Non contiuous filtration

[Jgray152]

CHOMPERS

The large cell foam came from Lowes. It is for window airconditioners. Home Depot, Menards, etc. should have it too. I got the small cell foam from the fabric dept. at Walmart. Check there first. You can restock the entire sump from their foam and poly-fill shelf.

I just want to let you know that the foam for air conditioners can contain fire retardent and also most of the time is not 100% open cell and is mostly closed cell foam since its for insulation and not filtering.

 

[Jgray152]

What if you turn the filter power down using a controller at night when the fish are less active and producing less waste. Then turn it back up during the day? So say a 140watt pump may only take 40 watts at night...

Either that or run two pumps on a timer outlet strip and have your main pump shut off say around 9 at night and the small pump kick on just before the main shuts off. Say you normally run 1500 GPH. You could possibly run 500-600 GPH and use 40-50% of the power your main one uses.

You only need the filtration to keep up with the waste load in the tank. Since fish are normally much less active at night, you may not need 50-70% of your filtration.

 

[dominicolas]

Now that makes alot more sense.

 

[Jgray152]

Ya this thread got me thinking about it and I think I am going to do this. Except im going to see if I can use one pump and vary the input voltage to it. This may burn out the pump faster though I think so maybe 2 pumps are better.

 

[Jgray152]

I can't seem to find any controllers but I bet they would be over $100-150 US. Getting another smaller pump and having both on a timer circuit would probubly be cheaper in the short run and in the long run by not potentially damaging the motor.

I was thinking of going with a Quiet one pump since they are energy efficient. Q1 3000 is about 560 GPH at 4ft head with a P/C of only 40 watts. Use that at night and a 1000-1500 GPH pump during the day.

 

[CHOMPERS]

CHOMPERS


I just want to let you know that the foam for air conditioners can contain fire retardent and also most of the time is not 100% open cell and is mostly closed cell foam since its for insulation and not filtering.

Yes, I am aware of the fire retardant since it was recently brought up. That was a good thread and I wish I saved it. My first experience with fire retardant was in clothing for shipboard fire fighting training while in the military. The clothing was useless if it had been washed. In other words, the fire retardant was water soluble.

I don't think that materials should be discarded for DIY use for the fear of strange chemicals as long as some judgement is given first. In materials to be used for DIY filters, if any treatment chemicals are water soluble, they can be dealt with by rinsing or soaking the materials. For chemicals that are not souluble or slightly soluble, they can largely be ignored if regular water changes are done. I have been using materials in the fire retardant thread for several years without pre-rinsing so I am certain todays fire retardants fall within the class of insouluble. I have not had any observable effects in those tanks other than with some snails. I can't isolate the cause of the snails condition because they are in a convict grow out tank. (Convicts nip at snail mantels.)