Filtration for large freshwater tank (120x36x24) ?

[DThompson]

What is an ultima and i presume backflush means runs it in reverse but doesn't that mean running a hose from the filter to a drain that can accept the debris (you wouldn't want to plug your sink drain?)
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Also does a tank of this nature actually require a filter ?

If you take a look at my build thread, you can see what an Ultima is and how it's plumbed for backflushing. The backflush basically stirs up the debris trapped in the filter and pushes out a different outlet in the filter that you would run to a drain. I have a soft rubber hose that I unravel and bring it to the nearest shower drain for removing the waste and water.

Here's a link to mine https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/440g-system-setup.737877/page-3#post-8320254

 

[nzafi]

Check out my build. Lots of pictures on how I would set everything up. You don't want to drill behind the HMF for two things:
1) HMF is designed to work on a specific flow rate so you will either use an airpump with airlifter or a pump behind the HMF. If you do what you just said, it is going to mess up the flow rate.
2) Never drill the bottom of the tank if you don't have an overflow box. I made this mistake and need to drain my whole tank and sell my fish when the bulkhead started leaking. You get away with a bottom drilled tank when you have an overflow box because that overflow box prevents the entire tank from leaking onto your floor.

I really like the HMF filter. You clean it 6-12 months and it has a ton of biological. The downside is that those sponges in a large tank get damn heavy. Going forward I will need to change how I clean out those sponges.

530g Tank Setup and Plumbing Help :)

Well now that I am ready to start the fun, I decided to create a new thread dedicated to my tank setup. I will give the background again, but really need helping with the plumbing so all experts please share your wisdom! Tank - Acrylic tank from fishtankdirect.com but built by Suncoast...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[jake37]

Just an fyi I have swiss tropical corner filters in three tanks (29,29,40) so those I have used. The only negative is that over time the sponge begins to clog and the water level behind drops (i have a heater there) so i have to clean them about once a year.

Check out my build. Lots of pictures on how I would set everything up. You don't want to drill behind the HMF for two things:
1) HMF is designed to work on a specific flow rate so you will either use an airpump with airlifter or a pump behind the HMF. If you do what you just said, it is going to mess up the flow rate.
2) Never drill the bottom of the tank if you don't have an overflow box. I made this mistake and need to drain my whole tank and sell my fish when the bulkhead started leaking. You get away with a bottom drilled tank when you have an overflow box because that overflow box prevents the entire tank from leaking onto your floor.

I really like the HMF filter. You clean it 6-12 months and it has a ton of biological. The downside is that those sponges in a large tank get damn heavy. Going forward I will need to change how I clean out those sponges.

530g Tank Setup and Plumbing Help :)

Well now that I am ready to start the fun, I decided to create a new thread dedicated to my tank setup. I will give the background again, but really need helping with the plumbing so all experts please share your wisdom! Tank - Acrylic tank from fishtankdirect.com but built by Suncoast...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[jake37]

I'm having a bit of problem following your tank - i'm on page 11 and it looked like you do have two holes in the bottom of your tank one in each rare corner - one I presume is intake and one is outtake - the outtake seems to be behind the matten filter with a tube that extends over to push water back into the tank but the other one i didn't see the exact position. Why drill the tank if all you have is a large canister filter beneath the tank - why not just have inject/outject hoses that go over the side of the tank in the rear ?

Check out my build. Lots of pictures on how I would set everything up. You don't want to drill behind the HMF for two things:
1) HMF is designed to work on a specific flow rate so you will either use an airpump with airlifter or a pump behind the HMF. If you do what you just said, it is going to mess up the flow rate.
2) Never drill the bottom of the tank if you don't have an overflow box. I made this mistake and need to drain my whole tank and sell my fish when the bulkhead started leaking. You get away with a bottom drilled tank when you have an overflow box because that overflow box prevents the entire tank from leaking onto your floor.

I really like the HMF filter. You clean it 6-12 months and it has a ton of biological. The downside is that those sponges in a large tank get damn heavy. Going forward I will need to change how I clean out those sponges.

530g Tank Setup and Plumbing Help :)

Well now that I am ready to start the fun, I decided to create a new thread dedicated to my tank setup. I will give the background again, but really need helping with the plumbing so all experts please share your wisdom! Tank - Acrylic tank from fishtankdirect.com but built by Suncoast...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[nzafi]

Just an fyi I have swiss tropical corner filters in three tanks (29,29,40) so those I have used. The only negative is that over time the sponge begins to clog and the water level behind drops (i have a heater there) so i have to clean them about once a year.

I would not call that a negative. You are cleaning once a year versus monthly like many other filters. Uneven water level is the key indicator you need to clean the sponge.

 

[nzafi]

I'm having a bit of problem following your tank - i'm on page 11 and it looked like you do have two holes in the bottom of your tank one in each rare corner - one I presume is intake and one is outtake - the outtake seems to be behind the matten filter with a tube that extends over to push water back into the tank but the other one i didn't see the exact position. Why drill the tank if all you have is a large canister filter beneath the tank - why not just have inject/outject hoses that go over the side of the tank in the rear ?

The holes behind the HMF filters are for my 24/7 drip. I decided to run a standpipe for my drip internally to the tank which was a huge mistake. The objective was to avoid drilling the back of the tank so I could get it as close to the wall as possible.

The ultima had 2 intakes and 3 returns. The intakes were flat against the bottom of the tank. The returns came over the top. I ran the required pvc into and out of the ultima, but obviously split it where needed to achieve this. I did the intakes flat on the bottom because I went bare bottom and wanted to capture all waste. In such a large tank, if you are running something like an ultima, you will need more than one intake. You need to make sure that all waster is directed to the filter.

 

[jake37]

Ok. But if you were leaving room behind the tank (I have to leave room so i can manage the plants); how would you do things differently (also since i ahve plants the tank will not be bare bottom - it will have 2 1/2 to 3 inches of substrate). You already alluded that drilling in the bottom was a big mistake because of the leak factor but i checked the end of your thread and didn't see an update how you would do things differently.
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In my case I'm not 100% sure i need an ultima or if an ultima is better or worse than a sump. I'm not even sure having a lot of plant matter at the bottom of the tank is a bad thing and it needs a strong filtering system to remove it.

The holes behind the HMF filters are for my 24/7 drip. I decided to run a standpipe for my drip internally to the tank which was a huge mistake. The objective was to avoid drilling the back of the tank so I could get it as close to the wall as possible.

The ultima had 2 intakes and 3 returns. The intakes were flat against the bottom of the tank. The returns came over the top. I ran the required pvc into and out of the ultima, but obviously split it where needed to achieve this. I did the intakes flat on the bottom because I went bare bottom and wanted to capture all waste. In such a large tank, if you are running something like an ultima, you will need more than one intake. You need to make sure that all waster is directed to the filter.

 

[nzafi]

J jake37 If I could do it differently, I would have run the filtering through the top back of the tank or over the top. I will be setting up my tank again in the coming months so I will be sealing all bottom holes and then drilling the top and back. In all honesty, you are going to have a heavily understocked tank so its not going to matter whether you do ultima, HMF, or sump. The sump will have more options because you can do lots of different bio and mechanical filtration.

In all honestly, I am torn about whether I go 100% HMF or just setup both HMF and ultima again. If I go just HMF the tank will be low tech, very areas of failure, and will be as leak proof as you can get. The ultima those has that awesome backflush feature that not only cleans the filter but lets you do a water change. I could literally clean the filter and remove 100gs of water in 5min. If I just do HMF, I will need to setup pumps for help to drain the tank.

For your substrate, HMF has no problem with that. You probably just need to put a plastic gaurd in place when removing the sponge so the substrated does not fall back. For the ultima, you just put the intakes several inches off the substrate.

Check out mrrobxc He did the same 535g tank as me but did a sump and ultima combination. He has lots of driftwood and some live plants.

 

[robmcd]

Do you plan on running C02?

 

[nzafi]

Btw, I would love to see what you plan on setting up. I wanted to try to do some live plants in my tank when I set it up again. Probably would just do sand as my substrate, but would love to do some sort of grass that covers the bottom.