Thank you very much! I take that as high praise for a concept at this early phase. I will start from the bottom and work up.
What was your expected cleaning regimen for this or do you see that as an issue?
I imagine my cleaning regimen to be almost as frequent as feedings i.e. several times a week and relatively painless. I plan to have a squeegee(sp?) and brush as well as a scoop to collect and discard any accumulation in a few seconds with no real fuss.
The collection areas seem like they'd have very minimal flow pressure. By the same token, this area could become septic really fast with limited flow and a nearly stagnant pool of food / poo, etc.
I agree, an area like this would become septic which is why I want to separate this crud as quickly as possible and keep it out of the water as much as possible.
It's a clever design which is quite interesting, although I'm not sure if it solves the problem you are trying to solve. If filter socks are in fact losing material due to pressure or particle disintegration, this might reduce that.
That's the hope anyway. I imagine fecal matter and rotting food in a filter sock.. yes it's stopping the bulk from passing, but that doesn't mean I want ALL water flowing through that same sock all the time does it?
If that box has no drainage, the material will back flush up the ramp as the water collects. If instead it has limited drainage (e.g., 5 microns), it will indeed collect debris, but that debris will decompose and still drain materials back into the water column via the 5 micron passage.
The whole assembly as drawn will have the same 150 micron drainage throughout including the collection area. In my feasibility test, any particles in the water were separated from the main stream and pushed outwards from the main flow. The screen angle is intended to create a basin for this solid material to collect for easy cleaning, but I will brush down the whole mesh to make sure flow isn't obstructed regularly. Ultimately I don't care if there is just a big ring around the main flow with built up waste or if some small percentage of the water acts as a carrier to the collection area because it won't be *IN* the primary water flow and burden the biofilter and remain in the water all the time.
But, it's basically a screen conveyor system, using the water as the conveyor. The only issue I see is that the particles are still in suspension and will require water to be conveyed to the collection areas (the red boxes, assuming they are red).
Exactly! There will be a primary flow area, and my thinking is that during feeding or cleaning there will be short intervals were there are unusually large amounts of solid debris to be collected. The spray pattern and area of screen to be wet at any time will greatly effect how much water will carry solid debris outwards until it no longer is in the primary flow. All of this remains to be proven long term.. It's still a theory that I'm excited to try out. In my mind, I'm hoping for the equivalent of a constant filter sock change. The bulk should be removed easily before being broken down for processing.
