dazbud
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I've recently set up a new 250L (55G) tank with trickle filter.Fish and filter media transferred from a smaller 100L tank. Its the All Ponds Solutions cabinet model.
The instructions that came with the filter were very brief and I'm a bit puzzled by a few things.
The design is a 900L/hr pump, takes water from the bottom of the tank to a spray bar under the hood. The water is sprayed across four adjacent chambers which stretch the full length of the tank. On the top of each is filter floss. Which then trickles into 4 compartments. I've added Bio Balls in 2 and Ceramic Rings in 2. My old filter media is squashed into one of the compartments too. The trays maintain about 1/2 inch of water, which means that the Bio balls are about 50% submerged and the ceramic rings are completely submerged. Each compartment then drains straight into the top of the water, slightly below the water line, so there is no noise. some bubbles ermerge from each shoot too.
I don't have much experience of filters, but I like the look of it. The water is clear, its very quiet and very accesible and easy to reach. However, a few questions
1) I've doubled up the filter floss with a second layer. I'm assuming this will cause no issues and be of benefit?
2) I got a second powerhead as a complimentary item for rasing a minor complaint. I've installed it, so that potentially my overall turnover will now be 1800L/hr. Its slightly different to the first because it splits the output, half to the second spray bar over the same filter chambers and half out of a side jet with venturi which creates a nice current in the top of the water column. I'm very under stocked at the moment so don't really need it and am all for saving power where possible, but thought some current will help. So I've set it on a timer to operate for 15 mins every hour. Will this be OK, with a view to possibly increasing the on-time as and when I add stock. Or is the whole idea of a second powerhead unecessary anyway with a trickle filter? And will the fish not appreciate the occasional current?
3) Are the bioballs and ceramic rings more effective when under water or out of water? Should I add more rings so that they are stacked up above the water line in the compartments?
4) I've read mixed reports about trickle filters being nitrate factories. Although it seems that if you keep them clean things stay fine. Would a suitable cleaning schedule be: one of the four filter pads rinsed each week on rotation, with maybe one of the four compartments rinsed every few months?
5) Again, there are mixed reports that say that because trickle filters are so effiicient at turning amonia to nitrite to nitrate, that you can end up with a build up of nitrate very quickly. However, I don't understand this. Surely if there is waste in the tank then you want it to go through the nitrate cycle, so you would want as much of it as possible to turn to nitrate? and that can only be a good thing?
6) Once fully stocked, possibly with the second powerhead on continuously, should I get regular high nitrates, would it make sense to add a nitrate reducing filter media to one compartment, such as seachem denitrate? Are products like this worthwhile in trickle filters?
7) My old filter media (sponge) is in one compartment. How long will this take to seed the rest of the media?
8) The filter pads seems to be catching a lot of dirt, they are all dark brown already after 2 weeks. This is probably because there is new bogwood in the tank that is leaching tannings. However, it looks like everything is getting caught in the filter floss and the bioballs and ceramics beneath are all squeaky clean. Will the filter floss be acting as a significant bio factory, even though its only being sprayed as opposed to being submerged. Or is it just a dirt catching pre-filter ?
Sorry if some of these questions seem stupid.
The instructions that came with the filter were very brief and I'm a bit puzzled by a few things.
The design is a 900L/hr pump, takes water from the bottom of the tank to a spray bar under the hood. The water is sprayed across four adjacent chambers which stretch the full length of the tank. On the top of each is filter floss. Which then trickles into 4 compartments. I've added Bio Balls in 2 and Ceramic Rings in 2. My old filter media is squashed into one of the compartments too. The trays maintain about 1/2 inch of water, which means that the Bio balls are about 50% submerged and the ceramic rings are completely submerged. Each compartment then drains straight into the top of the water, slightly below the water line, so there is no noise. some bubbles ermerge from each shoot too.
I don't have much experience of filters, but I like the look of it. The water is clear, its very quiet and very accesible and easy to reach. However, a few questions
1) I've doubled up the filter floss with a second layer. I'm assuming this will cause no issues and be of benefit?
2) I got a second powerhead as a complimentary item for rasing a minor complaint. I've installed it, so that potentially my overall turnover will now be 1800L/hr. Its slightly different to the first because it splits the output, half to the second spray bar over the same filter chambers and half out of a side jet with venturi which creates a nice current in the top of the water column. I'm very under stocked at the moment so don't really need it and am all for saving power where possible, but thought some current will help. So I've set it on a timer to operate for 15 mins every hour. Will this be OK, with a view to possibly increasing the on-time as and when I add stock. Or is the whole idea of a second powerhead unecessary anyway with a trickle filter? And will the fish not appreciate the occasional current?
3) Are the bioballs and ceramic rings more effective when under water or out of water? Should I add more rings so that they are stacked up above the water line in the compartments?
4) I've read mixed reports about trickle filters being nitrate factories. Although it seems that if you keep them clean things stay fine. Would a suitable cleaning schedule be: one of the four filter pads rinsed each week on rotation, with maybe one of the four compartments rinsed every few months?
5) Again, there are mixed reports that say that because trickle filters are so effiicient at turning amonia to nitrite to nitrate, that you can end up with a build up of nitrate very quickly. However, I don't understand this. Surely if there is waste in the tank then you want it to go through the nitrate cycle, so you would want as much of it as possible to turn to nitrate? and that can only be a good thing?
6) Once fully stocked, possibly with the second powerhead on continuously, should I get regular high nitrates, would it make sense to add a nitrate reducing filter media to one compartment, such as seachem denitrate? Are products like this worthwhile in trickle filters?
7) My old filter media (sponge) is in one compartment. How long will this take to seed the rest of the media?
8) The filter pads seems to be catching a lot of dirt, they are all dark brown already after 2 weeks. This is probably because there is new bogwood in the tank that is leaching tannings. However, it looks like everything is getting caught in the filter floss and the bioballs and ceramics beneath are all squeaky clean. Will the filter floss be acting as a significant bio factory, even though its only being sprayed as opposed to being submerged. Or is it just a dirt catching pre-filter ?
Sorry if some of these questions seem stupid.
/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Method
