Fine filter media ideas please???

[Griller]

Hi guys,

I'm having problems with very fine particles (barely visable) suspended in my water causing cloudiness.

(Details of the cause at DIY stunning fake internal rockwall - pics and instructions if you are really interested. It is a cool background but the particles SUCK)

I want to build a fine particle filter. I can buy a fine particle filter but they are expensive. I would prefer a DIY option for my sump.

One idea I had was to get an icecream container, poke holes in it and line it with stockings.

What ideas do you guys have???

 

[KYeasting]

I'd consider just a finer sponge media in your filter. If you make your filter media too fine, it will rapidly clog and you'll be cleaning it every day. Furthermore, you'll see a massive reduction in flow rates if you put too fine of a screen in the way.

 

[JakeH]

Whats wrong with filter floss/polyfill kinda stuff? I use a dinky little Whisper 10i stuffed with nothing but floss to polish the water in my small tanks. Works great. I know some people use the Marineland HOT Magnum for water polishing because it has a 1 micron cartridge, but I dont have that kinda change either. I've also seen people put floss on top of their first sump drip plate (right at the inlet). I'm sure you would have to give the water a 2nd path into the sump though, just in case.

 

[Griller]

I'd consider just a finer sponge media in your filter. If you make your filter media too fine, it will rapidly clog and you'll be cleaning it every day. Furthermore, you'll see a massive reduction in flow rates if you put too fine of a screen in the way.

OK - I have an idea to overcome the clogging and flow problem.

This is my sump filter now:

I can get 2 containers, 1 smaller than the other and put one inside the other. The big container (red) has a couple of holes in the bottom that drain into the sump. The small container (yellow) is perforated and had the media inside it (brown):

OK - the water going into the yellow container passes through the media into the gap (exagerated in this pic) and flows through the holes into the sump. If the media clogs then the water overflows into the big container and still passes into the sump.

I put the box on my sump under one of my overflow pipes:

Should be easy to make - just a couple of different sized ice cream containers. Only problem is the fine particle filter is getting water that has not been pre-filtered. I'm also not sure what media to use.

 

[Griller]

Whats wrong with filter floss/polyfill kinda stuff? I use a dinky little Whisper 10i stuffed with nothing but floss to polish the water in my small tanks. Works great. I know some people use the Marineland HOT Magnum for water polishing because it has a 1 micron cartridge, but I dont have that kinda change either. I've also seen people put floss on top of their first sump drip plate (right at the inlet). I'm sure you would have to give the water a 2nd path into the sump though, just in case.

I do have a bucket load of filter floss sitting smack bang on top of my bio media. That was my first idea but it doesn't seem to do the job!

 

[Griller]

Another idea I could do is have the perforated container at the other end of the sump. Water enters the container via a syphon. The water has been through the filter so all that is left is the fine particles. The fine particle remover only takes a portion of the total filter flow. If it clogs it just overflows into the sump.

 

[justinf67]

I am in the same boat. my sump lets really fine particles into the display. it drives me nuts. I have filter floss loaded into where the pipe drains. I have stagger stacked the floss, and I still cannot get rid of the particles. I cant give advise, but I will be watching this thread

 

[Griller]

I am in the same boat. my sump lets really fine particles into the display. it drives me nuts. I have filter floss loaded into where the pipe drains. I have stagger stacked the floss, and I still cannot get rid of the particles. I cant give advise, but I will be watching this thread

Hopefully someone out there knows more than us!!!

 

[JL]

Walmart batting in the craft section, roughly $6.

 

[nfored]

Are you sure its not micro bubbles? When I used polly fill it always got my water sparkally.

If you have to have DIY you can do a step down filter for about 10 -40 bucks.

You get filter housings for the whole house filters. You can do it with just one but I like to use 3, I start at 10 microns, then go to 5 and then 1. you then just need a pump to pump the water through. You can get the filters on eBay in bulk I seen 40 packs of mix in match for 40 bucks.

So if you want the cheapest way buy one filter housing, and the sediment cartridge, for it and hook it up. That would be like 30 bucks maybe. I think you would need to replace the cartridge a lot, thats why I recommend the bulk packs on ebay. My polly fill completely clogs in about 1 week or less.