CREATING THE ULTIMATE FILTRATION AND EVOLVING WITH YOUR FISH!!!!!!

[Dan F]

My "ultimate filtration". This system filters my 210 SA community (with one CA for the sticklers), my 135 SA community, and a 55 grow-out (when it is running).


Two Nu-Clear mechanical filters (100 micron followed by 25 micron) in a closed loop on the 210. Powered by an Iwaki MD40.


Overview of the Rube Goldbergian system.


300G Rubbermaid sump (I installed it in the crawl-space while building my house) houses four 7x16 filter socks and about 30G of bioballs in bucket filters.


Automatic water change doing about 100 gallons/day. I built a DIY heat exchanger to reduce heating costs. Water comes from our well, no treatment needed.


I would like to add a 30G cone-bottomed tank as a settling vortex, but they are kind of expensive and hard-to-find locally. I switch out the socks every 3-4 weeks, other than that it is pretty much maintenance-free.

 

[HULON]

My list might make it sound like it adds up but all this stuff has been aquired over the last 5-6 years all while supporting rays on this venture from AC110s on a 125 to the current systems. Can't wait to see what stuff looks like years from now. Maybe it will be just like Hulon's.....

I never said it was pretty, but seems to work.

The big tank is a 10x4x2.5. Pumps are a pair of Darts. A few Characins, silver aro, few Irwinnis, fire eel, and a 4.2 goup of Marbles 10"-17". Downsized significantly from about 12 rays.

Pick of my lil growout tank filter too..... 120 gallon sump, 2 Dolphin 3Ks, a 20 gallon wet/dry and like 20lbs of ceramic rings. Tanks are a 6x3x1.5 for a trio of Falks and an Aimara and on bottom a 180 with a trio of black ray mutts.

Both tanks are currently ran with 200/100 socks.[/QUOTEAwsome DB keep the controbutions coming for this thread!!!

My "ultimate filtration". This system filters my 210 SA community (with one CA for the sticklers), my 135 SA community, and a 55 grow-out (when it is running).


Two Nu-Clear mechanical filters (100 micron followed by 25 micron) in a closed loop on the 210. Powered by an Iwaki MD40.
View attachment 823278

Overview of the Rube Goldbergian system.
View attachment 823279G Rubbermaid sump (I installed it in the crawl-space while building my house) houses four 7x16 filter socks and about 30G of bioballs in bucket filters.
View attachment 823281

Automatic water change doing about 100 gallons/day. I built a DIY heat exchanger to reduce heating costs. Water comes from our well, no treatment needed.
View attachment 823282

I would like to add a 30G cone-bottomed tank as a settling vortex, but they are kind of expensive and hard-to-find locally. I switch out the socks every 3-4 weeks, other than that it is pretty much maintenance-free.

thanks for the pics Dan stop by from time to time to answer any questions members may have!!! about your system

 

[aldiaz33]

I'm not here to fight...just here to talk filtration. I like what I’m reading here…lots of good info.

I agree with you Hulon that you can theoretically keep Ammonia and Nitrites under control regardless of stock; with enough turnover and surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow, I think that can fairly easily be accomplished. But the BumbleBee Grouper in the room (c’mon, that’s funny!) that Jose mentioned in his first post, but has gone ignored is NITRATES. I believe you would need an impractical amount of plant filtration, Denitrification filtration (which I don’t know much about, but understand comes with it’s own potential dangers) or massive amounts of water changes in order to keep nitrates down in a heavily overstocked tank.

Having said that, I think that maintaining stable water parameters is something vital to the health of the fish we keep. Spikes in Nitrate levels and PH levels will (over time) take their toll on the fish. I have yet to see a method of removing nitrates from a heavily overstocked tank that is consistent and stable enough for me to consider "safe" for the fish. As Nitrates rise, PH tends to drop. Doing a huge water change typically spikes your PH levels, sending fish into “PH shock.” I think these swings are responsible for a lot of the “mystery deaths” that some of us experience.

I think it was Jose that also first mentioned ponds. Koi are disgustingly messy fish...they are total pigs. A very general rule of thumb that I’ve heard thrown around the koi keeping community is 1 koi per 500 gallons. I think the reason for this rule is the adage “dilution is the solution to pollution.” Concentrating huge bio-loads in smaller bodies of water is going to be an uphill battle (think Mt. Everest). What some of us are doing is the equivalent of putting a dozen koi into a 500G pond and I think that presents a huge challenge…and ultimately the reason Hulon created this thread.

Since most of us can’t fit a lake in our homes, I think filtration or maintenance that addresses Nitrate levels is what I would love to hear from you guys on. You guys are fighting a good fight, but part of the reason I stock the way I do is because of the issue of maintaining stable water parameters. I’m not here to tell you to get rid of your huge fish…I already tried that and it didn’t work =/ However, I am here to learn how you keep Nitrates down to acceptable levels while simultaneously maintaining stable water parameters.

*After writing all of this and giving it some more thought, I just realized that perhaps a drip system is the holy grail to maintaining stable water parameters in heavily stocked tanks. Do people that run drip systems still have issues with PH swings from the heavy bio-load? How do you dose conditioner if your water is treated with chloramine or chlorine?

I will stay off of your thread if you prefer that I go away....just let me know and I will respect that.

 

[HULON]

I'm not here to fight...just here to talk filtration. I like what I’m reading here…lots of good info.

I agree with you Hulon that you can theoretically keep Ammonia and Nitrites under control regardless of stock; with enough turnover and surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow, I think that can fairly easily be accomplished. But the BumbleBee Grouper in the room (c’mon, that’s funny!) that Jose mentioned in his first post, but has gone ignored is NITRATES. I believe you would need an impractical amount of plant filtration, Denitrification filtration (which I don’t know much about, but understand comes with it’s own potential dangers) or massive amounts of water changes in order to keep nitrates down in a heavily overstocked tank.

Having said that, I think that maintaining stable water parameters is something vital to the health of the fish we keep. Spikes in Nitrate levels and PH levels will (over time) take their toll on the fish. I have yet to see a method of removing nitrates from a heavily overstocked tank that is consistent and stable enough for me to consider "safe" for the fish. As Nitrates rise, PH tends to drop. Doing a huge water change typically spikes your PH levels, sending fish into “PH shock.” I think these swings are responsible for a lot of the “mystery deaths” that some of us experience.

I think it was Jose that also first mentioned ponds. Koi are disgustingly messy fish...they are total pigs. A very general rule of thumb that I’ve heard thrown around the koi keeping community is 1 koi per 500 gallons. I think the reason for this rule is the adage “dilution is the solution to pollution.” Concentrating huge bio-loads in smaller bodies of water is going to be an uphill battle (think Mt. Everest). What some of us are doing is the equivalent of putting a dozen koi into a 500G pond and I think that presents a huge challenge…and ultimately the reason Hulon created this thread.

Since most of us can’t fit a lake in our homes, I think filtration or maintenance that addresses Nitrate levels is what I would love to hear from you guys on. You guys are fighting a good fight, but part of the reason I stock the way I do is because of the issue of maintaining stable water parameters. I’m not here to tell you to get rid of your huge fish…I already tried that and it didn’t work =/ However, I am here to learn how you keep Nitrates down to acceptable levels while simultaneously maintaining stable water parameters.

*After writing all of this and giving it some more thought, I just realized that perhaps a drip system is the holy grail to maintaining stable water parameters in heavily stocked tanks. Do people that run drip systems still have issues with PH swings from the heavy bio-load? How do you dose conditioner if your water is treated with chloramine or chlorine?

I will stay off of your thread if you prefer that I go away....just let me know and I will respect that.

AL their is no way i would Kick you off !!!!! You are welcome here and i look foward to your contribution!!!!This forum is NOT for 1 sided People and I myself am the last guy to think i am perfect!!!!Glad your here!!!

 

[ecoli73]

Probably an Oddball type question: Has any research done concerning the amount of nitrate various plant species can pull from water? A simplistic idea is for instance, in a settling tank(came up during the filter socks discussion)m have plants grow hydroponic...provided there are enough lights.

 

[tomomothy]

I just gotta say, this thread has debates filtration, overcrowding and tanksize, all of which are hot buttons in MFK, and yet it has remained informative, constructive and nobody is hating on anybody. I hope I didnt just jinx that. Anyhow I wanna thank all of you guys for taking time to pass on all this information, Ive learned quite a bit on 'newer' filtrations styles based on what I have read hear and looked into based on this thread. And furthermore thank you guys for showing people CAN disagree without the haterism.

 

[aquaponicpaw]

Probably an Oddball type question: Has any research done concerning the amount of nitrate various plant species can pull from water? A simplistic idea is for instance, in a settling tank(came up during the filter socks discussion)m have plants grow hydroponic...provided there are enough lights.

the best I have seen aside from pothos is the canna plant. I can't find the more in depth article I read on them(will keep searching), but here is a primer...http://www.gardenguides.com/137140-canna-plant-filter.html

I'm loving the massive filtration devices/rooms, keep them coming!

@DanF: do You ever dread going into Your crawl space to service Your unit? Seems ample but I would hate having to crawl under my house to do maintenance.

 

[kendragon]

Probably an Oddball type question: Has any research done concerning the amount of nitrate various plant species can pull from water? A simplistic idea is for instance, in a settling tank(came up during the filter socks discussion)m have plants grow hydroponic...provided there are enough lights.

Very good question. I've seen many threads saying a few plants and algae scrubbers helped reduce nitrate in their tank. How much? Koi pond hobbiest are saying plants covering 75% of the pond surface area is required to consume nitrate. Hard to believe because that is a lot of plants and up keep. So is a few plants enough for tanks? For my ponds, I try to grow healthy algae to combat some nitrate. Not long hair or brown algae but short bright green wall algae. If the wrong algae takes over then you'll have more work filtering them out and it pollutes the water instead of help. Keep in mind that plants without light (night time) comsumes oxygen.

 

[aquaponicpaw]

Very good question. I've seen many threads saying a few plants and algae scrubbers helped reduce nitrate in their tank. How much? Koi pond hobbiest are saying plants covering 75% of the pond surface area is required to consume nitrate. Hard to believe because that is a lot of plants and up keep. So is a few plants enough for tanks? For my ponds, I try to grow healthy algae to combat some nitrate. Not long hair or brown algae but short bright green wall algae. If the wrong algae takes over then you'll have more work filtering them out and it pollutes the water instead of help. Keep in mind that plants without light (night time) comsumes oxygen.
View attachment 823371

beautifull! what kind of fish are those?

 

[Egon]

Subscribed.
I just read everything. New info for me personally is the "settling tank" concept. My next set up (hopefully very large) will have this if possible. From what I understand the settling tank may take up a lot of space to slow the water enough for it to work properly. Flow has to slow way down for "dirt" to settle out. Also, how would this get cleaned? It seems a cone shaped tank bottom with a valve at the bottom would be great or tilt a tank on it's side slightly to collect everything in the corner? Just open the valve once a week and flow the crap out until the water runs clean. I'm very lazy.
Good stuff guys, keep it coming