A self cleaning filter

[PerfectDepth]

Personally I think it is lame and simply a gimmick to be sold to those folks who win a goldfish at the carnival or something.
No serious hobbyist would waste $$$ on that joke.

I'm not sure how much I'd be willing to pay for it, but I'm sitting here thinking it would make a perfect desktop shrimp tank. Plenty of serious hobbyists like those pricy Fluval desktop setups for shrimp.. what's the difference?

 

[PB_Smith]

I'm not sure how much I'd be willing to pay for it, but I'm sitting here thinking it would make a perfect desktop shrimp tank. Plenty of serious hobbyists like those pricy Fluval desktop setups for shrimp.. what's the difference?

there is no difference, the Fluval setups are just as lame, IMHO.

But then again we do live in a world where people think Apple products are the best because they are so shiny.

 

[PerfectDepth]

To each his own.

 

[seove]

The only thing is WC's are needed even if plants are used to absorb certain nutrients because there are all types of nutrients and toxins that build up over time that only WC's can reduce. Same as this one type of Nitrate filter you can buy that says greatly reduces WC's. It's great at removing nitrates from the water but again there are tons of other toxins and nutrients that build up.

I agree. In a closed system you need water changes.

 

[seove]

I think these examples are a little misleading. They lead you to believe that this is good for the novice but I think you need to have a good knowledge of fishkeeping and the nitrogen cycle to make this work without problems.

For example, suppose a keeper is using carbon filters and think that you don't have to change your media? They should substitute "eliminate the need for WC's" with "less frequent WC's". Also, this is easier for goldfish than it would be for fish that are more sensitive to water quality.

I have a set-up that's similar (with aquaponics) but I believe in regular water changes.

 

[seove]

I agree with you, I can't get my head round it but the filter is made of some type of small blocks, not like the convectional filter, she has developed a new method of filtration..... I would love to know more about it........

This is not new to fishkeeping. It's just a biological filter (without the mechanical filtration component) with aquaponics. Those blocks are "bio-balls". I'm not putting this system down as I have a similar system on a larger scale. Without mechanical filtration your tank is going to look messy.

 

[PerfectDepth]

I think these examples are a little misleading. They lead you to believe that this is good for the novice but I think you need to have a good knowledge of fishkeeping and the nitrogen cycle to make this work without problems.

For example, suppose a keeper is using carbon filters and think that you don't have to change your media? They should substitute "eliminate the need for WC's" with "minimize...". Also, this is easier for goldfish than it would be for fish that are more sensitive to water quality.

I have a set-up that's similar (with aquaponics) but I believe in regular water changes.

I agree that the premise is misleading. I really don't understand the "no water changes" approach. Especially with such a small volume of water. What happens if you accidently dump too much food into 3.5 gallons and you can't do a proper cleanup? The parameters can drift away from the source water parameters very quickly in these small tanks. I feel much better knowing that I can change half the water at any given time without issue.

Also, without adding a buffer, with no water changes the kh will inevitably get "used up", causing a pH crash. A novice may not be aware of this - kinda like running full speed into a wall.

 

[Fresh2o]

When I read the title I thought of a product I saw in a fish farming-aquaculture catalog. It was a mechanical filter consisting of a conveyor belt a fine mesh rotating around it. Water from the pond would pass through the mesh where particulates would be trapped. At the far end of the conveyor belt was a spray bar shooting water (not from the same closed system) at the belt and dislodging the trapped waste. The waste was collected into a separate container for disposal.
The self destructing leaves from post #11...now that could catch on!


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[aqua_chem]

This also does absolutely nothing to address the buildup of non-organic, non-nitrogenous substances like calcium and other solids that come in with water. Your TDS is not appreciably reduced by plants, so as you top off the tank day after day, the hardness of your water will slowly creep up, which not only will cause problems as fish begin to tolerate it less and less, but set you up for a disaster if you do ever change your water.

 

[pip walters]

Does that not depend on what plants you use? Plants use calcium, magnesium etc for general cell growth do they not? Surely this would mean a lowering of the Kh in the long term if no water changes were made? I understood that some plants are particularly greedy when it comes to calcium and often a crust of calcium deposits can be found expelled onto the leaf surface (Laragasyphon major for instance).

 

[Ricky 1]

Just read it again, it said it's been tested for 18 months, imagine not doing a WC in all that time, in our tanks, the fish would be dead........

 

[aqua_chem]

Does that not depend on what plants you use? Plants use calcium, magnesium etc for general cell growth do they not? Surely this would mean a lowering of the Kh in the long term if no water changes were made? I understood that some plants are particularly greedy when it comes to calcium and often a crust of calcium deposits can be found expelled onto the leaf surface (Laragasyphon major for instance).

They do use it, but generally speaking not nearly in the amounts found in most tap water, or at least not with the amount of nitrogen available in aquariums, ie, nitrogen/phosphorus would limit calcium uptake.

Regarding the calcium carbonate deposits seen on some elodea species, I imagine that would mostly be expected in harder waters where the plants could NEVER consume enough of the calcium to reduce what's coming in, and water where that kind of mechanism could deplete would be soft enough to have the deposits dissolve, creating a futile cycle.

 

[aqua_chem]

Also, for a 3.5g tank, the stockings are assinine.

Avo can have lots of different fish, we'll be running through this in more detail on our website but to give you an idea:

Setup 1 - For a showstopping superstar fish
1 x Siamese fighting fish, 3 x harlequins 1 x assassin snail

Setup 2 - A community of fish swimming at all levels.
3 x guppies, 3 x tetras, 5 x shrimp, 1 x assassin snail

The designers were all engineers or whatnot. It just appears to me that there wasn't nearly enough experience with the biology/chemistry of the situation to make anything too revolutionary.

 

[Mebbid]

Also, for a 3.5g tank, the stockings are assinine.




The designers were all engineers or whatnot. It just appears to me that there wasn't nearly enough experience with the biology/chemistry of the situation to make anything too revolutionary.

I didn't even see the suggested stocking levels... That's depressing. Hopefully this will be soo expensive it will turn most people away from it.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Self sustaining tank? Cool. Too bad your stocking options are almost nil at that size. Don't care if it's super clean, the footprint is terrible.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Delapool]

My tank is self cleaning! The fish have trained the fish keeper to do it

 

[enrgizerbunny]

My tank is self cleaning! The fish have trained the fish keeper to do it

Lololol

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[trennamw]

The only thing that really gets close to those claims is a Walstad type tank. There are those who go hardcore into heavily planted low tech tanks that find it balances pH, I forget how (I've only read the book twice so far, it's a doozy). Tom Barr has similar approaches though with more tech.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.