put a 50 gal on the deck, figured it was perfect for a small fractionator, and if I screwed up, the cleanup would be painless.
It is a 3ft X 4" tube filled with lava rock (any bio media would be fine)
water is pumped into the tank, and comes out the back from 2 overflows and falls into the bio tube, on the left
As water cascades over the lava rock, beside feeding the nitrosoma and nitrobactor bacteria with fish waste products and metabolites, the air water interface causes a reaction that separates dissolved organic carbon from the cascading water, turning it to foam and removing from the water column.
the foam collects because of a constriction, caused by a ball valve in an opening just downstream from the biotube.
looks like I will need to reduce the height of the foam tube to allow it to fall out, but it's only been running a couple hours, and I want yo wait a bit, to see how much collects before making any rash moves.
The water is being pumped at about 500gph, fairly slow, and the sump is my 1000 gal lily pond.
I plan to move it all indoors in the fall (except the pond)
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It is a 3ft X 4" tube filled with lava rock (any bio media would be fine)
water is pumped into the tank, and comes out the back from 2 overflows and falls into the bio tube, on the left
As water cascades over the lava rock, beside feeding the nitrosoma and nitrobactor bacteria with fish waste products and metabolites, the air water interface causes a reaction that separates dissolved organic carbon from the cascading water, turning it to foam and removing from the water column.
the foam collects because of a constriction, caused by a ball valve in an opening just downstream from the biotube.
looks like I will need to reduce the height of the foam tube to allow it to fall out, but it's only been running a couple hours, and I want yo wait a bit, to see how much collects before making any rash moves.
The water is being pumped at about 500gph, fairly slow, and the sump is my 1000 gal lily pond.
I plan to move it all indoors in the fall (except the pond)
