Economic Filtration???

[Wu-Gwei]

I have several set-ups. I keep both fish and turtles. Turtles are really dirty and I use a Fluval 404 on a 50 gallon tank and it's barely enough at times. I was wondering what are some alternatives to buying expensive canister filters (404, XP3, Eheims) to filter larger set-ups (50 gallons or more).

I have seen some DIY filters, but most of them are just a power head and sucking water through media (internal filter or sponge filter). I don't think such DIY filters do a very good job, even with a big pump.

Any suggestions, without forking out $150 and more for canisters. Right now, I have internal filters and UGFs, but I need to clean the filters often and change water once a week. Any suggestions?


Cheers,
JJ;)

[fade2black]

eBay! I bought my brand new Fluval 404 for $90 total.

Fade

[homebrewed]

look up a DYI wet dry. I'm running 2 that i made and they work great. instead of using glass tanks as a sump, I'm using 30gallon rubbermaid containers. for media i'm using floss, and broken clay pots. works like a charm, and cheap.

[ETET]

Wu-Gwei,

Use a DIY wet/dry seems the most economical way. I tried Fluval 404 before, it not even strong enough for a 30 gal tank and need lots of maintainence. For canister, I find Ehiem works the best, especially the wet/dry professional series, but this brand is very expensive, at least $250+ for a decent one. If you have several set-ups, you may find link it up to a DIY wet/dry filter works the best and save a lot of time and $$. All you need is to direct water from all the tanks to an under-tank sump; after water go through al the media, use a under-water/ external pump (more expensive) to direct all the water into the tanks. But this works only if the water condition of the set-ups are the same.


ETET

[Moose1960]

I am using a fluval 403 which is older model basically the same as 404, which has plenty of filtration for my 55 gal. Depending on the media you put in and weekly maintence/water changes in the tank I do not find it needs alot of maintence IMHO. Biological filtration takes time to build up and too much maintence can slow down this process. Being that turtles are dirty maybe a pond filter would work? Using a DIY wet/dry would work best but I would be cautious of having more then one tank for the filter just for the problem of if you get infections in one tank it would then spread to all tanks.

[Wu-Gwei]

Originally posted by ETET
Wu-Gwei,

Use a DIY wet/dry seems the most economical way. I tried Fluval 404 before, it not even strong enough for a 30 gal tank and need lots of maintainence. For canister, I find Ehiem works the best, especially the wet/dry professional series, but this brand is very expensive, at least $250+ for a decent one. If you have several set-ups, you may find link it up to a DIY wet/dry filter works the best and save a lot of time and $$. All you need is to direct water from all the tanks to an under-tank sump; after water go through al the media, use a under-water/ external pump (more expensive) to direct all the water into the tanks. But this works only if the water condition of the set-ups are the same.


ETET

I have to agree that Eheims are the best, but with several set-ups to even buy 1 or 2 of the economical Fluval 404s for each tank is unreasonable (even from ebay). And one 404 is barely enough for my 40-50 gallon tanks.

ETET, What kind of motor are you suggesting. Do you have an example?

Moose1960 is quite correct, I cannot link all my set-ups together, b/c of possible cross contamination. But I can have a few set-ups sharing one filter and a few sharing another.

What is a good design. I think the external wet/dry is a my best bet. Is there a good DIY site. The ones I have looked at various sites, but they were all for pond filtration.

Cheers

[fade2black]

Check out the DIY section here:

http://www.ozreef.org/diy/index.html#WET_DRY

It is geared towards saltwater, but a wet/dry works the same no matter.

Also, check out the DIY board here:

www.reefcentral.com

probably the best and most active DIY site around.

Fade

[ETET]

Wu-Gwei,

Those sites that Fade suggest should be helpful for DIY project. Wet/dry filter is good for both fresh & saltwater especially the biological load of you set up is high.

The motor I am using is Little Giant pump with a power of 1080 gal/hr at 6 ft. I use this pump to run a 120 gal tank. In addition, my tank has a high biological load, therefore I also use a flulidized bed which has excellent result. Concerning the cross infection problem, Moose 1960 is right, the solution for this is UV stertilizer. I find this is a very good investment for preventive measure if you planning to share one filter by few set-ups. So far after I am using Uv stertilizer, there is no outbreak of disease at all. The brand I am using for flulidized bed & UV stertilizer is Rainbow Lifeguard; it has different modules that can link up together which is pretty good.



ETET

[Wu-Gwei]

Thanks a lot for the input... it looks like I have some readin' to do...


I am not familiar with UV sterilizers, but can they destroy larvae of bacteria, protozoan, nemadotes and anything else that fish, turtles or invertibrates would carry? That is a big concern...


Cheers,
JJ

[ETET]

Wu-Gwei,

UV sterilizer makes use of UV radiation to alter genetic material of micro-organism. From the manufacturer suggestions, a few factors may affect the effect:

1. size of micro-organism;
2. strength of radiation;
3. penetration depth of UV in water; &
4. contact time of micro-organism with UV radiation

That means you have to calculate enough of UV radiation for the volume of your system; the water flow time for UV contact should be long enough and importance of the clarity of water for UV penetration. Also, UV has limited effect if micro-organism is too large or you have to extent the contact time of UV i.e. slow water flow. Lastly, UV sterilizer should be placed as the last module before water enter into your water tanks.


ETET