Getting particulates over on overflow...or not

[AusC]

Hi all,
I've got a 6ft tank with both a canister and a sump filter. Neither are currently grabbing the heavier particulates, especially those that get stirred up at feeding time. I'm thinking about three options to improve things and am after advice and suggestions.
1) Gyre pump to eliminate dead spots and get all the particles suspended
2) Air lift from the bottom to the top directly in front of my overflow
3) Old school powerhead filter

I've currently got no powerheads in the tank so more circulation will definitely help.

Anything else I should be considering?

Thanks
Craig

 

[Rob909]

Use the Powerheads to push the detritus to the intake of the canister or blow them back up into the water column to get pulled in by the overflow. I have a bare bottom tank and even with that, I can’t get everything. If you have both the intake and overflow on one side, put Powerheads on the opposite site to push the detritus. If they’re staggered, put one Powerhead on each side on the back glass angled down but pointing at the front glass. This will create a lifting flow and suspend detritus in the water column.

 

[AusC]

Thanks mate,
All inlets on one end and out lets on the other. Your option is probably the cheapest and easiest so will likely give it a go.

 

[Rob909]

Thanks mate,
All inlets on one end and out lets on the other. Your option is probably the cheapest and easiest so will likely give it a go.

You’re welcome! Yeah it won’t get everything but it definitely helps. You’ll just have to play with the flow rate and positioning otherwise you’ll blow all the sand out of the area you’re pointing your flow!

 

[esoxlucius]

After months of tinkering about i've got mine absolutely perfect now. My system was a substrate sucking system down into my sump. But I didn't have powerheads at the time so crap was resting in the substrate and I had no means of disturbing it so it could get sucked up. All I could do was vacuum at maitainance time. So I introduced a powerhead and even went one step further and went totally bare bottom. Now my tank is pristine, absolutely nothing rests on the bottom.

And on top of that, to keep water quality tip top, i've even took it one step further. My powerhead is on a timer, it comes on intermittently during the day but is off all night. That works great for me because my RTGG tends to crap during the night so when I come down in the morning she's left me a big fat present at the bottom of the tank. I have a 1/4" tube that I use to suck it up manually to take waste completely out of the system. It takes seconds and it's done before my powerhead comes on to disturb the hell out of it and drag it down into my sump where it speeds up the nitrate process.

Just by doing this it helps keep nitrates down and now, I can, if I choose, delay my water changes by a couple of days. It is as perfect as can hope to get it at the moment.