540 filtration opinions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
There's a link in post 28 on page 3. Keep in mind, my filtration was built to handle my bio load and I think that load could be hard for some to grasp, especially if someone's never kept rays as their poo is like no other fish and just wreaks havoc on standard type filtration. Can even cement together bead filter media. IF I skip a day feeding my tank can put away 4 lbs of food, so believe me, there's plenty of crap to test mechanical limitations.....

I don't think RFSs would work as the only source of mechanical filtration. I built them to get me through the week so I'm just changing socks on the weekends instead of 3 or 4 times a week. Socks are super easy to wash - just pitch them in the washing machine. ;) Sounds funny but do some digging - everyone cleans them this way.
 
Yeah, I knew they washed them in the washer. Was just always nervous to do it and I didn't have any backups. U wash with bleach? I think that's what scared me. How about 55g Rubbermaid? Would that be sufficient you think?
 
specialized002 said:
Yeah, I knew they washed them in the washer. Was just always nervous to do it and I didn't have any backups. U wash with bleach? I think that's what scared me. How about 55g Rubbermaid? Would that be sufficient you think?
Click to expand...

Yup, I washer wash - but no bleach here.

Myself I'd go a 300, but 150 would probably work. What is the footprint of your tank?
 
U use detergent? My footprint is 6'x6'x2' I planned to tie my 2" drains into a 3" just as you did. Would a barracuda be too much flow? Could I get away with a single dart on 540 gallons?
 
No detergent here.....

I don't see why a single Dart wouldn't work. I'd use 2, but that definitely doesn't mean one wouldn't work. Overkilling the pump is encouraged cause you can always worry about what to do with the excess water down the road. As far as too much flow for a RFS - it's trial and error. I'm sure too much flow would result in less poo caught but It will probably catch some still. Going with a slower flow rate will just insure the RFS works better. IF you "T" off the pump and use some water to feed the bio I'm sure you could use a Hammerhead and still have the RFS work as long as you pushed enough water to the bio.

Looks like an inch of water in your tank is 22.5 gallons, so maybe the sump wouldn't need to be as big as I'm thinking but I tend to error on the side of overkill.
 
So just throw them in the washer with no cleaner, detergent or bleach, etc? I think a super dart should get the job done. I built a 4' overflow for the drains. Should leave less water to be drained in an outage. I wouldn't mind doing a bio tower into a Rubbermaid container for my last chamber...I would rather be too big than not have enough. Maybe I'll go with 100 gallon Rubbermaid.
 
I don't use any cleaner......

Not sure I understand the overflow bit, I'd think that you'd loose a 1/2" or so of water out of the tank regardless of overflow design, but either way it's not too much water.

You could build a or some moving bed bio towers like I run, I thought it seemed like kind of a waste of air to be shoving so much into the moving bed just to boil the media so I put a wet/dry tower over top the moving bed so that all that air saturates the wet/dry media AND keeps the moving bed media wet in cases like Prazi where the media would normally float and dry out....... I thought this seemed like a great idea. :)

I use a separate tank for the socks that sits higher then the towers so the towers can be gravity fed clean filtered water without using another pump. Mine is setup so half the sock filtered water feeds the bio towers and the other half goes to the moving bed. Drawback to all these separate containers is more water drains at power cut, but it still restarts without adding water.

Check footprint sizes of the Rubbermaid tubs, the 100s are pretty small in the very bottom......

How much space do you have to work with filter wise????
 
I have a little bit of space for filter. 20 sq/ft give or take. I wAs thinking if I kept my first 2 chambers as planned then spilled it into a plastic drawer type wet/dry tower into a 150 gallon Rubbermaid then pumped to return? I have to go back and look at ur bio tower and moving bed.
 
specialized002 said:
I have a little bit of space for filter. 20 sq/ft give or take. I wAs thinking if I kept my first 2 chambers as planned then spilled it into a plastic drawer type wet/dry tower into a 150 gallon Rubbermaid then pumped to return? I have to go back and look at ur bio tower and moving bed.
Click to expand...

Problem is you NEED to sock/floss filter BEFORE the moving bed or your moving bed is going to crud up, a RFS isn't going to mechanically filter enough to keep a moving bed going. Needs to be RFS - socks- moving bed -return.
 
Sorry, I left that part out. Thought it was assumed, lol. Yes there will def be some sort of mechanical filtration before the moving bed. Be it a filter sock of floss but something will be in place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom