Additional mechanical filtration question (pool cartridge)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I was hoping to take the cartridge out every week or so to spray it off. I got in touch with hayward and a few other people and am now reverting to my original plan of trying 4 x 7"x16" 200 micron filter socks in a small 50gallon sump with a high turnover rate. With some ceramic rings for backup bio if I can fit them in. The sumps primary purpose would be mechanical.

I hate cleaning the socks but at the moment it appears to be the most cost effective/low maintenance option. If I can get at least 4 days in between changing the socks ill be happy. A week or more would obviously be great! haha
 
I think a lot of fellow MFKer's keep two sets of socks and run the spare set through the washing machine. I think you will be much happier with socks in a sump than cartridges in a huge pool filter. The maintenance on a pool cartridge filter looked pretty ominous when I was looking at going that route. If the filter was outside and you weren't concerned with dumping water all over it wouldn't be too bad... but inside it looks like it would be a huge mess. With socks in a sump the socks should be easy to get to at least.

How about something like this for a big sock filter?
http://www.mcmaster.com/#bag-filters/=i1bbdj

2460kp1s.png


Looks to have A lot of surface area! I actually have one of these bags in 150 micron at home somewhere (I bought the draw string version). For $10 I picked up one to experiment with but lost interest when I went the DE route.

I was considering drilling a bunch of 1/2" or so holes in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and put the big sock in it. Put a bulk head near the bottom of a second 5g bucket and put the first bucket into the second bucket. Then run an external pump from the bulkhead back into the tank. You could throw the bio media into the bottom of the second bucket and not have to worry about disturbing it when changing the sock.... just a thought.

So far DE has been extremely economical for me... and a breeze for maintenance. ;)
 
P.S. When I have run cartridge filters in the past it has always taken more than just rinsing them to clean them. I always had to run a substantial amount of water through the filter in the reverse direction to get them flowing again.
 
I gave the large cartridge filter a try for about a month. Very good at polishing and waste/solids removal but I recently sold it due to the maintenance. Spraying the cartridges off weekly got irritating and I didn't want to have to deal with cleaning it in the winter when I could not go outside to do it.

I tried a number of different pumps in attempt to find a good balance between polishing the water and also time intervals between maintenance. Any pump below 1000gph is far too weak to utilize the cartridge filter properly. I found a sweet spot around 2500gph gave me good water clarity and anywhere between 5-7 days until the pressure gauge showed it was time for a cleaning.

I am currently using a sump with 7"x16" 200 micron filter socks. The socks last a long time before they need cleaning. The one problem I have now is small amounts of waste sits on the bottom of the tank and does not make it up into the overflow. I turn on my large powerhead occasionally to push the debris up into the overflow but I know there must be a better solution.

I am now looking into pressure filters with a backwash option to be able to pull the debris from the bottom and also have easy maintenance with the backwash.
 
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