My conclusion on Freshwater filtration.

[VLDesign]

After much debate I have come to the conclusion that I will be going with 20 liters of Eheim Pro media submerged in my sump in direct flow of the returns for my bio filtration on my 1000 gallon system.

I looked into FBF and with the "Power head" as its main pump I find these to be way too unreliable. Sure I could also tune down a Mag drive but it would have to be checked every other day to ensure the flow is still within specs. Way too much hassle for me.

After much research into the popular Wet/Dry filters I have determined that while in theory they might be more efficient than submerged media, they are in fact very inefficient overall in that the amount of useable surface area that actually gets used is far less than expected due to the randomness of the running water over the media. With less than 100% of the media in use it leaves the door open to guessing as to how much surface area is actually being utilized. With that un-measurable variable it’s just not something I care to trust or spend money on that I cannot base a good measurement on it’s true bio-filtration capacity.

 

[Dr Joe]

I think you have come to a personal decision, not a conclusion.

And your theory is flawed.

Any media in the 'direct flow' can be measured for efficiency.

And any media can be inefficient if improperly used.

In your theory Eheim Pro media would be inefficient if used in a W/D. Not so.

In a properly designed W/D, 100% of the bio-material is wet 100% of the time.

A W/D filter aerates the water and the increased oxygen content, acceleratingly / maximizing bacterial growth.

Why is there a 'randomness' to water flow in a W/D? A drip plate is used true but it would better be called a distribution plate, since it 'evenly' spreads the water over the bio-media.

And I think you'll get arguments from people with properly designed FBF systems as to how often they need to be calibrated or 'checked on'.

I wish you luck with your system and hope you'll document it & post it here for others to see and gain knowledge from.

Dr Joe

.

 

[VLDesign]

Yes a conclusion on my opinion.

And, a drip plate drips in say 24 spots (Made up number) Media is spread out over a 1 square foot area under the drip plate. So that gives you what 1/8" holes every 1 square inch? If the 1/8" hole falls 3 inches to the media How much of the 1 square inch that it's over does it saturate with water? What if it lands on the downward inside pin of a bio ball and simply flows downward in it's random patern and doesn't splash over it's 1 square inch area? (Water takes the path of least resistence) You're telling me that you still feel 100% of the media is in use? Ok then increase the number of holes to 48, but then 1/3 get clogged and the BB all die off under those dead areas. etc. etc. etc. Just too much room for error in my opinion.

Maybe a good one for Myth busters to tackle the different types of Bio Media/Filtration methods and their claims.

Thanks, I will post the progress when I get going on it.

 

[kumdoalan]

Maybe a good one for Myth busters to tackle .

Because I dont know anything about building a pond filter, I asked members of this forum for advice.
The result was that I got tons of good advice about building a DIY filter and tried to come as close to their design as I could get.
My barrel filter has 6 layers of floor buffing pads and the rest is just tons of scrubbies.
A simple filter but it works.

The water enters at the top of tha barrel and I dont have a drip plate yet.
The experts told me that the water would flow all over by the time it hit the scrubbies but I was never sure.

So because I have my pond filter set up on a 140gal tank to get it ready for the summer move to the pond , I had a chance to lift up the 6 floor buffing pads and have a look underneath to see how well the water dripped down onto the scrubbies.

Im happy to report that all the scrubbies were wet.
The water was dripping in a million/zillion different places and there really was no one place that was left high and dry.

I can't speak for every w/d filter out there, but I can say that the design the members of this forum told me to build works like a charm...

The guys here really did know what they were talking about...(I came to the right place for sure).

Perhaps key to my getting the water to spread around is the prefilter of floor buffing pads?...
I dont know, I just know it works

 

[VLDesign]

Nice DIY filter, what's the size of the pond that it's going to be filtering?

 

[kumdoalan]

Nice DIY filter, what's the size of the pond that it's going to be filtering?

My new little indoor pond is right around 8 foot by a little under 5 foot by about 2.5 foot high.

It just fits into the area I have in my house for it.
I will try to make it interesting to look at for my guests.

I got the design of the wooden box off of a Forum member here when he saw I was going with a different design that was too much money due to it being mostly solid 4x4s.
This different design was mostly built with just a few sheets of plywood and I think 6- 2x4s and 2- 4x4s.

I used a liner for the insides and it has two aquariums as part of the finished design, stacked bottom to bottom.

 

[hamato_yoshii]

This is a cool thread, as I have yet to build my own W/D and I have had some of the same questions.


Do you have pics of the interior of your barrel filter?

 

[Bud8Fan]

I can't speak for all DIY wet/drys but every time I check my bio media I've found 100% of it to be wet.

I wish you luck with your system and hope you'll document it & post it here for others to see and gain knowledge from.

Ditto. Keep us posted.

 

[kumdoalan]

The filter , as seen in it's position in the photo below, (photo taken before I moved the filter to connect to the 140gal)is actually part of a two-part filter that the guys here told me to build to get the most out of my pond.

The main bigger barrel has the water enter at the top and pass though 6 floor buffing pads before it enters the lower area with all the kitchen scrubbers.

The 2nd part of this system was the addition of a smaller tower pipe that sits next to the barrel. This taller pipe is filled with scrubbies and bio-balls.

Im told the point of the taller filter is just to get as much new good air into the water as I can get.
As you may have learned, nothing beats a Wet/Dry trickel filter for adding good air clean to your water.
I have learned just in the last week or so how haveing this filter connected to my 140gal tank has really zipped up the fish and they now seem so much more alive and interested.

It must be the added O2 to their tank water thats making life better for them I guess.
I never thought I needed a W/D filter addition to this 140gal tank before as the undergravel connected to the in-line canister filter seemed to keep the water nice and clean for viewing the fish.

But now I see that just having nice clean water is not the only thing to worry about.

It's also important to make sure you get some way to add a ton of nice, new clean air into the water too!
Nothing beats a W/D for that....(as I have come to see.)

In my free time after I get my pond up and running, I plan to go back and totally change the way I filter my 140gal tank.
I plan to add a W/D to it as well and this will really make my fish a lot more happy im sure!

 

[kumdoalan]

This is a cool thread, .
Do you have pics of the interior of your barrel filter?

How about a step-by-step ?
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122810&page=6
I actually got the advice about how to build my pond filter when I came to this forum not long ago looking for someone/ANYONE to help me with the mess I had going !

I had made my own filter...GAUD what a mess I had going.
And I was so lucky to find this forum, and these guys who saw my topic, and helped me out!

I ripped apart my old filter and built this one as close to the design they gave me as I could get....and you know what?
It works like a charm!
Cleans the water pure and clean.
Adds a ton of good air to the water, and the fish are all now in way better shape.

I didnt know how much a working W/D filter can add to the good air in our tanks and ponds before I came here, Now I know.
I hope I posted that address right.
The fun starts on about page 6 of that topic.