DIY filter improvement

[DamoAu]

I’m playing around with my orca 500L internal power filter an i can’t seem to find a way to make this filter an effective filter, the problem I have is it comes with two chambers but because it’s all open you get no suction in the bottom chamber at all, an from when I put my floss in I can tell only 3/4 of the first chamber is actually pulling water

What would be a way of improveing my suction through the chambers, the power head is strong enough it’s just bad design on the filter chamber

I’m thinking about wrapping the 3/4 the first chamber in tape an filing the holes in with silicon, Makeing it kinda like a true internal cainister filter, cause atm it’s useless for bio-media

 

[deeda]

I had to look up this brand and model filter 1st and I see it uses a power head and pulls the water through the 'media chamber' or basket.

You could use some filter foam and make a liner that would fit inside the chamber and then put the bio-media in the middle.

Or you can use some polyester batting instead of the foam; I'm not sure if you have Poly-fil brand batting available in your location though, that is the brand that I use in my canister filters.

Maybe you can get a similar fine media pad that you can cut to fit from your local fish store or online if you order stuff that way.

 

[DamoAu]

I was thinking if I plugged 3/4 it would force the water through the bottom an out the top an I could have my bio-balls in the plugged up part but have the polish at the bottom, that way water would get sucked through the “floss” an through the bio balls, atm if I try that water just sucks through the bio balls not allowing for an mechanical filtration an if put the bio balls in the bottom an “floss” on top the bio balls will be in a very little flow area

 

[twentyleagues]

I'd either like you said plug the top 1/2-3/4 of it and put the bio there and the mech in the bottom where the water will now be pulled from. Or get another one of those or just make one out of a water or pop bottle and put the 1 for mech on the intake side and the bio on the output.

I have done something like this when setting up a quick hospital tank or qt tank. 2 water bottles a mj900 some filter floss and some seeded bio from the main tank. And if you cut the bottles just right you can use it as a surface skimmer at the same time.

 

[DamoAu]

Is it alright to turn the pump upside to make a surface skimmer ?

 

[twentyleagues]

I do it with the maxi jets all the time.
I'll have to see if I can get a pic of the last one I built.

 

[esoxlucius]

That's strange. The bit you're holding is round and yet the orcas i've checked on line are square. The square ones only have the perforations at the bottom which is what you want. That round bit you'be got there with perforations top to bottom doesn't even look like it's part of the orca filters i've looked at!! Like you said, part of it needs blocking if it's to work the way it should. It's got me scratching my head.

 

[twentyleagues]

That's strange. The bit you're holding is round and yet the orcas i've checked on line are square. The square ones only have the perforations at the bottom which is what you want. That round bit you'be got there with perforations top to bottom doesn't even look like it's part of the orca filters i've looked at!! Like you said, part of it needs blocking if it's to work the way it should. It's got me scratching my head.

Here it is. Well the larger one anyway.

So ive never used these, but its the same idea of the maxijet set up. They still make the maxijet ones but pretty sure marineland owns them now. Like I said fill that one with mech and get a water bottle to put your bio in and adapt the water bottle to your out put, or get another filter cartridge portion and do the same if aesthetics bothers you. Or keep your bio in there and wrap the outside in foam for mech. I have a ton of maxijets and the kits they used to sell to turn them into a wide dispersal high volume power head the magnetic mounts are so nice it allows you to change the mount to what ever configuration you'd want mostly. So like I said when I use these I put the mount on the side and mount it upside down so the intake is at top and the output is facing the front or back of the tank. Put a waterbottle full of bio on the out put with holes drilled in a spray bar pattern across the bottle so it directs flow across the tank. On the intake I put it really close to the surface to "skim". I used a water bottle again to modify the one chamber that I have like yours so water is only pulled in through the "bottom" and up about an inch, then put filter floss in there with a small piece of sponge right in front of the pump.
Sorry no pics and all my bits and pieces are in storage atm. I need to dig out a couple of those though as I'm preparing to get some new fish that will need to go in a quarantine tank.

 

[JohnnyHyde]

I'd add sponge inside and don't look into other media. Why?

1st: mechanical, biological... it's for marketing. For mechanical - it's "catching" large particles in water where the plastic body will help and "as second layer" - the front side of sponge.
2nd: For biological - you want as large surface of media as you can get for BB to establish. The whole sponge will work for this.
3rd: For cleaning - it will also be simplier to put sponge out, wash it in aquarium water and put it back inside.
4th: No need to care that you'll lose some BB when cleaning sponge... BB lives on whole tank surfaces, filter is just doing part of the job. (In case you're with bare bottom/low plant tank - get the canister - as big as you can and don't care about the flow, which is overrated (like engine litrage in cars...it produces a lot of roar, but the HP isn't just it.)

To sum everything up, IMHO filters are too overrated and I can't see any scientific explanation why, but I can easily prove why it's not so important.

 

[twentyleagues]

I'd add sponge inside and don't look into other media. Why?

1st: mechanical, biological... it's for marketing. For mechanical - it's "catching" large particles in water where the plastic body will help and "as second layer" - the front side of sponge.
2nd: For biological - you want as large surface of media as you can get for BB to establish. The whole sponge will work for this.
3rd: For cleaning - it will also be simplier to put sponge out, wash it in aquarium water and put it back inside.
4th: No need to care that you'll lose some BB when cleaning sponge... BB lives on whole tank surfaces, filter is just doing part of the job. (In case you're with bare bottom/low plant tank - get the canister - as big as you can and don't care about the flow, which is overrated (like engine litrage in cars...it produces a lot of roar, but the HP isn't just it.)

To sum everything up, IMHO filters are too overrated and I can't see any scientific explanation why, but I can easily prove why it's not so important.

Most of that is good info.

Flow is just as important as surface area and is directly connected to it. More or larger area more flow needed. Without flow you are not bringing the needed nutrients to your BB colony. If there isnt enough flow to support the surface area then why bother?

As for liters in engine size the larger the engine the greater the displacment the more power available to be made. Do you need more power maybe not but it's still a fact that in a race cubes rule. Unless we are talking about natural aspiration vs turbo or supercharged or nitrious injection then that's different, but naturally aspirated bigger cubes = more power. Sorry but ive been a mechanic and have built engines and drag raced for years. Now a better driver with a smaller engine may be able to best a not so good driver with a monster big block but that doesnt mean the big block doesn't have more HP.