Does this tank modification make sense?

[jaylach]

I have what I guess is considered a nano tank but think that the built in three stage filtration was poorly designed. The issue is that the spill over from the sponge section to the ceramic section is at the top of the tank. It is like a straight left to right flow where, I would think, it should be like a 'S' where the water is drawn into the sponge chamber then from the top vent and then travels through the sponges and then goes to the ceramic chamber at the bottom and then to the pump chamber from the top of the ceramic chamber. Sigh, I'm probably saying this all wrong but I'm not exactly sure how to explain.

If you have managed to follow the above I have a modification in mind and would appreciate input.

My plan is to bore several holes toward the bottom of the plate that separates the sponge and ceramic chambers. I would then use aquatic silicone to attach a plastic plate to the top of this separation to where the barrier is a bit above the top vents which would then become the water input. Seems to me that this would then force the water taken in through the vent to flow through all three sponges before going to the ceramic chamber. Right now the bad tank design only allows about a third of one sponge to actually do anything. I don't think that I would need to do anything as to the partition between the ceramic chamber and the actual pump as that is toward the top.

Also, is it better to have the tank heater in the main tank or in the filter chambers? My guess is that it does not matter if there is proper flow through the chambers. If OK to put the heater in the filter chamber it would make the tank look cleaner due to less visible hardware.

 

[Oblio]

I have what I guess is considered a nano tank but think that the built in three stage filtration was poorly designed. The issue is that the spill over from the sponge section to the ceramic section is at the top of the tank. It is like a straight left to right flow where, I would think, it should be like a 'S' where the water is drawn into the sponge chamber then from the top vent and then travels through the sponges and then goes to the ceramic chamber at the bottom and then to the pump chamber from the top of the ceramic chamber. Sigh, I'm probably saying this all wrong but I'm not exactly sure how to explain.

If you have managed to follow the above I have a modification in mind and would appreciate input.

My plan is to bore several holes toward the bottom of the plate that separates the sponge and ceramic chambers. I would then use aquatic silicone to attach a plastic plate to the top of this separation to where the barrier is a bit above the top vents which would then become the water input. Seems to me that this would then force the water taken in through the vent to flow through all three sponges before going to the ceramic chamber. Right now the bad tank design only allows about a third of one sponge to actually do anything. I don't think that I would need to do anything as to the partition between the ceramic chamber and the actual pump as that is toward the top.

Also, is it better to have the tank heater in the main tank or in the filter chambers? My guess is that it does not matter if there is proper flow through the chambers. If OK to put the heater in the filter chamber it would make the tank look cleaner due to less visible hardware.

Draw a pic of your filter flow with and without mods, snapshot it, and paste directly into the reply box.
It would be better to have your heater external to allow more room for media in your filter.

 

[jaylach]

@Oblio​

This is very crude but gives the idea. With the current setup almost nothing goes through the sponges on the left and the center ceramics. The modification would force the water through all media. The chambers are spongs on the left, ceramic and carbon in the mddle and the pump on the right. BTW, I'm not using carbon.

 

[jaylach]

Actually I was wrong on the above diagram of the current tank filtration setup. There is actually a 'spill over at the bottom between the sponge and ceramic/carbon chambers.

The actual problem is that the the inlet at the bottom of the sponge chamber is too small being only 1/8th inch at the most. I bored that out to ~1/2 inch and used silicone to plug ~2/3 of the top vent. I hope that I'm right but my thinking is that this will cause a LOT more input as to the bottom of the sponge chamber which will cause more of a current which will draw more water through the top vents.

One may ask, with what I've said above, why plug some of the top vent? I see it as a balance. If I actually fill the tank too much water goes through the top vent pretty much totally bypassing the sponges. I figured that if I restricted the top vent more water would be drawn in through the bottom input making for a stronger flow through the top going through the sponges. Sigh, I know I'm explaining this badly but it boils to trying to increase the flow through the sponges.

 

[BrianK]

I think the lower holes are a safety feature so that if the top main inlet gets blocked, the pump doesn't run dry and burn out the motor. At least that is the explanation of my built in filter which is similar.

 

[jaylach]

The modification of enlarging the bottom input for the sponge chamber seems to have worked. With the tank totally full the sponge chamber is full with the ceramic chamber a bit lower and the pump chamber even lower. It really looks like I'm now getting active flow through the sponges where, previously, it looked like the flow was just bypassing the sponges.

So far it is looking really good while doing a fishless cycle with plants. Plants are all bright and look great and there is a bacteria bloom going on.

With the built in filtration that I modified and my under gravel filtration I also seem to have good water flow as the plants move around but are not blown sideways.