Building A Biological Sump Filter And Tank Flow Control

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok i have moved my posts to this topic as it has moved away from the original post here.

Ok, so the pictures that I made whilst making the Bio filter haven’t come out correctly corrupted disc.. so, sorry no pictures of the building of the filter.
I have pictures of the Filter now that it is done.

So here are the pictures.

The Tank is 130cm x 40cm x 40 cm it is split into 4 sections.

The first section is for the BIO Balls. I’m going to use red lava stones instead as I have a sack that was free.
So the water will come in from the top and I will build a sprinkler type system that will spray the tank water over the stones. The water will then work its way through the stones and move into next section where I will place a heater to warm the water.

The water will then flow over the top of the glass. The water will then flow into the section with the foam.
First layer that you can’t see in the Photos is 20ltrs of active charcoal.
Second layer is large holed filter foam.
Third layer is thin holed filter foam.
Fourth layer is filter wool

After this layer it seeps through the slats at the bottom. From here the water moves through to the exit chamber. I have placed an internal pump here.

I will make another hole in the glass in the final chamber which will be ¾ of the way from the top of the tank. This will be an overflow. With the RO (reverse osmosis) system it will replace around 20 - 60 L per day.

You have the filter set up backwards really.

You want the mechanical filtration before the biological. Ideally you would want a drip tray above the bio media (I assume a fair amount of the bio media will sit above the water surface (as in a wet dry, thus giving the media far more oxygen and making it far more efficient).

You can then put filter floss on the drip tray and this will filter out all of the free floating stuff. Having the floss (or even a sponge) outside of the water and not submerged will greatly improves its efficiency at removing particles.

Otherwise, all the gunk and debris will get caught on your bio media and start decaying there leading to increased nitrates rather than being caught on the mechanical media where you can just pull out the sponge/floss and rinse the stuff away.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but it looks a great project.

Thanks for the inofrmation.

I was researching and getting serveral peoples ideas about this. there were two experianced guys i was listening to and they both came up with good points. One guy said exsactly what you said. and the other was the following.

Have a drip pipe that will drip on to the Lava stones. this would break the waist down as it is rough. once it breaks down the water would then move in to the large foamed areas which would then collect the waist. but because it is a large surface area it gives it enough room to collect the waist products and break it down over a longer period.
so this would happen through the three thickness levels. of foam. in the last chamber i will have bio balls

I understand now more of what you were saying. I can still modify thistank to do what i want it to do. so back to the drawing board...

Thanks for the input.

No probs.

Lava rock would just clog up with the waste and any efficiency it would have for harbouring bio bacteria would diminish (not ot mention the rise in nitrates).

I have learned the hard way that sumps need good mechanical filtration to prevent having to be cleared out completely every 12 months or so. (and we never build our sumps with easy access, now do we?...)

Looking good though, and it's great to see more people going the sumped route on the larger tanks.

Did a bit more research last night and found that the lava stones were the worst for the bio filter and i found the Ultra Bio_Media is was the best

this report tells you what is the BEST BIO MATERIAL even though the report is for salt aquariums the bio filter is the same rules.

What i have just realised that i forgot was i have two Eheim 2228 filters that came with the aquarium so what i am going to do is to fill these first with Ultra Bio- media then this will pump streight into the sump. in the sump i will have 1 layer of the Ultra Bio-media then it will go into the foam.

This will work better as i will then rotate the cleaning of the bio material one a year bu tthe first 2228 in 6 months then leave that one for a year but 6 months later (which is one year from installation) the second 2228. 3 months later the sump. this will keep enough bacteria in the system to stop the amonia spikes etc..

Its always good to have some one else to discus this with as you get more and better ideas.

Thanks

You don't want to pump the output of an eheim straight into the sump as this would create a direct syphon; in the event of a power cut you could drain a significant part of the tank into the sump (all the way down to the inlet to the eheim filter).

Once submerged a lot of the better media will loose their edge as there simply won't be the oxygen available to support the huge colonies of bacteria they can host.

If you are in the US then the best media for a wet dry is nylon pot scrubbers. Sadly I can't find them here in the UK, though they may be available on the continent where you are. Basically, you just want anything plastic with a huge surface area to volume ratio.

It does worry me a little bit that they don't mention in that site about Live Rock being the best filtration there is for a SW aquarium...

Ok i havent used a Eheim filter before so i didnt know that the pump wast closed off if fails... Thanks for that.

I have a plan for the two eheim pumps.

Im going to move the filter section now as it has started a good conversation and i will edit this part of it once i have an address.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Now that I have added the background and placed in the first pipes i can start on the flow and bio system.

So what i have .

1 x 130x40x40 bio sump
2 x Eheim 2228 filter pumps

im going to use 1 x Eheim 2228 filter which will suck water through the stones but it isnt an under gravel filter it will just pull any crap from the sides of the aquarium. and the return water will blow the water down towards the botom of the tank. It will cause a circulation of the bottom of the tank.

The second 2228 will deal with the middle water. it will then push the water out on the top of the water acting like rain. so placing in lots of oxegen.

The bio tank will grab all water as it will work like a overflow system and the water will be pushed out from right to left.

 

[SkiFletch]

Whoa wait a sec, you're planning on using a pump to supply the sump? . That's not the best of ideas I'm afraid, cause if you have a power outage, your floor will get soaked

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Whoa wait a sec, you're planning on using a pump to supply the sump? . That's not the best of ideas I'm afraid, cause if you have a power outage, your floor will get soaked

No im not using a pump to supply the sump. the sump will be a gravity fed from a run over hole. also in the sump there is a pipe that will run into the drains just incase the return pump from the sump fails and the osmoses keeps on running.

The only dangerous thing i have to worry about is the 2228 pump that is pumping the water from the bottom of the tank to its self. If the pipe breaks, or the pump leaks then im in trouble.

Thanks for the concern..

Fozzy

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh ok, I get it . You're setting up one pump on an internal loop to circulate water around the tank, musta got lost in the wording there

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Oh ok, I get it . You're setting up one pump on an internal loop to circulate water around the tank, musta got lost in the wording there

Ah dont worry. Most of the time I write up what I have done at the end of the night so thats 2am.. LOL

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok,

I have finished the Bio system and the two other filter systems.

So filter system

1 = Eheim 2228 Left.
The left side of the aquarium has a 2228 filter system. This pulls water through the stones as I have built an under gravel pipe. The Under gravel pipe is an electrical pipe with holes drilled into it. this is pulling enough water to circulate and clean the left side of the tank. 750 litres per hour. the return water is pushed out at the top and middle of the tank in a left to right direction.

in this picture you see the exit (left hole) and the return from the bottom bio sump (right hole) and the black pipe is the return from the 2228 filter
However I have to say that I have had a lot of leaks with using silicone to hold the pipes in place. It would have been cheaper to get proper inside to outside connectors.
I eventually sealed the pipe into place with epoxy clay and araldite.
Then I painted over the whole thing with pond rubber paint.

The picture still shows it with the white silicone. Now it is a lot better

Ok in the next image, it shows the right hand side of the aquarium filter.

The green pipe (left hole) is the return from the 2228 filer (2nd 2228 filter) the black flow pipe is the suction for the 2228 filter.

The black ribbed pipe with the green filter is one suction pipe for the bio sump. Behind the black ribbed pipe is a grey medium sized kitchen pipe that runs into the bio filter. This is a hole that is used to siphon the top layer of water from the tank. This will remove any surface sediment. Or things floating on the surface

The next few images show the bio sump

The first photo is the run off tank. The top box is filled with green filter wool. This will collect any large chunks of sediment. This then drips off into the bio chamber. The Bio chamber is full of Bio balls (max 20cm deep)
On the bottom of this the water then runs off into the main sump.

On the right hand side of the sump you see it is empty but I will be placing in 10kg of active carbon.
The water will flow through that and flow next to the heater 1.
From heater 1 it will flow over the top and flow into the blue sponge. However in the top of the sponge I am going to lay 4kg of media mud. This will keep the ph level to a standard level.

This will then flow through the blue material and into the pump sump. (Left hand side of the sump)

this where the heater two is. This also holds the 2500 pump and i will place in 4kg of ziolite. the ziolite will keep the Nitrates in order.

after here it then just pumps out into tank

The pipe that runs out from the bio sump goes into the drain and the 60ltr per day Osmoses system will refill 60 ltr per day. so the water will keep rolling over everyday and keeping it freash.

Well that is it for the filter system..

 

[SamUK]

if i wanted to make a sump, how would i kno what pump to use to pump the water back to the main tank.


jus tried it randomly with my biggest internal filter and it made a rite racket straining to push the water up to the main tank again.


top job on yours tho!

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

if i wanted to make a sump, how would i kno what pump to use to pump the water back to the main tank.


jus tried it randomly with my biggest internal filter and it made a rite racket straining to push the water up to the main tank again.


top job on yours tho!

Ok if it makes a racket, then you may still have air in the pump. Have a look at the instructions and see if you need to prime it first. how you prim it is that you can poor water down the out let tube.

If this was the problem then you will see the pressure build up and pump up to 1.5 mtrs. Also if the pump is making a wurring noise after putting water into the tube. try moving the pump around under the water. this will move the water around and push out any air in the pump.

If this is not working and it is just no powerfull enough you should look at a new pump. the pump i have will sit in the bio filter but it will also sit outside of the tank. you should look for a pump that will pump 3x the tank volume per hour.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

OK i have now placed in the Bio Balls and active coal. The Bio balls were 5 Ltr but when i placed them into the filter they were under the water and that isnt good.

So what i did was to buy a dish dry rack and cut the correct size and place the stips in upside down this the kept the balls about 2cm off of the water.

so in the picture from the top to the bottom you see

Top = bucket Green Filter wool

Between top and middle i have drilled loads of holes so the water will drip through on tho the bio balls

middle = 5Ltr Bio Balls

Bottom (water level) water that has been dripped through the Bio Balls

The water then flows from the bottom of the balls to the Bio sump.

 

[McMurray]

shouldnt the green filter wool be atthe other end of the filter system?? shouldnt the junk and gunk go into the bio balls so the bacteria can break it down?

also are you getting a smell from the wool?

Your bio filter is the same size as my tank.. but i am going to build another tank soon.

isnt it beter to have the bio filter in the tank? So i mean behing the background?

 

[andywg]

Having the filter out of the tank mens it can be much larger. I have two 24x14x12 tanks for my sumps and I could never fit that amount of media in the tank and still have large fish.

The aim is to have the biological iltration only deal with water and what is in it. By putting the filter floss first you take all the larger physical waste out of the water before it can start breaking down. Also, by removing it it prevents the bio-media clogging up.

If the waste does not start to break down in the water then it does not add to the nitrogen cycle going on (end result: lower nitrates).

 

[McMurray]

Cool thanks andy.

I looks as though it is sorted here. for a filter system.

Well foss is in the UK from tomorrow on holiday and he said that he will come to my house and help me with the plans and lifiting of the aquaroum for this.

I am getting two other friends that are also TFF members in the area to come over as well as they are also looking into larger tanks. I was a member for a long time then my computer broke and i cant remember which email address I used. I have always just read the forums and not posted but i want to be more active.

Great site and very helpfull.

 

[pipatic]

this may help you,or anyone thinking of using a sump for ya filters equipment ,etc
http/www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

 

[McMurray]

this may help you,or anyone thinking of using a sump for ya filters equipment ,etc
http/www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

Cool good reading