Designing the Ultimate Filtration System

**X24** · 06-03-2008, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by duke33;1849308;

Sometimes we read to much into something.

Yes, and sometimes we dismiss something without a chance. I'd rather give something a chance and find out for sure, of course i'm not to be taken in so easily to buy an expensive "miracle" product to test it.

**Maxfish** · 06-21-2010, 2:32 PM

Bacteria house is hard to find. I did find some other media choices on wikipedia when I searched for Bakki shower:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakki_shower

Any ideas which is better plastic, rock or ceramic?

Max

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior;1698170;

Yes, in a nutshell, that's true, but the finer details are what make the difference--namely:

1. Premium filtration media like Biohome or Bacteria House, in large quantities, which gives the greatest surface area of any available media, as well as promoting the removal of nitrate due to dead zones within the structure of the media.
2. The specific use of a Bakki Shower, which is distinctly different from a true trickle filter in many ways -- height, openness of the system and shower instead of trickle.
3. The use of a deep anaerobic sand bed in the sump.
4. The specific use of the common reed instead of aquatic plants.
5. The use of a freshwater protein skimmer and ozonator.

I've seen these ideas independently, but never incorporated specifically into one single filter set-up. I'm sure someone's done it -- I've just never seen it.

**Yanbbrox** · 06-21-2010, 3:16 PM

Originally Posted by Maxfish;4229445;

Bacteria house is hard to find. I did find some other media choices on wikipedia when I searched for Bakki shower:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakki_shower

Any ideas which is better plastic, rock or ceramic?

Max

BHM media is one of the finest media you can get(bio), next to filter floss(mech). It' not super hard to find but you'll need to re-mortgage to pay for the stuff.

Running a shower also has down sides, they are very noisy.

**pacu mom** · 06-22-2010, 10:55 AM

I love the filtration concepts that the OP posted. Almost makes me want to try a system as he described. Unfortunately, the frequent power outages in our area would not work with a Bakki shower. In fact, I ruled out a wet/dry trickle filter for the same reason and am going with two Ultima 2000s instead. Purchased a Clarity CL-3 protein skimmer to run off a 405 gallon sump, plan on using four large spa filters run with two Hammerhead pumps for mechanical filtration. Am planning on having a generator kick on during a power outage, but in case of a generator fail, the Bakki system could be a catastrophic fail.

For a while, I was really tempted to try the proposed system. But our power outage problem nixes the Bakki system....too many inherent risks for us. Great, great concept, though.

**sigaru** · 06-22-2010, 10:36 PM

this seems great. i hope to try to DIY one when i upgrade my tank to about 150 gallons. doesn't seem too hard or expensive to do on a smaller scale, just some of the media would cost a bit [as has been mentioned]. if i get it going, i'll let you know how it works out for me