Nitrification filter materials
- Thread starter justin guest
- Start date
Hi OoshOosh;2494453; said:
Well the principle is quite simple. Normally you run one pump for one rapid sand filter. The problem is that due to the high volume pump which is needed for backwashing the filter, the mechanical filtration isn´t as fine as it could be. Another problem is the mulm gets pressed deep into the sand bed with very high pressure (often above 1 bar) which over time also creates a hard sand/mulm sheet. This drastically shortens the time between backwashing cycles and increases the amount of water that you need each time you backwash the filter. Eventually you need to change the sand as well as it often becomes one hard block.
To get around these problems I put two smaller sand filters behind one smaller pump. Firstly the pump doesn´t need to be as big (saves energy)as each sand filter gets backwashed separately and secondly the pump has a much more constant pressure because the working pressure of the sandfilters is halved on average to 0.5 bar. This means the actual amount of water being circulated through the filter isn´t actually reduced so much because the pump doesn´t need to work as hard.
The time between backwashing cycles is also dramatically increased because of the slower filtration velocity due to a higher combined sand surface area. For instance one larger filter alone has about 1/3 less surface area than two smaller filters for the same sized tank. The mulm doesn´t get pressed as deeply into the sand bed either which means that the backwashing time per filter is also reduced. For both these reasons you also save water even though you have two filters to backwash.
The most important aspect of this setup though is the visual water quality. I am yet to see a filter system (yes i´ve seen diatom and other micron filters in action) that delivers such a high water quality on a large system. The water polishing aspects of such a setup are in my opinion second to none.
Well that should do to start with. if you´d like to know any more specifics just let me know
j<><
Thx. Unfortunately i´ll be breaking down the tank in six monthsGuapote;2494549; said:
as i´ll be moving back to oz with my better half next yearj<><
Great write up! 
How did I miss this the first time?
Just curious given a wet/dry with 100% various submerged media, do you see any benefits of adding a bubble wand in the sump where the bubbles would float up through and throughout the various media?
How did I miss this the first time?Just curious given a wet/dry with 100% various submerged media, do you see any benefits of adding a bubble wand in the sump where the bubbles would float up through and throughout the various media?
ThxGr8KarmaSF;2507367; said:Great write up!
Maybe you just need to get more involved in the mfk site
justin guest;2507420; said:Thx
Maybe you just need to get more involved in the mfk site
You didnt answer my question regarding the bubble wand
