Diy Wet Dry

[jackbc48]

I am going to build a Diy wet dry filter for my 55 gallon freshwater tank. I already have a 10 gallon tank to use as a sump. What is the best design for the overflow and the filter itself.
What is a good material for the drip plate?

 

[rabbut]

For the overflow, don't use an overflow box, use hole, drilled into the glass at the back. It's the only consistantly reliable way to go All overflow boxes that I'm aware of on the market break their syphon when the flow through them stops, so when flow is turned on again they don't start removing water from the display and you end up with a wet floor and empty sump. Pumps at both are hard to ballence and a blockage will lead to a wet floor and/or a burnt out pump due to running one or both pumps dry.

For the trickle plate, I'd use Acrylic or Perspex

For the filter itself, your going to need a bigger tank. The minimum size for a sump is 25% of the display, or 12.5G in your case. With a 10G, the return pump will spend a lot of time running dry, leading to pramature failures of most of it's working parts. Top up the sump to stop this, and water will go everywere if the power fails, as the water will come back down from the display and pipes back to the over-full sump...

Idealy, for a wet-dry filter, the tank will be taller than long/wide. This allows for a media stack. Have once divider at the bottom, covering the retrun pump and heater(s) to stop them clogging/chewing/melting the filter material, put your biological media on top of that, then the other filter plate, then a selection of sponges and floss, going from course to fine in that order top-to-bottom. Fill the display to a point where water starts to overflow into the sump and stop there. Give it half an hour then brim the sump before turning on the return pump. Again, leave it for half an hour, then come back and mark a max-fill line on the sump. Fill above that line and the floor get's wet in a power outage. Fill to or below the line and the system is safe

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jackbc48]

Thanks for the tips!
But for the overflow, i can't drill, because my tank is tempered glass, and I want to build a DIY filter to keep costs down. I was thinking of doing the PVC one here: http/www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/nice-ch...flow-29396.html

 

[rabbut]

Again, you have the issue of stall-out's if the power fails... In all honesty, with tempered glass, you are not practically going to be able to put in a dependable sump filter based system

How do you know the tnak is tempered glass? What make+modle tank is it? It's very rare to get a tank built with tempered glass as it is several times more costly to do... All tempered glass is required to have a kite-mark in one corner to warn you however...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jackbc48]

on the bottom of the tank, it says tempered Glass do not drill (or something like that, it's filled now).
Thanks for the advice, i guess i won't do the wet dry then.
Unless someone else has a design that won't need to be reprimed

 

[rabbut]

Is that just the bottom glass? What make of tank is is? I still find it un-likely that all the glass is tampered...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jackbc48]

I'm not sure if it's just the bottom of the tank, but i had assumed it was the whole tank.
I'm not sure what make the tank is, and i don't know how to tell now that it's filled

 

[rabbut]

Any chance of a picture of the tank? If you've bouht it in the UK, I should be able to tell the make and modle via a photo and tell you which bits are drillable (if any). Many tanks have a "Floting base" that is tempred, but the rest of the tank is normal glass in almost all instances, bar bow-fronted tanks, and then the bow is tempred as well...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jackbc48]

I didn't buy in the UK, and i don't feel very comfortable drilling, i'm afraid i'll crack the tank.

 

[rabbut]

A member of a local reefers club would likely be able to help with the drilling part, it's a regular request for that type of hobbyist

If you post pictures in a separate thread asking what make and model the tank is and if the tank can be drilled, a US member should be able to ID the make and model, and may even be able to tell you what bits (if any) are drillable. However, with a make and model to play with, you can contact the manufacturer and ask them

All the best
Rabbut

 

[mini_matt]

A member of a local reefers club would likely be able to help with the drilling part, it's a regular request for that type of hobbyist

Hi rabbut, I'm currently building myself a wet dry filter myself, I'm thinking of using those plastic desk draw things and setting it up like a canister filter but after checking out a load of designs2day it looks like most sumps just use one container with loads of bioballs in so which would be better? I bought some plastic pot scoures as I read they are quite good media, I also bought some of the green scourer pad stuff like you find on the back of sponges as I thought this could be quite good also but I might just ditch most of that if the bioballs are going to be loads better. the other question I had was about tank drilling, I dont think I will attempt this myself but could you maybe direct me to someone who could do it? also how much do you think this would cost to get done?
many thanks in advance

edit: forgot to ask what should I be looking for in a return pump? in a 50L and for the 25uk gallon tank I'm getting this week, just bought 400bioballs for under 20quid including postage

 

[rabbut]

Matt,

Any media with a good surface area will be fine for Biological filtration.

For a return pump, you are looking at one capable of pushing 4-6 times the tank's volume though the display. That means 250lph in the 50l and 175gph in the 25g. Note, this is flow after head-height losses Something like a Maxijet MP1200 would be great for the 50l tank, and a Maxijet MP1200 coupled with a Maxijet MP600 would just about do the 25g, provided they were plumbed into the same pipe

For drilling, where about's are you based?

A plastic desk draw could make a good filter sump. Nothing says the sump needs to be a tank, just any food-safe water-proof container

All the best
Rabbut

 

[mini_matt]

Thanks very much for the reply, thought it would be better to post in a related topic rather than create a new thread, I am in southampton uk (thought it said in my profile but maybe not) can't believe the deal I got on the bioballs, these are used though so not sure on the best way to clean? boiling water maybe? new tank will be a 125litre tank and i'm looking to keep it under 2ft off the ground, not sure how much to acount for with head hight but will look into that, I have my tetratec ex600 filtering my 50 atm which is doing a nice job so think I will keep that running that tank and look at a sump for the new bigger tank, thanks

 

[bitteraspects]

pay no attention to rabbuts misinformation about PVC overflows. they are used WORLDWIDE, and have been for MANY years without fail.
the key to a pvc overflow, is properly setting it up. if you have the design cut to the right measurements, the pipes properly sealed, the check valve in place and operational, and either an aqualifter or powerhead (only if you dont want to use the check valve manually, you will have ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS with "stall-out's", poweroutage, or cavitation. a peoperly set up PVC overflow will not need to be reprimed.

let me know if you need design information, or further reading material on pvc overflows. i will be more than happy to help you out

 

[mini_matt]

to be honest I can see the faults with a pvc overflow and would rather have a hole drilled in the back of the tank as I can see it being far more reliable, it's a lot simpler idea so there is less to go wrong IMO the tank I am getting i'm only paying £20 for so if it all goes pear shaped I haven't lost much. the only thing I'm still not 100% on is what sort of pump I should get? and need to find someone to drill the tank i'm picking it up today