still a thought, but it might be worthwhile to do an extra layer of filter material here simply for submerged media.

Now, for my exception on special purpose. I would certainly consider setting up a high flow canister like an fx5 in addition to the sumps. the biggest reason here would be if I decided to go with peat in my filtration system (I am a big fan of peat in the filtration) or needed carbon in it. I especialy don't feel the sump design is condusive to the best use of peat so a canister filter makes a good option here with its forced confined flow. of course, extra media in general is not a bad thing I think.

[nolapete]

So what happens when your pump fails on your linear all-in-one system?

[Issack]

I have a 500g. I run a Eheim 2260 and 2262.

The reason.? it's easy and i just plug it in and walk away for months. Saved me time on building a sump.. was tired after my tank build, and was nice to just plug something in, and watch it work and not having to think anymore.. lol.

On any tank I build that is bigger, I will more than likely use pool filters as canisters. it's more expensive, but It's like a new toy for me... like a hot rod.:D

[cvermeulen]

I built several wet dry systems for my 200g and I disliked all of them. (and they were all nice setups, that wasn't the problem!). Just too much noise, too much smell, too much hassle to get under the stand and dig out the media for cleaning. I switched to an FX5 and never looked back. Same thing with my 120 - I had a sump handy so I used it, but it's a pain in the butt to clean, and it's noisy.

If it were me, and energy/cost was not a huge concern, I'd go with a bead filter - there is no way to beat the maintenance op for those - turn off, turn backflush valve for a few minutes, turn back on. Since energy and cost ARE large concerns for most of us, I'm setting up an in-tank sump filter in my 600gal that's under construction right now. It will have twin pumps so if one fails the other keeps working.

I would NOT consider running 10-12 filters on a single tank, purpose made or not, half the work of cleaning the filter is taking it apart and putting it back together - I'd rather do that just once and wash my mech media out in the bathtub than have to do it a bunch of times when the filters needed maintenance.

[nolapete]

I was thinking more 4-5, but none would have to be maintained at the same time. Canisters as you said very rarely need maintenance. Energy costs are a concern, otherwise I'd be running a huge bead filter alone as well. I have to keep the costs of running my big tank about the same as it was to run all my smaller tanks combined. Not an easy task by any means, but in this economy we have to get creative. I'm sure those of us who are homeowners dread the inevitable rise in energy costs heading toward us.

[dogofwar]

"Canisters as you said very rarely need maintenance."

That is true if you're primarily using canisters for bio (e.g. using pre-filters to keep the crud out)...but if you're using them for mech than they need to be cleaned as frequently as you would a HOB or box filter.

[cvermeulen]

Running a large tank, unless you go industrial with the equipment to maintain it in theory should be more energy efficient than small tanks summing to the same size. There are a few major contributors to the cost of running a tank:

Lighting: Most of the lighting in smaller tanks gets wasted as it falls outside the tank. Plus each small tank requires it's own ballast and fixture with it's own set of losses, it's own heat generation and so on. A large tank with lights above should give you similar in-tank light levels with fewer watts per gallon overall.

Evap: small tanks have larger water surface per gallon, so more evap heat loss.

Conduction out the sides/bottom : Same thing, surface area per gallon is lower with a large tank, plus you generally have the tank walls against insulated inside walls.

Sump losses: Okay i've been flamed for saying this before, but everybody please trust me, sumps waste a lot of energy. Pumping water from zero pressure at a low position (sump) to low pressure at a higher position takes energy. That energy is then thrown away when the water overflows back down to the sump. Running a pressurized sump (Canister) or doing your filtration at tank level (in tank or HOB) saves you these losses. At any rate, the same consolidation theory applies - one large efficient filter should work better than many small filters. This of course with the disclaimer that you don't go industrial with your pumps and filters.

[cchhcc]

I'd go with a bead or sand filter. Something like the Aqua UV pressure filters might be a good option..... and always more than one for redundancy/safety.

[dogofwar]

If you're building it yourself, the in-tank sump idea is the best...especially in terms of energy efficiency.

[nolapete]

How is the in-tank sump idea the best? I can think of several reasons why it isn't, but would like to hear your logic on this.

[dogofwar]

It has all of the benefits of a wet dry...without the loss of pump head associated with pumping water up from a sump: really flexible, effective and efficient. Another advantage is that, if you're lighting the tank itself, you can dedicate a portion of an in-tank sump to nitrate removing plants (without setting up separate lighting) for them in a separate sump or refugium. Also none of the complications of overflows, etc.: water overflows in, water gets pumped out...

The trade-off is that you have to dedicate some of the tank to the filter area. With a massive tank, dedicating enough volume for an in-tank sump (or two) is inconsequential...

How is the in-tank sump idea the best? I can think of several reasons why it isn't, but would like to hear your logic on this.

[nolapete]

Interesting. I do have a section of the tank that is obscured from view. I could make a 98x24x30 internal sump (305 gallons) and build caves under it. Sweet idea.

[dogofwar]

Lots of possibilities with something that size!

Interesting. I do have a section of the tank that is obscured from view. I could make a 98x24x30 internal sump (305 gallons) and build caves under it. Sweet idea.

[oftalmos]

You can see the filtration system of my 765 gal tank in the next link...

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107226

Its been working great...

Cheers...