New Filtration revision for 300 gallon Ray tank

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Jesseliu13

Jesseliu13

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2012
1,129
141
96
Holmdel, NJ
Current stock -
4 Marbled Motoro Stingrays (2 female, 2 male at 22",18", 12" and 10" respectively)
1 Black arowana 26"

Couple reasons why i want to redo my filtration setup for my 300. I am going to upgrade to a 600 gallon soon and i am reading .25 ammonia that never seems to clear.

My current filtration set up -
1 55 gallon wet dry sump with a very poor drip tray. has 3(5 gallon) buckets worth of bioballs, 4 liters of seachem pond matrix, 2 liters of crap ebay ceramic media, and a large amount of ammonia chips that i replace every month. with a 2250 gallon ecoplus pump. I use filter floss for my mechanical filtration in the drip tray.
1 fx6
1 eheim 2217

This seems extremely small even for me so i'd like to redo it to make it more efficient and increase the bioload so i can easily transfer to the 600 when the time comes.

I plan on replacing the wet dry sump with 2 55 gallon drums. One will have a moving bed filter with about 60-100 Liters of K1 kaldness. the other will have the ceramic media and the heaters. I also plan on buying about 20-30 lbs of Lava rock to put at the bottom of the first drum for added filtration. If anyone has any tips for mechanical filtration for this kind of set up please let me know. i am having trouble planning out a mechanical filtration system for this!

I was thinking of maybe cutting out a notch on the top of the drum to fit a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in it. i would use filter floss in the 5 gallon bucket. if anyone has suggestions please let me know!
 
IMO filter floss sucks. Use filter socks and settling chamber prior to getting in to your K1 chamber, ESPECIALLY if you're going to have lava rock at the bottom of it. Your big bio filters turn in to nitrate factories when they get full of waste. So, I'd prefilter the 55g drum with even like a 20g tank with filter socks in it that overflows to the drum. If the socks miss anything, it will have a chance to settle in the bottom of the 20g where you can clean it out so it doesn't get in the bio chambers.
 
im currently using filter socks in my 180 gallon grow out ray tank.. and i hate it lol... i wis actually have a drain at the bottom of the lava rock chamber to remove any ditritus. i can either do a drip system or a algae scrubber. i am in the middle of attempting a drip system. waiting for the ro system to come in. i rather use the filter floss really.
 
Jesseliu13 said:
im currently using filter socks in my 180 gallon grow out ray tank.. and i hate it lol... i wis actually have a drain at the bottom of the lava rock chamber to remove any ditritus. i can either do a drip system or a algae scrubber. i am in the middle of attempting a drip system. waiting for the ro system to come in. i rather use the filter floss really.
Click to expand...
I have a tray for pre filter I have rays and change it out every other day. Its actually poly fill which is basically the same thing.
 
Jesseliu13 said:
can you show me a picture?! that would be so helpful!
Click to expand...

This is not mine but concept is the same. Toss the poly fill in there and a sponge filter under that to catch whatever polyfill may not have if it gets clogged and what not. I rinse the sponge in tank water once a month or so.

477.jpg


I say every other day because besides the ray I have other fish in the tank and waste gets build up in the pre filter which is great. I get to easily change it out. My water is clear and nitrates go down significantly if I change the poop out every other day
 
Why do you dislike filter socks?

Detritus gets caught IN the bio media, not just at the bottom. Draining it from the bottom will help, but it's still an issue. IMO you don't want it in your bio media at all.
 
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