Designing the Ultimate Filtration System

[cvermeulen]

No sorry, your input has value. I guess I could stop beating a dead horse here, as well, but I guess I'm just a pain that way. You are saying you never said anything or made any claims about it? here is a quote from your first message: "best media to use is Biohome sintered glass.It is tried tested and works, how do I know.I own the company" Looks like a claim to me.

However, despite my nitpicking, I'd like to hear what you have to say about how it works. Does it clog with biological sludge over time? if not, why not? What mechanism of removing nitrates does it use?

 

[johnptc]

Correct I am a biased party, anything I say about the media would be advertising which is why if you notice I havent said anything or made any claims about it, It is what other people say that counts and there are many of them out there. I in my simple ignorance of how these things work I thought it may be beneficial if anyone had a question about Biohome I may be the person to ask...the mistrust I dont understand ?

HOW DOES THE MEDIA REMOVE NITRATE ???

 

[michael toft]

Some of the things Biohome does even we dont know how.It does not clog over at least 10 years but good mechanical filtration is essential, Biohome has no mechanical filtration properties.How this non clogging is achieved is by the creation of a optimum pore size that appears to allow the colonisation and I suppose we could call the "life cycle" of the bacteria to take place on a continuous basis.It certainly works best in a trickle tower /bakki shower style set up ,the layers should be 4"-6" thick,and the slower the flow rate the more it will remove.ammonia.nitrite, nitrate removal/reduction is dependant on contact time but biohome is around 43% porous so it does slow the flowing process.In a ideal set up the contact time between water and media would be 12-15 mins, I conceed this is pretty impossible to achieve on a hobbyist set up so slower the better is what to aim for.I should also mention it will take between 21 to 42 days to get enough life in there to reduce the ammonia and nitrite, nitrate takes longer....

 

[cvermeulen]

Some of the things Biohome does even we dont know how.It does not clog over at least 10 years but good mechanical filtration is essential, Biohome has no mechanical filtration properties.How this non clogging is achieved is by the creation of a optimum pore size that appears to allow the colonisation and I suppose we could call the "life cycle" of the bacteria to take place on a continuous basis.It certainly works best in a trickle tower /bakki shower style set up ,the layers should be 4"-6" thick,and the slower the flow rate the more it will remove.ammonia.nitrite, nitrate removal/reduction is dependant on contact time but biohome is around 43% porous so it does slow the flowing process.In a ideal set up the contact time between water and media would be 12-15 mins, I conceed this is pretty impossible to achieve on a hobbyist set up so slower the better is what to aim for.I should also mention it will take between 21 to 42 days to get enough life in there to reduce the ammonia and nitrite, nitrate takes longer....

Can you cite an actual controlled study where biohome has been shown to remove nitrate? We've developed a reasonable understanding of the various processes by which nitrate can be removed/reduced, but they all produce sludge that would clog small pores, AND they require a food source other than nitrate to work. Surely if this does indeed work there is some scientific evidence to back it up, and I'm guessing that would pique enough interest to generate at least some speculation as to HOW it works.

 

[johnptc]

HOW DOES THE MEDIA REMOVE NITRATE ???

 

[X24]

I always wanted to do a sand bed in my filtration system. I mostly wanted to do it as a mech/bio filtration. I figured if i made it large enough and got the water to feed into the top of the sand bed and at the bottom side there was some fine mesh-wire the sand bed would trap all particles and also do some bio-filtration.

I maybe won't use the sand bed as mechanical filtration and instead use micron bags, but i think im goin to incorporate a lot of ideas in this thread, maybe even try a denitrator with airline tubing and sintered glass/ceramic rings.

 

[cvermeulen]

I always wanted to do a sand bed in my filtration system. I mostly wanted to do it as a mech/bio filtration. I figured if i made it large enough and got the water to feed into the top of the sand bed and at the bottom side there was some fine mesh-wire the sand bed would trap all particles and also do some bio-filtration.

I maybe won't use the sand bed as mechanical filtration and instead use micron bags, but i think im goin to incorporate a lot of ideas in this thread, maybe even try a denitrator with airline tubing and sintered glass/ceramic rings.

Fine Micron bags are a major PITA, as they clog nearly instantly. Sand beds are not great for mech, as you have to stir them up to clean them for one thing, which disturbs the bacteria, and you have to run such low flow through them to get denitration that you get virtually no mech. Something that would work nicely though might be a settling chamber/dsb combination. If you're talking about a fluidized sand bed, again, not great for mech. I use industrial filter bags rated at around 100micron, and they do a great job. Maybe that's what you meant by micron bags I assumed you meant the 1-5 micron bags

 

[AW7020]

Some of the things Biohome does even we dont know how.It does not clog over at least 10 years but good mechanical filtration is essential, Biohome has no mechanical filtration properties.How this non clogging is achieved is by the creation of a optimum pore size that appears to allow the colonisation and I suppose we could call the "life cycle" of the bacteria to take place on a continuous basis.It certainly works best in a trickle tower /bakki shower style set up ,the layers should be 4"-6" thick,and the slower the flow rate the more it will remove.ammonia.nitrite, nitrate removal/reduction is dependant on contact time but biohome is around 43% porous so it does slow the flowing process.In a ideal set up the contact time between water and media would be 12-15 mins, I conceed this is pretty impossible to achieve on a hobbyist set up so slower the better is what to aim for.I should also mention it will take between 21 to 42 days to get enough life in there to reduce the ammonia and nitrite, nitrate takes longer....

Hi Michael I am keen to know whether you can post more such info.
at least what would make the biohome work in the best possible way, setups, flowrates etc... . with some examples for say a 3000us gallons pond stock with say 10 Kois size 60 cm. Feeding 3 times a day.

or 1000 USG with suitable fish (take your choices but number and sizes so we can have a possible clear indication of the loading possible)

Thanks and looking for your future posts..

 

[X24]

Fine Micron bags are a major PITA, as they clog nearly instantly. Sand beds are not great for mech, as you have to stir them up to clean them for one thing, which disturbs the bacteria, and you have to run such low flow through them to get denitration that you get virtually no mech. Something that would work nicely though might be a settling chamber/dsb combination. If you're talking about a fluidized sand bed, again, not great for mech. I use industrial filter bags rated at around 100micron, and they do a great job. Maybe that's what you meant by micron bags I assumed you meant the 1-5 micron bags

I was actually thinking more along the lines of a 200micron fallowed by a 100 micron or smaller bag. Would be chambers with:

1. 200 micron
2. 50-100 micron
3. Scrubbies in a w/d sort of thing
4. Sintered glass (depending on the height i can do i might do this in w/d)
5. Deep sand bed with a bypass that goes through sponges
6. small area for heaters and the pump

I'd then start up a denitrator like this: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127266&highlight=nitrate+removing

This would make each chamber kind of small in a 55gallon tank, but it would be used on a 150 so it'll still probably do the job.

A replacement for the denitrator could be a refuge or a small hydroponics setup although i'm not sure what lighting would have to be used to grow various non-aquatic plants, and i would rather do a more frequent water change then having to place a large hydroponics setup next to my tank...kind of unsightly to me.

Really any nitrate removing parts of the tank would just be to keep water quality up inbetween weekly w/c's.

 

[michael toft]

It is impossible to cite a controlled trial on Biohome for the following reason.Commercial recurculatory fish farming companies do not share information with each other in the way hobbyists do...nor do they share it with us.We have been allowed to see fish farming systems with huge stocking levels but we are not allowed to see the filter set up. it was a huge trickle tower way over 20ft high with a tonne of Biohome in there somewhere, not the kind of thing you could replicate even if we did know how it worked.The kind of controlled trials you mean are those carried out for "potable" drinking water where the results have to be available for public scrutiny when its a commercial venture they share nothing !how they achieve the required contact time between water and media is simply build a huge trickle tower that takes 12-15 mins for the water to flow through, on a koi pond if a trickle tower/bakki shower style set up is built aim for around 50 galls a hour, give it time and you will get results.