Quote:
Originally Posted by scolley
My pressure gauge does not just show just pressure caused by the filter. Due to all the back pressure of my extensive plumbing after the filter, it's a little elevated. So,
With brand new plumbing (not gunked up), and new filter media, my pressure on the Ocean Clear 340 was dead on 5 PSI. And very low flow out of the filter.
I changed my filter media at 10 PSI.
When I bleached and pressure washed the filter, my pressure dropped to 8 PSI, but climbed within days back to 10. Moral of the story... buy a new cartridge.
With a new cartridge in, my PSI is 7.25. I assume the drop from the original 5 is due to the gunk in my extensive lines. And water gushing out of the filter.
And when my Poseidon is unrestricted, but I shut off the outflow of my Ocean Clear, the PSI sits firmly on 10 PSI - just like you.
Oh yeah, it's worth noting that I've change the media two times now - once with a "cleaned" cartridge, and once with a new cartridge (since the cleaned one clogged so fast - just like for you), and the screw top gave me no trouble at all either time. Since the first time was a bear, I'm wondering if maybe it just has to seat itself, or compress, or something. Either way, the seal is no problem now. Just needs a hammer. 
Sounds like a biofilter issue to me. |
Steve,
Thanks for the info. It sounds like your Poseidon PS1 is a pretty close match to the old style Quiet One pump I'm using. I can see now why your second filter, the Eheim, has been so beneficial to your setup.
With a new cartridge my pressure is about 3.5 psi with a flow of at least 300~400 gph. Once the pressure rises to around 6 psi I'd say the flow drops to around 75~100 gph -- too low on my system since I only have the one pump to move water around the tank. It sure keeps the water crystal clear though.
I think the reason my cartridge in the Nu-Clear didn't last near as long as yours did has more to do with the lighter biological loading in your tank vs. mine. I have over 500 cherry red shrimp in my 90-gallon at the moment. They require a fair amount of food and are constantly stirring things up. It's definitely time to lighten the load in my tank.
I'm going to give my used 25-micron cartridge one more try by bleaching it first and then pressure washing it.
After a little research, I've come to the conclusion that all of the Ocean Clear cartridges and foam filter options can also be used in the Nu-Clear filters. I'm seriously considering trying one of the OC 25-micron carts since they're advertised as having 40 sq.ft. surface area instead of the Nu-Clear's 30 sq.ft. I also like the idea of using the foam inserts from OC to increase the biological filtration capacity of the Nu-Clear.
Steve