Fluidised K1 Sump Idea??

[malawi500]

I went to my local fish store and they were running their multiple display tanks on a centralised sump.

The sump was basically a tank with two chambers, the first was a fluidised set up run off a bubble ring, the second was static K1 which was tightly packed.

There was no mechanical filtration, no socks, sponges etc. The water looked pretty clear, but hard to tell on such number tanks and volume of fish.

Does that sound a good set up? I'm getting fed up of changing socks an want to try something maintenance free aside from water changes....

Thoughts?

 

[dxdx]

Personally I wouldn't try it, I would think some kind of mechanical filtration is necessary. If detritus gets into the packed K1 chamber it would be difficult to get out and become a nitrate factory without regular cleaning.

If you're changing socks often, maybe try a bigger micron size?

 

[Adamson]

The best idea is to have the k1 as a section of your sump, or as a sump on its own with a mechanical stage prior to the k1.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[David R]

I think with the moving nature of K1 (not sure why you'd run it static?) you could get away with coarser mechanical media that doesn't need cleaning as often because you aren't going to get fine particles building up in your bio media. I should have gone for K1 with my sump instead of matrix, that is about the only thing I'd change.



I have a settling chamber (with Pothos plants) to catch the coarse waste, then four 50x50cm sheets of Poret foam (10, 20, 20 then 30ppi) then the bio media. I am happy with the clarity given that I'm keeping some fairly messy fish, and the best bit is it is very low maintenance. I siphon the settling chamber weekly, clean the first two sheets of Poret every other week, and the back two about every 4-6 weeks. The only downside with this low maintenance is that the waste is kept in the water column longer than say with socks or a bead filter that are cleaned more frequently, I'm not sure I'd take this route with a really heavily stocked tank, but it is working for me and weekly water changes plus the Pothos keep the nitrates down. I'm happy with the water clarity with only the Poret for mechanical filtration, but there is a bit of a build up of fine gunk in the matrix already, so I'm thinking of replacing it with K1, or replacing the whole thing with a bead or glass filter.

 

[rodger]

I have a 100 gallon stock tank for a sump. It has the water coming into socks from my 240. When I have the 700 ready it will be hooked in as well. About 80% of the tank is K1 with a divider for the side with the return pumps. I have 100 liters of K1 and 6 poret sponge filters to "boil" the K1. The sponge filters are then always seeded for when I need them. I figured if I have an extended power outage I can power my big air pump on an inverter for various tanks. K1 is very expensive. It doesn't make sense to me why you would use it as a static media.