[MCSLABS]

Originally this filter was designed to be air driven, problem is the amount of air needed and the noise of all that air. So I am going to adapt it to a water pump. I am currently running a 40g tank but see a 100g in my future and want to be able to utilize this filter on it. What type of GPH do I need.

The large tubes on the bottom have inner tubes which have holes drilled in them to allow more surface area to contact the bio beads in there. The two tubes on the outside are intakes.

 

[thedood]

For 100g I would guess 500 to 1000 depending on how much flow you need, bio-load, etc. How big is that thing?

 

[MCSLABS]

Overall length is 48 inches. It rests on the floor while attached to the tank so there is no pressure on the tank itself. The bottom tubes are about 22 inches long and filled with 1/8 inch pea gravel.

I got another pic of the completed filter will post as soon as my phone lets go of it

 

[thedood]

Ok cool, I love diy and would love to see it.

 

[MCSLABS]

Gmail is acting up right now, wont send any pics to my computer

 

[thedood]

I plug mine in with usb and pull them off that way.

 

[MCSLABS]

I'm thinking of getting a home network storage drive to hold all of the pics from the phones and cameras.

I got it

 

[Dead2fall]

How do you clean it?

Sent from my HTC331ZLVW using Tapatalk

 

[thedood]

Thats a good question.

 

[WaterLife]

Woah, what a contraption!
Do you have any schematics showing how it's supposed to function? (with flow routing, etc)
Where does the water pump enter?

What diameter tubing?

I'm not very knowledgeable on builds, but I would think it gonna take a lot more than the average 5x or even 10x turnover rate (so 100 gallon tank X 5 or 10 turn over = 500-1000 GPH pump). With my lack of knowledge, the piping looks to be 1" in diameter, and a lot of it, so that would take require more than normal GPH to run it the way you intend. If you used the standard (500-1000 GPH) pump, I think water wouldn't flow out of each outlet with the same pressure.

EDIT: Looking at the newer pic, it looks like the outside tubes are inlets (one on each side) and the 4 middle tubes are outlets?

If it was the air driven set up, I think I would have put the airlines at the bottom of the media tubes (bubbles at bottom would draw more water up through the media/tubes and would give a stronger outflow, though may be more noisey, but that could possibly be remedied). Not sure that mid-section horizontal tubing would be beneficial.


Was there something new you were trying to achieve with this build? Or just had supplies on hand and wanted to save some money, or just wanted to be creative?
If it was just to have a better recirculating filtration system, it could possibly have been done cheaper and more efficiently.

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

How do you clean it?

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looks like he has union coupling? on the top part of the bigger pipes

 

[MCSLABS]

The was a product of what was on hand and what could I do with it. There is a union on the top which would allow me to separate the filter from the pipe if need be. This is mainly a bio-filter which would require no more than a back flush with a garden hose periodically. The air pump I had was insufficient in providing enough air (volume wise) to generate enough flow. So rather than buy a new air pump I will purchase a magnetically driven pump, size has yet to be determined.

Here is a pic of the internals.

I used to culture aquatic organisms for use in biological testing, I once made a trickle filter with a rotating spray bar inside a 55 gallon HDPE carboy which supported 20, 10 gallon tanks for culturing Fathead minnows. It took a while to work out the details. Used a conductivity switch to actuate a pump which lifted the water up to a larger carboy and used gravity to feed it back to the tanks. I wish I would have taken a pic of the thing at the time.

This filter should easily support any size tank I could talk my wife into getting.......

I also wanted something that would be slim enough to fit behind the tank and up against the wall with out having to keep the cabinet pulled away from the wall.

I may end up using one of the air injection fittings as a CO2 injection..

All the top end fittings were siliconed in place to allow disassembly.


The horizontal fitting at the top were not originally planned, they were needed for structural strength so I didn't have to build something else to support the tubes. They will also equalize the flow out of each tube.

 

[thedood]

I like diy and outside the box thinking. I am curious how this works for you. Fire that thing up on your 40 lol.

 

[MCSLABS]

Shopping for a water pump as I type this. Right now there is a very inadequate Aqeuon over the back filter on it right now.

I believe I am going to end up with this pump for now.

http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/M...nclosed_Motor_3_1_GPM_6_8_ft_115V/EW-72010-10

Will reduce the intakes to one, then if I should happen to get a larger tank I could add an additional pump with check valves so they don't fight with each other.

 

[Clear Water]

I'm wondering why you didn't just use two larger pipes instead of 4? Does the water flow go into all 4 or one to the other? When you do take it down to clean it what do you think it will take to clean it out? I thinking you head height is going to be crazy with that many elbows, tee's and height. Were will you mount the pump? That looks like a good size pump should work good.

I love diy and thanks for sharing your work.

 

[MCSLABS]

This was a product of what was already available and wanting it to stay on the narrow side to allow it to fit behind the cabinet. The head is about 1 inch. The inlets are approx 1-2 inches above the water line. The water flows through all 4 at the same time. There filled with bio beads (1/8 inch pea gravel). Cleaning would be no more than a good back flush with a garden hose. There are couplings if the need arises to separate the columns.

 

[rebelbuck1993]

if you are going to buy a $150 pump for that tank with the rig you built i would just recommend getting a canister for now. main reason why i say this is that pump will not hold up the amount of gph they say once it is connected to the rig(deffenetly not enough for even a 55gal) and two the eheim will clean and flow better at a cheaper price, Eheim 2215 Canister Filter

 

[MCSLABS]

I will get that pump at cost, not $150. It has 180+ GPH, that should be enough for a 40g for right now shouldn't ?

 

[thedood]

This might be some help to you determining pump requirements: Head Pressure in Aquarium and Pond Water Pumps

 

[MCSLABS]

This might be some help to you determining pump requirements: Head Pressure in Aquarium and Pond Water Pumps

Thanks

I figure the head pressure will be about 2 inches from the water level and 2 90 degree turns, shouldn't be that much.