diy fluid sand filter made from h20 softner?

[Dr Joe]

Hey camrsz

Is the tank 4ft-5ft tall & 8"-10" in diameter?

Your going to have to play around with the partical size of the sand vs your pump flow, I had trouble fluidizing my 5 footer with construction & play sand...ended up using a blasting sand.

If you have an air compressor, consider installing a tap in the bottom of the tank with a valve to prevent (back flow) to initialize the fluidization of the sand.

You know the rule... if you do it... take pictures

Dr Joe

.

 

[johnptc]

Hey camrsz

Is the tank 4ft-5ft tall & 8"-10" in diameter?

Your going to have to play around with the partical size of the sand vs your pump flow, I had trouble fluidizing my 5 footer with construction & play sand...ended up using a blasting sand.

If you have an air compressor, consider installing a tap in the bottom of the tank with a valve to prevent (back flow) to initialize the fluidization of the sand.

You know the rule... if you do it... take pictures

Dr Joe

.

the sand sold for the aquarium units is ultra fine....maybe use plastic beads

 

[Dr Joe]

Blasting sand comes in several grits and glass beads too.

 

[camrsz]

Found a good pic of how it works inside.

Does anybody know a safe way to remove the the sodium ion coating on the beads? Or I am going to try and find a media of simular size and weight.
My other thoughts were... Do i really need as much media in the tank as originaly came in it? I was going to just remove the electronics but it has a backflush mode/option so maybe it would be good to use and keep?

 

[ITHURTZ]

In sand filters they are only filled half way because of the surface area. IMO fill it as high as your pump can handle.

 

[camrsz]

Im going to try the original amount that came in it. Thats alot. I do not think my pump will have a problem.

 

[VLDesign]

Any updates?

 

[duanes]

It should work if your pump is strong enough. I did a tour of the Great Lakes Insttitute, not long ago. They had one approx 10-12 ft tall by @ 4ft in diameter for their aquaculture program.

 

[camrsz]

I have not worked on the water softener filter conversion. . Dont really need that much filter right now. But instead I built a smaller fbf oout of an OMNI house filter.

I found this filter at a discount store for 10$. I had a portion of small pipe left over, that i used inside. Then had to use the out as the in. It works good almost all the sand stays suspended. Im going to make another and ill take pics as I go.