Loaches Online Forum

chefkeith, I was trying to find your post regarding your filter backflushing system but I'm having a hard time locating it. Do you have any idea where the post might be hiding?

Also, have you found the backflushing to be effective since you installed it?

Thanks.

Sorry to butt in ( I was bored)

Might this be it:

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... g&start=15

Curtis,
I use Ocean Clear cannisters on a 225-gallon tank. I have two because I keep some eartheaters in there. Messy devils. I backwash the cannisters on a monthly basis. every 6 to 9 months I take the mechanical aspect out of the cannister and actually spray it clean with a hose. I love the way the system works. It is plumbed a little differently than the Ocean Clear diagram. But, that is so i can run as separate filters, or in tandem if a pump issue comes up.

Easiest way to go IMO.



the pressure guage is broken on the Ocean Clear that is most visible--it is actually pumping--I use the guage on teh Pentair system that is tied in to the bottom drain and return to figure that one out.

I don't know if I have a thread here about the canister backflushes. Here's the thread at the DIY forum

Here's what the bypass valve looks like-

It' s made of pvc pipe and pvc fittings. (a hose barb, a shutoff valve, an hose barb, a shutoff valve, and another hose barb).



The backflushes work good. The more water pressure the better. I use a shopvac to get some added pressure.
I backflush them atleast once per month. I still take them apart and squeeze out the sponges when the flow is getting bad. That's about every 4-6 months.

The only bad part about it is that everything I backflush goes down the drain. So any fry or shrimp that were caught in the filter will go bye bye.

A few weeks ago I found about 50 cherry shrimp in one of the canisters when I opened it up to clean it. All the other canisters were critter free, so I just put a sponge over that filter intake. Who knows how many shrimp I lost due to this oversight though.