Would this work? Just shopping for thoughts.

[Devon Greatwolf]

OK so I have a Whisper 30-60 air pump and lots of UGF uplift tubing. I was thinking of Placing "out-flow" caps on both ends of an uplift tube and filling it as shown below for use as filters for 2 of my 20-gallon long tanks (QT AND HOSPITAL). Would this work? Just shopping for thoughts.

Thanks in advance and peace.

 

[Lepomis]

Good idea but it would be a poor chocie for filtration and if did work would need cleaning way to often. Surface area is limited and packing will be to tight for good water movement over the filtration. I would not think that a sufficient flow would be achieved either because the air is going to have a hard time snaking up that matrix of fliter floss, sponge, and biomax. The order of filtration is also strange. Filter floss is more for water polishing and should be later in the filtration as larger particles have been removed. You would be better off using the UGF tubing for the center column of a simple sponge filter and achieve much better results (not as compact as your design).

 

[Devon Greatwolf]

What if I just used the Bio~Max and had 2 per tank?

 

[Devon Greatwolf]

I think after some thought I am going to make two of these for each 20 gallon and only use Bio~Max and fit the tube in sponge like a typical spong filter.

But what if I used a power head insted of air on the original design and ditched the floss?

 

[src]

I could see the power head working a lot better than the air stone. The problem with running an air stone through media, as opposed to just in a water column, is the issue of "vapor lock". You could easily pump more air volume into the tube than the filter media could pass, causing the air to back up and exit the bottom of the tube.

I would still worry about the possible strain placed on a power head, because the filter material will make it harder to draw water into the intake, which could cause premature failure. Power heads aren't designed to deal with a restricted intake, which the filter would create.

 

[roka64]

I agree, and it seems it would be a royal pain to clean....

 

[Devon Greatwolf]

Scott,

Those are some great "CAT-FISH"!!

 

[roka64]

LOL!

 

[leoslizards]

How about you just use the biomax and a powerhead with a reverse flow filter?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4585+4635&pcatid=4635