DIY wet/dry trickle filter

[exodon king]

just finished (ok, maybe not "just" finished... but you get the idea. lol) building a low flow wet/dry sump for bio filtration for one of my exodon tanks.

standard pvc overflow. (first time making one. usually i just buy the box)

painted and cured



some of the other pipes and valves

first test (check valve still wasn't installed at this point. also, there is no filter in the sump, its just the bucket)

check valved installed and second test running. (pipes behind the tank where they belong, and bio tower installed)

looks like the flow is still a little too low to keep the overflow primed without cavitation. but i dont want to go much bigger. hopefully i can get a hold of a couple of slightly larger pumps to see the bare minimum i can get away with.

 

[exodon king]

problem solving day:

came home to find one of my exodons swimming in the pipe, so i had to fashion some kind of screen.

cut a piece of eggcrate and shoved it in the pipe. looks small enough so they dont get in there again.

then i attached an airline from the check valve to the venturi of a powerhead inside the tank. this works the same as an aqualifter, to keep air out of the overflow.

also added the spray bar, and uv filter.

 

[exodon king]

i needed to raise my tank so i could add another layer of media to my wet/dry, so today i built a 2x6 extension for my cement tank stand. (which is nothing more then a few cinder blocks stacked up.

i picked up this chop saw at a garage sale a couple of years ago for $10. best $10 ive ever spent.

haven't used my hole saw in a long time. im glad to finally have a use for it again

i almost forgot how awesome these quick grip clamps are. makes my life so much easier.

also moved the UV filter, and incorporated it into the system, so its no longer running of a second pump in the sump.

and finally got it up on the cement blocks, and ran the pipes through the extension.

now to clean up and put the cover back around the stand

 

[partypalooza5]

Looks pretty good! I tried making a PVC overflow and decided to just go with a commercial one, if set up properly they shouldn't lose a siphon. Overall I say nice job though!

 

[exodon king]

yeah, i used to just buy the box overflows, but for this one i decided to build it. after doing it, and a few tests, i got it all figured out, and now i never have to worry about losing siphon. i even took some extra precautions that arent really necessary, but it worked into the system, so why not. lol.

 

[partypalooza5]

Sounds good to me!

I love DIY's. I was thinking of doing a wet/dry filter for my FOWLR but it turns out it may do more harm than good lol.

 

[exodon king]

how do you figure that?

 

[partypalooza5]

Well the bio-media (be it bio balls or ceramic rings) works good but overtime becomes a nitrate factory, which causes the chemistry of the water to suffer (can be resolved by cleaning the bio media occasionaly). Aeration is good, but the better biological filter is the "live" rock. (or rock and sand in general)

 

[exodon king]

right, but for a fowler setup, you wouldn't necessarily use the same design. your bio media in the sump would be the LR.
when i was running SW tanks, my sump had all the LR in it, and my display was pretty bare. 75g w/ only sand and one rock cave to the far left for my panther grouper to hide in. this allowed him more swimming room, and i could fit more live rock piled in the sup than i could to stack nicely in the display.

 

[partypalooza5]

My sump is empty except my DIY skimmer. I wanted to get some LR to put in there with some chaeto or something but the price of rock at my LFS is insane.

 

[exodon king]

you think its bad there, you should see the prices here.
since there is only one type of LR available in hawaii, and its from molokai, it costs something like $7-8/lb

 

[partypalooza5]

Dang! Mine was 7/lb and it's nothing fancy. At least in Hawaii you get semi-attractive rock (I think.. lol)

 

[exodon king]

nah, its actually pretty ugly. /all the nice stuff is right off shore, but illegal to pull up

 

[exodon king]

change of plans. i need the small filter for another project, so i have to move a bunch of stuff today. looks like this wont be a low flow trickle filter anymore.

time to put in the big boy

 

[ThrowedToad]

WOW, the wal-mart plastic drawer technique for a wet/dry is great. Are you not concerned about supporting the middle of the tank? My overflow is also super loud, I like your idea for a siphon overflow, seems like it would be quieter. I think my fish is going crazy because of the noise!

 

[exodon king]

supporting the middle of what tank? the display or the sump?

my overflow is actually pretty quiet. i have a piece of dense filter padding rolled into the tall vertical pipe of the overflow. it cuts down on any slurping or gurgling noises from the overflow.

i may be doubling up on my overflows soon. im still debating on the next step for this project. im either going to add a second overflow, or just replace the current one with a bigger one, and turn the return into a spraybar on the bottom of the tank.

 

[mfdrookie516]

and turn the return into a spraybar on the bottom of the tank.

pardon the ignorance, but why would you put it on the bottom? I have mine on top and thought that was the point, for surface agitation... am i missing something?

 

[exodon king]

Consider it pardoned

You are partially correct. Surface agitation can be achieved via the spraybar. However, as the wet/dry is not the only form of filtration and water movement on the tank, it is not necessary for this purpose.
By reducing the pipe size and putting the spray bar on the bottom of the tank, it will keep the bare floor clean of detritus and debris, and force the debris into the overflow, or one of the other filters.

However, there has been another change of plans. I have been experimenting with a bottom siphoning overflow, which will serve that same purpose. When I get the design worked out, I will be changing over.

 

[mfdrookie516]

oh ok... makes sense then lol... i didnt realize you had any other filtration on that tank. I gotcha... im interested in seeing these plans. I have a wet/dry trickle filter, but i never had any luck with it before. Ive been thinking of putting it back on since all i have are my 305 and 405 on my 150...

 

[exodon king]

Oh yeah, lots of other filtration.
The tank its on is a 40 Breeder

Filtration:

40gal wet/dry (w/ FW refugium)
2x Aquaclear110 HOB
AquaClear30 power head