Adding a bag filter?

[Yoimbrian]

my set up:

90 gallon tank
5 fancy goldfish
2 BN plecos
wet dry trickle style filter sump (similar to this, but bigger, mine is 20 gallons) http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...1&list=9786,9787,9788,9789,9790,9791&breeds=1
high tech planted with LED + T5HO lights and CO2 tank (even though I'm struggling with finding stuff goldfish don't eat)

Anyhow, I'm getting a little annoyed with the filter pad on the top of the bio balls. I feel like my tank is no where near capacity for bio load (the goldfsh are only 3" body length or so, my nitrates go up less than 10 ppm per week), yet the filter gunks up in a matter of days and starts not evenly distributing the water. Not to mention those filter pads are expensive and kind of a pain to cut.

So, I was hoping to add a bag filter before the sump filter pad, is there a good way to do that? There is certainly not room to add it above the sump. Is there a way to add a bag filter inside of a overflow tower??

 

[Redearsunfish]

Why not just run some cheap floss as a pre-filter and throw it out as it clogs?

 

[Redearsunfish]

By the way, I keep goldfish (big ones) my filters require constant attention. It kind of goes with the territory.

 

[wrslrcichlid]

I've never heard of a "bag filter." Is this like a filter sock?

Anyway, you mentioned that the filter pad is expensive. If you buy it in bulk (you can easily find it on Ebay or other sites) it can be quite cheap. For example I just did a quick ebay search and found a 10 foot roll (pink) for $8.99. You can get the blue kind (10ft x 13in) for $19. Obviously you would need somewhere to store the massive roll, but if you can find a place to keep it, the pads really aren't that expensive.

Also, you could run a canister filter purely for mechanical filtration - IME that helps quite a bit in keeping the sump filter clean.

But either way, plecos and goldfish are dirty fish. As Redearsunfish said, filter cleaning comes with goldfish territory - but in reality it comes with any aquarium.

 

[wrslrcichlid]

Kept looking because I am going to be buying some bulk filter pads soon, and found an online vendor that sells the same filter pad rolls, but you can get 90 ft x 12 in for $45. 90ft should last quite a while, but again you have to have room for a massive roll of padding.

 

[Yoimbrian]

Yea, I buy it now from amazon, you're right can find it cheaper. The main problem is even a little bit of gunk on the top of a pad and it stops working to spread water over bio balls, a filter bag can be half full of gunk an still work, probably 20x the "gunk" capacity before needing to be changed.

Anyone try converting a wet dry to more of a Berlin? I could see using a hang on filter holder, removing half the bio balls to make room, and be good to go??


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[Redearsunfish]

I'm thinking the only way to keep gunk out of your filter is to run pre filter socks into your sump, or floss the initial dump water.

 

[Yoimbrian]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16746

I bought one of those. I'm going to try to hang it on the side of the sump and lay it as vertical as possible (though will need to remove probably half of the bio balls to make room).

it comes with a 200 micron sock - how small can you go? I was thinking 100 at least.