things are always changing getting faster quiker better if it has not happened yet it does not mean it won't !!!!!!
CREATING THE ULTIMATE FILTRATION AND EVOLVING WITH YOUR FISH!!!!!!
- Thread starter HULON
- Start date
Big fish big maintenance !!!! I have 4 other tankes running also witch i must admit is exesive!!!!but i am exesive!!!
I'd like to see them too! 
I'm not quite sure how to do it, its one thing to work out the GPH and turn over, but the shape of the tank is what will determin the speed the water is flowing thru the settling chamber. I think I'll start by working out how fast it was moving in the old set up and take it from there.
And 4 hours a day is madness! I admire your dedication, but I think I must be lazy too...
I'm not quite sure how to do it, its one thing to work out the GPH and turn over, but the shape of the tank is what will determin the speed the water is flowing thru the settling chamber. I think I'll start by working out how fast it was moving in the old set up and take it from there.
And 4 hours a day is madness! I admire your dedication, but I think I must be lazy too...
I get what your saying and love your sump idea. So true about slowing the water to catch more but on the flip side I hear ray keepers complaining about particles in the tank. So I guess one needs to decide on the happy medium. I like my tanks always clear of particles and so I went with the high turn over rate. The big turds do not disappear if the flow rate is not high and I do not like powerheads in the tank (just me). My first attempt was high turn over rate with socks. Works but requires a lot of manual cleaning. What got me really thinking is the filter I have on my outside mahseer pond. The pool style cartridge would start to fill up and slow the water flow. I thought it was a good thing because it's not ramming the water through and I should catch more. Worked great with weekly cleaning. Things started to change when the mahseers grew. Weekly cleaning became daily. Sound familiar? I dumped the cartridge and installed a high flow rate cartridge made of mats. I thought water clarity would suffer but I was wrong. Pond is now clearer than before. The cartridge does not clog allowing a high flow rate. More particle pass though the cartridge clinging on to each other. Cleaning has gone back to weekly even during Summer.
Trying to do the same for by tank and to minimize the mess in the garage I replaced the socks and sump with a glass filter. It's a high flow rate filter and tank is clear. I backwash the filter everytime I do a water change. So free water for cleaning and it doesn't kill the biological. The term gluing media is nothing new. When bead medias hit the koi world it was seen. It had to be chipped with a broom handle during cleaning. With evolution, air blowers were incorporated and media shape changed to prevent channeling and clogging. Now if you don't maintain it like the example I gave in my previous post. It won't work. The owner actually told me to disconnect it but leave the settling chamber. I guess it their way of going back to old betsy.
Cost was brought up about the fancy filters.....can someone put together cost for a bio reactor or canister or fancy sump? I think they are all dependent on what you put in. How about time spent on cleaning? Everyone keep different stock so a filters will work differently from tank to tank. So bottomline is if you are happy with your fish why change your filter? I know my filter is an evolution (not perfect).
Nothing against sock...Jay made a good point, "You wouldn't put filter sock on a koi pond". Some of the monster tanks I've seen should be treated as a pond based on stock and size. So socks or no socks? And vis versa pond bead filter or not?
Well i also have breeding peacock bass pairs right now so it does take time and there is alot of watching behavior also not just purely labering all of this time LOL!!!I'd like to see them too!
I'm not quite sure how to do it, its one thing to work out the GPH and turn over, but the shape of the tank is what will determin the speed the water is flowing thru the settling chamber. I think I'll start by working out how fast it was moving in the old set up and take it from there.
And 4 hours a day is madness! I admire your dedication, but I think I must be lazy too...
That's one bet I'll gladly send you my paypal address for......
2 beat up acrylic 55s - $60
4 100/200 socks - $20
Pondliner- $30
2 plastic 55 gallon drums - free.
5 ft3 K1 - $225
1 pondmaster ap 100 $150
PVC $50
bio towers $50
pot scrubbies $50
50 lbs ceramic rings $80
As you can see the most expensive part by far was the bio..... No way around it. You get what you pay for. Still have to add the most expensive part (the bio chips).
You say socks are flawed, but we BOTH personally know someone with one of these high dollar glass bead filters and we both know how well it worked for him. Might be just fine for mini Marbles but when you consider that a 20" ray is probobly the same bio load as 1/2 dozen midgets it's not hard to understand why it may work for some, and not for others.
To me saying anything is "flawed" is a sign that hope is gone and judgement has allready been passed. A very bold statement. I always add "in my experience" or "when I tried" when speaking of things being "flawed" cause I know dang good and well that if someone wants something to work bad enough they WILL find a way...... Especially if repair is in their blood.
Yes, sock is flawed. However, the flaw is not on the sock, but on how a person used it. They're not designed to handle strong flow, get clogged too easy. The mighty bead filter (not holy yet) on the other hand was designed for koi, designed to handle high flow rate, just look at the specs if you wish. You think ray is the only messy fish? Get some koi and carp, feed them, and you'll find out those bottomless creature is as equally messy like ray, if not worse.
Good input. I know you do a lot of work with customer ponds...any experience with parabolic screen filters? Looks like an interesting low-maintenance design for mechanical filtration (speaking large tanks/ponds here). Pricey though.
I've seen the cartridge filter you have on your pond and it seems like messy work. Unavoidable though. On our koi pond we have one of these filters for both mechanical and bio. The pond would benefit from separate mechanical filtration which is why I'm curious about other methods...
I shall revise my statement DB!!!! It can be bettered is that better LOL!!!!As far as the glass filter it needs a "PRE" mechanical when loads get past a certain point NO doubt!!!ASfar as your cost break down i came up with $665 Dollers - 50 for pvc witch you would need anyway and guess what the glass filter is around $800 bucks for a 16 inch PRETTY close in my book wouldn't you say DB????? granted everybodies tank is not the same and has different needs for sure!!!!That's one bet I'll gladly send you my paypal address for......
2 beat up acrylic 55s - $60
4 100/200 socks - $20
Pondliner- $30
2 plastic 55 gallon drums - free.
5 ft3 K1 - $225
1 pondmaster ap 100 $150
PVC $50
bio towers $50
pot scrubbies $50
50 lbs ceramic rings $80
As you can see the most expensive part by far was the bio..... No way around it. You get what you pay for. Still have to add the most expensive part (the bio chips).
You say socks are flawed, but we BOTH personally know someone with one of these high dollar glass bead filters and we both know how well it worked for him. Might be just fine for mini Marbles but when you consider that a 20" ray is probobly the same bio load as 1/2 dozen midgets it's not hard to understand why it may work for some, and not for others.
To me saying anything is "flawed" is a sign that hope is gone and judgement has allready been passed. A very bold statement. I always add "in my experience" or "when I tried" when speaking of things being "flawed" cause I know dang good and well that if someone wants something to work bad enough they WILL find a way...... Especially if repair is in their blood.
