Poo Corner!

[gangeox]

As you are probably aware from my recent posts, i am a little concerned with 'suspended matter' in the water, i have setup a ecco 2236 and at the moment have no improvement, so let me put this to you:
We have the pickup and return at opposite ends, with the return facing lengthways towards the pickup, howver we get a poo corner underneath the return pipe and the rest of the substrate being clean, before i rearrange the pipework does anyone think that if the flow and return were in the same corner with the return facing lengthways away from the pickup the poo maybe picked up by the outlet? (is that clear?).
(Will be getting some floss at the weekend to try).

Thanks in advance.

 

[crazie.eddie]

Actually, this corner is great. The feces would eventually break down. The nice thing about the waste collecting in one corner is when doing gravel vacs. I have the same thing that happens in my tank and I found the areas where the detritus does not collect, the gravel does not need to be cleaned as much as the corner. The corner where the detritus collects, makes it easy for me to just gravel vac that area.

 

[xingumike]

Agreed, my set up produces exactly the same results, i did consider adding a powerhead to avoid this but in hindsight only having to really vac approximately 25% of my tank rather than the whole lot is actually quite a good thing.

 

[gangeox]

hanks for your replies,
Yeah i'm happy that it collects in one area but i'm wondering if this is why i have constant 'suspended matter' 'cos the dirt is not near the pickup
What do you think about this:

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/water-filter-housing...1QQcmdZViewItem

with a 1 micron cartridge

and putting it in the return pipe work after the ehiem.

(Just a thought)

 

[xingumike]

Ok from the sounds of it you don't have enought mechanical filtration.

I am not familiar with that particular filter, but from what i can tell should act as a final 'polishing' stage for the water provided that its fine enough (sorry i am not sure how fine 1 micron is, sounds pretty small though!). One thing that may be affected is the flow rate of the eheim if its forcing water through that as well as the normal media its designed to cope with. Just noticed that other micron ratings are available from the same seller so thats good if someone can actually tell us what sort of rating we need to clear the water!

Was it the fact that you could add that to the pipework rather than have it in the tank (ie like an int. filter) the appealing part? Makes sense if so, i look forward to seeing others views on this, quite a good idea and a fairly inexpensive way of doing things.

 

[gangeox]

I have actually emailed eheim to ask what they say there filter systems goes down to in microns. Could i then remove all foam filters in my filter this would allow more flow and just run the pebbles with the other filter? (again just thinking out loud).

 

[xingumike]

Hmmmm im thinking out loud now, not sure whether you may be creating another problem in doing that as i think some beneficial bacteria will be held in the foam filters so by removing them you may be reducing the effectiveness of the bio-filter in order to up the mech-filter.

So you water would 'look' cleaner but actually contain more ammonia and nitrites possibly.. plus the extra filter mentioned above would have to deal with all mech-filtration so would get clogged pretty quick i would imagine

anyone else got a view?

 

[gangeox]

As i only have one white filter and one blue filter the rest is 'pebbles' i thought the pebbles held the good bacteria and the other just cleaned the bits from the water? (i have so much to learn, and to top it off i'm looking into CO2!!!! ) things i get myself into!!

 

[mark.w.jones]

As i only have one white filter and one blue filter the rest is 'pebbles' i thought the pebbles held the good bacteria and the other just cleaned the bits from the water? (i have so much to learn, and to top it off i'm looking into CO2!!!! ) things i get myself into!!

The "pebbles" (ceramic media usually) are where the majority of your bacteria are found. The next most common place is in you filter sponges followed by your filter wool. You will also have a minute amount of bacteria in your gravel and also in the green sludgy stuff you get in your filter pipes. This is why over cleaning can cause a spike in ammonia or nitrite levels.

 

[DarkEntity]

Im using the 2232 twice and a 2236.

My setup for the 2236 produces sparkling water in my 125 litre tank

i have the following

white pad - basket 1
activated carbon pellets - basket 1

eheim ceramic media - basket 2

eheim ceramic media - basket 3

eheim ceramic media - basket 4
blue pad - basket 4

Although i am cosidering having an extra white pad in the top and taking some carbon out. just for extra sparkle

When i first setup the tank i did consider having 2 x 2232 on it, one would only contain half blue and half white foam while the other would have 75% ceramic media and the other 24% carbon with a white pad on top.

 

[gangeox]

Thanks again for all your answers, i am now about to do this:

ceramic and white floss in top, ceramic in 2 & 3 and blue and ceramic in 4.

We'll see how this goes.