Mattenfilter on Tunze pumps (two methods)

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andyroo
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Post by andyroo » Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:30 pm

I've been thinking through how to do similar within a bamboo trunk/pipe- keeping within the current aesthetic, that is.
"I can eat 50 eggs !"

Diana
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Post by Diana » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:34 am

Andyroo, anything that can be done with pipe along these lines could likely be done with bamboo, but to keep the look of bamboo, you would have to do this sort of "inside-out".

Put the sponge inside of a rather large bamboo tube. Do not pack it in too tightly, you do not want to squish the cells, but it does need to be snug enough to prevent bypass.

You could drill LOTS of holes in the bamboo to allow plenty of water in from all the sides. Might be ornamental as well, if the holes were carefully laid out.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

andyroo
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Post by andyroo » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:44 am

Diana,
I was thinking along these lines, yes. I was also thinking of cutting the bamboo in 1/2 and using it as a facade vertical up the back wall, maybe with another 2 pieces cut for habitat around it as well.
Problem is that the back wall is white, so everything shows.
Either way, the Koralia shows up on Sunday night- I'll keep you posted.
A
"I can eat 50 eggs !"

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Keith Wolcott
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Post by Keith Wolcott » Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:57 am

Good thoughts. Diana, I did think about using pipe, but I thought that even with many, many holes that somewhere around half of the area would still be solid pipe which would restrict the flow. It could work, but I wanted to restrict the flow as little as possible. It would be nice though if we had an easily reproducible method. I waited three months before I found something that I liked.

Andyroo- Good luck with the bamboo.

NDininno
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Post by NDininno » Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:06 pm

Where do you get such big pieces of sponge?

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Keith Wolcott
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Post by Keith Wolcott » Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:28 pm

I obtained the foam from http://www.lagunakoi.com/subcat139.html.

Diana
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Post by Diana » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:12 pm

My local fish store has them; they also deal in pond supplies.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

andyroo
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Post by andyroo » Mon Sep 14, 2009 7:02 pm

So- Koralias have arrived: a #2 and a #3. They're..... bigger then I'd thought they'd be.
How likely is it that a notoriously curious 1.5" clown get his little schnozzle stuck in the intake? Not really worried about anyone else, as only small pointy noses will fit. How strong is the intake? Am I paranoid?

No easy access to course filter sponge around here, but have lots of old mosquito netting/mesh.
A
"I can eat 50 eggs !"

Diana
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Post by Diana » Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:24 pm

An inch and a half Clown is pretty small. The current on the intake area is not so much that a fish (even a small one) could not fight it, but a curious fish may get into trouble sticking his nose in.
The mosquito netting is better than nothing, just make sure it is tight enough not to get sucked into the inside.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

wasserscheu
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Post by wasserscheu » Tue Sep 15, 2009 6:41 am

Diana wrote:
...

Be careful lifting out the sponges; the debris falls out of them.
Putting a plastic bag (freezer bag, or so) over the cartriges, before lifting them out may pay off.

Excellent filtration system Keith. German Engineering award is on the way to you 8)
Wolfram

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Keith Wolcott
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Post by Keith Wolcott » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:38 am

Thanks Wolfram. I didn't know that there was an award involved!

Putting a plastic bag over foam before pulling it out is a good idea. I will do that when the time comes.

andyroo
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Post by andyroo » Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:10 am

Right- Koralias arrived- put the #3 in the back corner with mozzy-netting tied around it yesterday.
Monsterous current right to the other end- all 6 feet and around the corner. Angels n' gouramis are taking a while getting used to it, but seem no worse for wear. Everyone else loves it.
Watching carefully. Might have to re-think this... Certainly won't need to put the #2 at the other end to make the circle.
A
"I can eat 50 eggs !"

wasserscheu
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Post by wasserscheu » Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:08 pm

Keith, how are things? We are discussing your subject in a German forum and I have linked to your work here. Actually it is Olaf D's Forum, so the circle of knowhow exchange kind of closes.

The question was, how strong the direct wraping of the Tunze would slow down the pump. You mentioned that in your 2nd trial-version you experienced a loss of 2/3 of the power. Is there any changes you made to your design since last year?
Keith Wolcott wrote: ... Let us know what you do with your Tunze pump if you get one. ...
For my part, things move very slow but I am in need of moving all tanks to different areas of the room, sooner or later. After that I will try to move water from one tank (via pipes fitting the Tunze outlet nicely) to another. The water should return through all others (daisy chain) via waterbridges. The return waterbridges should be "swimable" at least to one of 2 mattenfilters. The filtermatts will also be dividers between tanks for big and small fish. It will be a while until it's done, but it is a firm plan, provided the pump is capable of pushing the water that far. I will report when time comes.
Wolfram

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Keith Wolcott
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Post by Keith Wolcott » Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:42 am

Hi Wolfram,

It is going well.

I don't have any of the 2nd trial version, tightly wrapped sponges on pumps anymore. They all dramatically decreased the flow in 2 to 4 weeks. I really can't say exactly how much they reduced the flow since I did not take any measurements, but just felt the flow with my hand. On two side-by-side pumps, I did clean one sponge and not the other so that I could feel the difference in the flows. It was very clear that the flow was decreased a lot and I estimated it was decreased by 2/3.

The first trial versions consisting of silo type foam enclosures are all still functioning. I monitor the water level difference between the inside and outside of the foam silos and I find that if I just use a siphon hose to vacuum over the outside of the foam about every three weeks they work very well. Occasionally I stick the hose inside the foam silos to clean them, but most of the embedded gunk comes off from the outside. I have found that the strength of the siphon really makes a difference on if it cleans the foam well or not. The strength of the siphon is affected by the size of the hose and the drop distance. With a bucket on the floor and a 5/8 inch or 16 mm hose it works well for me. I tried a smaller hose for a while and it did not clean the foam well enough to increase the flow. With a strong enough siphon you will see a lot of dirty water coming through the hose. I usually siphon two 4 gallon buckets on each foam silo. That just takes 10 minutes every three weeks. Before, I was cleaning one canister filter (out of 4) each week which takes me 20 or 30 minutes. I am still testing how long I can go between canister filters, but I think it is probably longer than 6 months since after 4 months, one filter was still quite clean.

To summarize, I think this system works pretty well. There is less maintenance, there is a lot more surface area for biological activity, the flow rate is slower through that surface area (which is better for the bacteria), and I have no issues with fry or small fish getting hurt by the pumps.

Wolfram, your plan for your Tunze pump sounds very interesting! One thought to keep in mind. The Tunze pumps are designed to move lots of water, but are not designed to pump water against some resistance. I am not sure how much resistance you will have in pushing the water through a pipe to another tank, but it will be some.

I am wishing that I could read German since I am sure that many good ideas are being exchanged on the forum that you mentioned. Please report all of the good ideas back here!

wasserscheu
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Post by wasserscheu » Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:48 pm

Thanks Keith for your valuable update, very much appreciated.

As of the very moment, I can't think of things that are not discussed here, the mattenfilter you know already, over here many people use CO2 for their planted tanks and thus avoid airbubbles and flow on the surface and keep the flow on the bottom (also to keep the substrate clean), but that's common on "your side of the pond" too, I think.
If there is anything interesting, I will come back to this thread with a summarizing translation.
Myself, I am currently looking for more efficient lights and some good reflectors. Will be DIY. On the reflectors I guess (and also was discussed in that German forum) it's beneficial to have large ones. Smaller ones seem to be less effective. I played around with some stuff and noticed such relation too.
I have put together a lumen/watt chart for my own overview, it may not make a lot of sense to attach it here, but perhaps some names are the same in the US. At least the the column "K" shows Lumen per Watt and indicates the more efficient lamps. US numbers could be looked up at a local manufacturing site.

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Wolfram

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