Peculiar Pond Pump Question.

[SDCOFK]

Good evening all.
In this post, I have a somewhat peculiar question concerning pond filters. I am new to pond filters and have 0 experience with them. As far as I can tell, I can easily use it on my aquarium; all I need to do to modify it for my aquarium is replace most of the sponge for biological media. My question lies in the instalment of the pump to the filter. I want to know, can I place the pump behind a weir? I’m not entirely sure about the whole matter; I’m not sure if the pump will drain the weir before the return has a chance to work, or will the pump equalise the system replacing the water in the weir as fast as it is being drawn out? I ask as I will be using a substantial pump, 4000 litres per hour, and I will be keeping Neon Blue acaras, and their fry, in the tank and I don’t want them to be sucked up. I will also be using a sand substrate and I don’t want the pump sucking that up either.
I look forward to increasing my learning here and hearing what you have to say.

Kind regards,
Matthew.

 

[twentyleagues]

It depends on the weirs capability. If you have a weir I'm assuming the tank is drilled. Why don't you just use a sump? You'd still have to worry about the weir and pipes ability to handle the water moving capability of the pump. A sump can be any container that is capable of holding water and media, after that it's easy. If I assume incorrect and the tank isn't drilled, well it's still dependent on the weir. We need more info tbh.
Why the pond filter?
And no you don't have to change media. The sponge that you would remove will also act as biomedia. Anything that bacteria can grow on is biological media this includes sponges.

 

[SDCOFK]

The tank is going to be 5x2x2 and the weir is going to run the length on the back. The tank is not drilled and I will be doing a diy overflow system. The tank will be holding a couple of monster fish and I want to have a lot of filtration. The overflow will run to the sump system I'll be making, I'll possibly make a seperate post about the tank's construction and setup as I've put a lot of time into the plan for this tank, and I want to include a pond filter as additional filtrration as well as a small canister to polish the water. I don't really want the pump for the pond filter in the weir as I want the weir to be rather narrow to avoid taking up much space in the tank, so would I be able to place a canister filter intake in the weir and have the pond pump on the outside of the aquarium running to the pond filter or does it have to be in the water?

 

[twentyleagues]

Yes you can put a canister filter in the weir. With the sump you shouldn't need the canister filter or the pond filter. But if you really want the pond filter you can hook up your return pump to it and have it between the sump and the tank. I am assuming the pond filter is a pressurized can type? I'd like to see what pond filter you are talking about. A sump of correct size/design should be more then capable of handling all your filtration needs. Just make sure your diy overflow is capable of handling the 4000lph return pump. If not you will either drain the sump and run the pump dry and/or overflow the tank.

 

[SDCOFK]

My stocking for the tank will be 1 tandanus catfish and either a couple of oscars, flowerhorn, or some other largish Australian fish. Which that in mind, do you still think a sump would be ok to handle that type of bio load?
Only reason I wanted the additional filters was because I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to fit an adequately sized sump under the tank stand.
As for the for overflow, it’s all good there. I’ve done these before. And like I said, once the construction on the tank begins I’ll upload photos and such in a seperate post.

 

[duanes]

I am experimenting with a similar concept at the moment, that started in Jan.
I have a 5500 LPH hour pump situated in the end of a 125 gal tank.
It uses an entire wall of Poret foam (Matten) as bio and mechanical filtration and also as the weir/separation wall, to separate the pump chamber, from the rest of the tank. There are a few bags of ceramic rings as extra bio, and substrate fo the tank part is sand.
I've used this concept to replace 2 sumps.
After flowing thru the Matten wall, the pump pumps the filtered water to a 180 gal tank, which overflows back to into the 125, cycling thru both tanks.
So far it was done a good job, water parameters have remained stable, no ammonia or nitrite, nitrate remains at < 5ppm ( because I do 30-40% every other day semiautomatic water changes, and use plenty of plants (aquatic and terrestrial)).
Below is a link to the entire experiment with some photos (the Poret foam experiment starts at page 4)
Used 125 gal

The only time the tanks gets cloudy is when I remove the Matten wall to be cleaned (rinsed with a garden hose), but takes on about 24 hours to clear back up.

Poret foam is usually the type media used in certain pond filter types as media.
I used it in my previous ponds.