Brute Can Replaces Sump

[Ulu]

So far my attempts to put the de-nitrate coil inside of my Brute can have met with no success. The outside temperatures are so cold that the stuff is extremely difficult to work with. I may hook it up externally and just insulate it by itself, but I was hoping to avoid this.

I will hook a hot water hose to one end and pump hot water through it until the polypropylene plastic softens, but I think this is gonna be a difficult procedure no matter what. At the current outside temperatures of about 45°F the stuff kinks as soon as you try to flex it.

 

[Ulu]

I must admit that after doing some more research I have at least temporarily abandoned the idea of building a denitrification coil.

So anyhow, if you will pardon the expression, I had other fish to fry. The Brute in bypass filtration arrangement just wasn’t working well enough, and I knew I would eventually make everything full-flow.

So yesterday I rebuilt my main service drain trap and outflow from the 125, and added another down pipe inside the Brute.

I stirred everything up again, but everything cleaned up more quickly.

After getting the running levels adjusted on everything to my satisfaction I found that I had added about 10 gallons of water to the system, and I will be able to add another five quite easily by raising the outflow on the 55 slightly. This all brings me much closer to the theoretical 242 gallon capacity of all the stuff.

 

[Ulu]

Just for the record, the bio load on the system includes:

(125g ... 72”x24”x24”)
One 12”+ Oscar
One 12” Sailfin Pleco
Three 5”~7” Malawi zebra/Johanni hybrids
One 6” Bristlenose Pleco
One 6” albino BNP
One 5” Upside down catfish
One 1.5” Serpae Tetra
Twelve 1”~3” Dalmatian Mollies
Twelve+ Guppies

(55g ... 48”x12”x21”)
One 13” Sailfin Pleco
One 7”+ Red Zebra
Two 3” Convicts
Five 2” “Corydoras”
Two doz Guppies

(30g ... 42”x12”x17”)
One 11” Sailfin Pleco
One 8”+ zebra/johanni hybrid
Three 2”~3” Black Mollies
Also any fry that got sucked down the overflow.

The 11” Pleco does not normally live in the 30 gallon but it was thick with algae. It is now spic and span and I am going to move him.

 

[Ulu]

Today I am lounging with a sore back, because I had to take my sliding patio door apart and put new rollers in it. I should hire somebody younger to do these things but my wife still thinks I’m a hero.
in my dreams LOL…

Anyhow the aquarium has cleared up quite well although I still need to create a better floss basket arrangement and actually add another pillow full of floss to this system.

I just want to pull off the most polluted bits of floss every now and then and add some more on occasion. I don’t ever want to change the entire floss, which I think will be a considerable amount of bio media for the $21 I paid for three pillows.

The bottom of the sump contains mesh bags full of ceramic media rings. below that is a layer of barbecue lava. Below that is a deep bed of ugly aquarium gravel that I don’t want to look at anymore. All of it has been well aged except for the last two pillows worth of floss.

 

[Ulu]

I decided to update this thread since I mentioned it today elsewhere.

We lost the 11 inch Pleco. Unfortunately I don’t know why but I believe it was pestered to death by an aggressive fish.

As I mentioned, I gave up on the idea of the denitrification coil. What I did is cut a large plastic tub off short, and put it upside down in the bottom, as a floor. I put about 100 nice holes in it with a fat soldering iron.

The two ABS inlet pipes exit thru T-fittings below this floor. My bio rings and other media is above it.

One thing that I must mention is this. When I put this big can in the system, I reduced the drop on the drain pipes of both aquariums.

This reduces the effectiveness of my drains.

I want to put a more powerful pump on my main tank, but I am afraid that I will be pushing too much water thru the emergency overflow, where I normally just want it as a tiny trickle. The overflow has a P-trap, and I wanted to always be full of water, But otherwise the emergency pipe must be clear.

 

[jjohnwm]

Gotta love Rubbermaid filters! My favourite brand.

You must be mechanically prefiltering the water now that the Brute is reverse-flow, but I must have missed it somehow. Could you clarify?

 

[Ulu]

Yeah, I didn't want to go reverse flow, but the water is cleaner now.
There is a bag of fine fry-proof screen over the overflow strainer of each tank, but that is all.
All my media is finally in mesh bags.

Also, I did remove the gravel bed when I added airstones.

So some crap collects in the bottom, & tiny snails will get thru, and I will have to keep flushing manually.
I want to increase the system flow soon. I am not 100% happy with this setup yet. Additional flow won't hurt.

But I am thinking this can should really be moving-media.

 

[fishdance]

For an open top (gravity drain) barrel, reverse flow is more efficient as media clogs much faster/quicker when using down flow. Reverse flow allows higher pressure build up so longer between cleans. Look up the birdman sand & gravel filter for a well proven DIY method.

I use Moving Bed filters a lot too. They enable multiple passes on a single water cycle through the filter so hugely efficient as well as effective. (Stop and think about that sentence for a bit, it's poorly understood and usually overlooked). And the biofilm allows more than simple nitrification.

If you move to moving Bed, consider a secondary barrel filter of static media for mechanical filtration. Very easy to flood and flush to clean. I would use reverse flow on the static bed and air stir.

 

[duanes]

If you move to moving Bed, consider a secondary barrel filter of static media for mechanical filtration. Very easy to flood and flush to clean. I would use reverse flow on the static bed and air stir.

I agree,
I built my DIY fluidized bed in a separate unit next to my barrel sump.
I found better to keep the agitated section away from the more static, and even flow section.
And put a filter sock under to flow from FIB to sump, to keep aragonite grains from interfering with the pumps impeller in the barrel.

Fluidized bed to the left of barrel with mechanical.

For the FI Bed I used aragonite sand as media, to add extra buffering capacity.
Beside the FIB as simply biofiltration, it then also acted as a reactor, because calcium that was released as aragonite dissolved.
The barrel/FIB system was able to handle filtration for 5 tanks and a planted refuguim totaling about 550 gallons
I usually ran the barrel fairly full, the shot below was during a water change

 

[Ulu]

I don’t know if I get multiple passes, but I elbowed the inflow pipes to swirl the bottom water around the bagged ceramic ring media.

I definitely had to takeoff the insulating lid because there wasn’t enough air to the water, considering how warm it is here recently. (102°F) Also I am getting too much channeling around the floss and I’m collecting way too much in my final filter sock.

I gave up my moving sand filter last year, because the plastic was failing at the glue joints. I did not believe that tiny filter was making a big difference on a 200+ gallon system, but it was, and I am noticing the differences now.

Also I gave up on growing the Pothos for a couple different reasons but I am going to take it up again.

The bottom line is: I am making 50% more water changes and my fish are not as happy.

I still have a bucket of aged aragonite, and there’s already a big filter sock that protects my pumps. I think I will try to put an air lift pipe from the 55g level up 2’, then allow the water to fall 6.5’ To the bottom of the sand, then rise with an overflow into the brute as high as necessary to get clear flow.