CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi
(I Know me again. Does he ever shut up)

Ive been tinkering with making an external type filter. Ive got it almost down pat I just havent figured what to use for to pass the water through to filter it.
At the moment the water is gravity drawn into a 35 litre water holder with a air bleed valve on top. Down the bottom a hose goes to a heavy duty washing machine pump and then gets pumped back to the tank at break neck speed. I am going to have to buy a valve of some sort to slow the rate down.
Most of it is hidden out of sight. The pump is safely wired up and I custom made a small padded box that it fits nice and snugly into with air holes on one side to help keep the pump cool. The pump also has a large fixed fan attatched to the pump to also aid in cooling. Also the water makes no contact with any metal at all so no corrosion will get into the tank.
anyway I would appreciate any ideas on the actual filter itself and any improvements or alterations that you think I can do to the system it self. Or if you know of any good diy sites on freshwater filters (havent found a lot myself, manly trickle filters and thats another future project in my thoughts)

Thanks in advance for any info.


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TONY S

hey,

wow..thats ingenious! how u ever get the water to go into the bucket...maybe i try that some time..got too much time on my hands! sorry that i cant help out tho

Well at the moment I got it filtering through a home made canister with filter wool (the stuff you can buy in bulk and cut to size. Its going prety good, I got the flow just right and I dont have to start the syphing by mouth like I thought Id have to. The air pressure/vaccumm effect starts it for me as soon as the pump is turned on. Im playing with gravel vaccumm attatched to it at the moment and I seem to have a goer there too.
Ive got to speed up the intake flow some how as the way its ajusted at the output matching the input flow it only flows at about 60g an hour. Maybe a powerhead at the intake side of things. Any way at any rate it will probably make a good gravel cleaner.

So any ideas on improving speed would be great

Regards



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TONY S

One thing you can do to improve performance slightly probably not more then a few GPH but shorten the distance the water has to travel in the tubes running to the filter. This will decrease the distance of travel and increase the amount of water being processed. Also if you attach the pump to the output side of the pump then the intake will naturally match the output so all you would have to do it allow more water to exit faster and you will naturally increase your GPH... I hope that makes sense. You said you have a washing machine pump that goes pretty hardcore, so maybe hook it up to your output with a flow restricter valve that you can adjust untill you get it perfect.

The pump actualy is on the output side. I have to restrict its flow to match the input. I think im using too thin hoses, so im playing around with that at the moment.
But yeah shorting the hoses themselves would probably help a great deal.
Thanks Adam




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TONY S

Well after striping it down I found part of my problem.The intake hose got a couple of rocks jammed in it so restricting the flow. So after reassembling, it now flows faster on the intake side.Its still only pumping at about 80 to 90g per hour with the out put adjusted to match the input.(had a few accidents too leaving me with wet carpets, so dont do this unless you have a understanding wife LOL)
Im actualy thinking now of running the pump outside and have the hoses going through the window. This should make the water input to the filter and pump flow faster and possibly matching the speed of the pump. From the window sill to the ground it is about a 5ft drop. If it happens to prove too difficult for the washing machine pump too pump it back up I have an electric motororized pump I can use. The only thing is that my neihbour might not like the drone noise it makes. But If I do use it I will do something to muzzle it. I will definatly have to use a heaviour valve on the output then.
Anyway I cant complain about costs as it only costed me the price of the filter media so far. I have a brother who is a bit of a steptoe and son if you know what I mean. You know one mans rubbish is his treasure. Mind you he makes a fair bit out of it selling it at flea markets etc.Its amazing how much you can make out of what other people throw away thinking its worthless.
Yeah yeah I know stop raving on rubbish(ha that was almost a joke!!!!!)

Regards


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TONY S

It's interesting that you are having so much trouble getting your intake to match your output. Your intake should naturally be exactly what your output is(similar to a siphon) if your system is closed system (air tight seal). That is the general priciple behind my magnum filter. The vacuum created by the exiting water should cause a vacuum which replaces the water at the same exact rate without any adjustments at all. You might try 5/8"-1" (15mm-25mm)ID(inside-diameter) pipe as I'm not sure what size you have right now, probably the larger the better if you want to increase your GPH. It sounds like the pump is sufficient to do well over several hundred GPH, you just have to work on that intake. good luck

Thanks mate
I can see the sense in what your saying. I think that its not completly air tight so i will look at that as I hear air comming from somewhere. So that might save too much mucking around.

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TONY S

Hi
Well I finaly sorted out the prob and it was so obvious. An air leak. Thanks to Adam for pointing it out.
Now its roughly geting 300g per hour and with a gravel cleaner on the intake it realy sucks up all the crap. I can also use it to take out and replace water as well. Looks a bit out of the ordinary but works great.
Thanks eveybody, If you are interested I will try and post a pic of it soon.

Regards


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TONY S

excelent, glad to help. I would like to see what you did. I hope to be getting a 150 gallon tank with in the next 6 months so it might be a good way to go, if it's not to terribly difficult to put together.

All I can say if I can do it anyone can.
Na it wasnt hard just a little time consuming scrounging for the parts. Ive still got to refine it up a bit better and make it easier to move around my tanks for gravel cleaning.

Regards


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TONY S

Hey Tony why dont you go to wal-mart and buy an above ground pool filter. It will be a sand filter as you know. You can attach a chlorine additive attachment to the side of the pump and fill it w/charcol (if you use it). That would probably save you alot of time. I know it is fun to invent things, being a fabricator myself, I know it is fun to actually make something that you have no idea whether it is going to work until it does. This might help w/the flow, take a larger intake from the tank to the filter, which will increse the volume going to the filter, this will up you gph. A washing machine is not regulated to pump a massive amount of water. Look at how long it takes to fill up a washing machine and it is only around 20 or more gallons. Sounds like a good idea, you just need a larger volume pump. if you put an overflow in the corner of the tank and drain it thru the bottom of the tank, it will have more pressure on the intake to the filter system. Then you will have the pressure of the actual weight of the water. I have thought of doing this before, going to the basement and running it thru a pool filter system, for all four of my tanks. But it is hard to plumb thru all the walls. You can adjust the flow rate w/a PVC ball valve for the return. Maybe this will help you. Havea gooden

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JT

I have though of doing that in the future to do all my tanks at once. At the moment this smaller version gives me the gist on how a larger setup would work.

Thanks Jere


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TONY S