Garbage pail idea

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kwantz

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 1, 2007
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Ontario
Anyways as some of you must know im in the process of building a 700-900 gallon ply build. Size depending on what the ball and chain permits me to do.

Ok heres the idea. I was looking outside at my garbage cans, i was thinking damn this thing would hold 10 times the amount of media of my orginal plan of using a 5 gallon pail in a rubber maid contrainer...

So using the same idea here as the 5 gallon pail and rubbermaid container.
IM going to fill a 50 gallon garbage pail ( same concept). with bio. Mainly plastic scrubbies from the buck store... a dozen of them for a dollar. and whatever i can find, bio balls, bio rings etc.... Just toss whatever i can in there until filled. the top layer will be 4 inch of poret sponge (will act as bio and my mechanical filtrating). This will sit raised in a 40 gallon rubbber maid container. I will also have one or two. AC 110s equipped with purigen for water clarity

Is this over kill? or the right idea to filter a 700-900 gallon tank? there will be good flow through it since its mainly scrubbies and bio balls... the bottom layer maybe old bio rings from my cannisters and HObs.


anyways give me your input.... i really like the overkill idea... there will be plenty of flow so im not to worried about that, and it fits nicely in my rubber maid container... this will be going into a closet.. so im not worried about the ugly size as it will be hidden away anyways.....


personally i think this is enough bio to filter ten thousand gallons... but better this way... i also am trying to figure out how to make a automatic water changer . since water changes on this big thing will be a pain in the arse... but if its to complicated i may scrap that idea...
 
I believe you are correct in the idea that it's overkill and would be plenty for a tank 10 times the volume of yours...

But it also sounds like your comfortable having that kind of overkill...
 
Bio filtering doesn't really matter how many gallons you have. It's about how much ammonia is in the water (bio load). Bacteria will only grow to an amount that balences with the amonia level. So making sure there is a little extra surface area for them to grow in is a good idea. But depending on what is in your tank and how many of them is what should factor how much media. And with that said there isn't really a rule that i know of to figure out surface area of media to mg. of ammonia produced.

It's better to error on the side of too much but at a certain point you are wasting time and space.
 
well well room and how ugly its going to look isnt going to be an issue, I havent decided if its going to be a 700-900 gallon tank. Its going to be very well stocked I can imagine.

But its better to be overkill then not having enough right?? The sump will be in the boiler room in my house. Well hidden and out of the way. so how it looks and how much room its going to take isnt a factor to me. Its basically in the next room over.

Well im glad im being overkill here. I figure it will be very low maintance. Maybe the poret sponge will need rinsing every once in awhile. but the bio should be good and maintance free for probably a few years at a time i am assume.

Instead of putting the AC110 in the tank. I wanted to make this somewhat quiet. Is it a good idea to maybe hang the ac110 that is containing a sponge and purigen filter meida. and hang it on the sump close by where the pump is? and just filter that water and it will just get pumped back into the tank?
 
Usually you want to filtermechanically before the bio media so that the bio media does not get plugged up with debri.
 
kwantz;4021156; said:
Well im glad im being overkill here. I figure it will be very low maintance. Maybe the poret sponge will need rinsing every once in awhile. but the bio should be good and maintance free for probably a few years at a time i am assume.
Click to expand...

As Epond mentinoed above... the efficiency of bio media is directly related to the mechanical filtration it receives prior to the bio filtration...

Allowing fish waste to collect in your bio media means you have to either A) Clean the bio media frequently, or B) allow nitrates to build up unnecessarily fast...


If your 700~900 gal tank is an overstocked bare bottomed tank then a 50 gal bio chamber would be a great idea. But if your 700~900 gal tank has s typical amount of substrate & decor then no bio chamber is probably good enough...


I'm by no means suggesting your 50 gal bio chamber is a bad idea... and if it's practical to plumb it in then by all means do it. Just design it in a way that ample mechanical filtration comes first to make it as effective as possible.
 
well as i stated about i plan on using 4 inch poret sponge....

which will be great bio and mechanical filtration. I am hopeing to use a HOB on the sump. containing either another sponge or i may just fill her right up with purigen,, i love the stuff.
 
Oh yea... I meant to comment on that...

I don't see any problems to putting an AC 110 on your sump to provide either water polishing (very fine mechanical filtration) or chemcial filtration via Purigen or the like...

The noly complication I foresee is most sumps do not have water right up to the rim, which an HOB will 'need'... But I have tanks that sometimes get 3~4" low and my AC 110s still work just fine.
 
my ac 110 came with an extension intake tube. It will reach, just wondering on peoples thoughts about it. i thought it would be a pretty good idea.
 
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