DIY Fluidized bed filter

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fishin

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 27, 2005
Messages
26
Location
Nebraska
Right now I have a sump/refug and I am wodering if it would be worth it to add a DIY fluidized bed filter and a coil detinator? If so should I put arganite sand in the bed filter or just silica? Should I put my DIY carbon reactor before or after the fluidized bed filter. I am going to use empty RO filter housings and running them inline with each other. For the coil detinator I am debating on using a PVC column or the filter housings? Would it be ok to run all three of these types of filters inline if so what order should they go?

Thanks for all the help
 
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=28715&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

i would suggest the carbon reactor before the fluidized bed filter, the bed filter needs water that is as clean as possible, no large particles in the water, limited dissolved chems for best results.

i think you are asking about a coil denitrator, if i am wrong disregard this part.
the water that will come out of a coil denitrator will have very very little oxygen (most of the oxygen in the water will be used up by the bacteria in the de-nite.) so if you were going to plum that into a system, it should be last or very much towards the end. i don't think having a denitrator and a fluidized bed filter will be neccessary though. the bacteria handling capability of a properly sized bed filter will be more than enough to handle a tank.
 
Now I am going to have to throw in a phosban reactor in the mix. Their is so many different types of filteration and they all say they do something different Should I use them all or which ones will be most benificial.

Will a fluidized bed filter reduce nitrates, nitrites, ammonia? I just don't want to make all these different types of filtration and find out that it was a big waste of time and I just needed one of them. What have been the best to use with your experiences?

I did mean coil denitrator.
 
well this might sound harsh, but you should pick up a book or two from a library and thumb through them, or ask some questions on this forum before you actually start making them, just to make sure you have a real 'need' for the filter(s) in question. i started my fish keeping hobby in 92, and by 94 i had a salt tank, and had to read book after book to get answers i needed.

a fluidized bed filter is an all-one biological filter, it can replace any bio-filter you already have, or supplement anything you already have. i have used a bed filter on a couple of tanks, [and did try the supplemental ideal, and the replacement] and have been very happy with its performance in both cases. its kept everything right where it should be (amm, nitrites and nirates). during the nitro- cycle, ammonia is generated, then bacteria turns that into nitrates, then other bacteria turn that into nitrites. nitrites aren't very deadly to fish in small does, and nitrites are removed through regular water changes, or through absorbtion by plant-matter. some people hate doing water changes and thats how/why the de-nitrator came into existence, it claims it can remove most of the nitrites in a tank and leave you with less aquarium keeping duties, or so they claim. if your doing a saltwater tank, and this is a esp. true with reef tanks, water changes are a must regardless if you have a de-nitrator or not. if you running a high shelf reef tank [uber expensive] and then having a denitrator is a security device, and that i can understand and agree with. but just to have one, to have one makes little sense to me when you have a bed filter. however for the record i think building a bed filter is completely un-nccessary, given how temperamental they can be regardless [with a commercially made and tested unit] and the price of current commercial made units and the new features they have, like: self regulation to achieve optimal fluidization, which on series -1 bed filters had to be done through trial and error and if you go diy with it, you will run into the same problems and/or all new ones.

alot of companies are building 'reactors' these days; co2, phosban/chemical, kalkwater, the list goes on and on, and if you running a tank for your local city-aquarium then buy every reactor on the market or build. but if yore not then it makes little sense to bother with every single reactor. the heart of a chemical reactor is that it forces water through granulated carbon, something a 10dollar HOB filter does. maybe that hob filter doesn't have that great of Efficiently but it does get the job done. some things need a reactor (like co2) and maybe kalkwater but in my humble opinion most other processes don't need them. esp in the carbon and phosban department. i have heard this myself from the forum people, and from a magazine a while back, but carbon only stays activated for no more than 7 days, after day 7 it has lost most (if not all) of its ability to absorb chems from the water anyway.

would it be safe to assume that the bed filter, de-nit, and chem reactor are going on your 75gall tank? what do you have on there now ? and have you ever heard of garf.org or the berlin system of saltwater tanks ?
 
It sounds like you would be intrested in ATS (algae turf scrubbers) Dynamic Aquaria, is a book on building living ecosystems, the link also has a bundle deal for a combo deal on Aquatic Systems Engineering, it gives you the how it works and the pros and cons of most filtration methods
 
i never thought algae scrubbers ever caught on, i remember when they first were came out, i was all excited and wanted to get one, but ended up not bothering and then pooof they were gone.
 
The biggest retailer, not mentioning any names, refused to sell them in a LFS that didnt use them for there central filtration and explain why they are better then bacterial filtration.. in other words if you want a pre-fab one you have to order it directly from them.. they are STEEP!.. the book is written by the origanal researcher that came up with the idea, hes been using them for 25+ years..LOL There are designs for systems and the parts to the systems in the book.. I havnt bought it myself, I glanced at some of it on amazon.com.. Im a freshy that happens to like this kind of stuff..LOL I might try it sometime.. it works on FW as well.. :mrgreen: But DIY is the way to go with it... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
of course, it is. all you need is a sweater box from rubbermade, a 7 dollar shoplight, and some plastic egg crate and about 20mins to build it. i recieved some liturature from the 'algea scrubber' people back in the day and actually talked at length to some employee on the phone about them and i was really jazzed about them, the price was steep like 300 bucks in 97 for a system capable of handling a 55gallon tank, i might actually have the pamplet still after all this time.

as far as spimlicity and performance (plus its cheapness) you can't beat a berlin system though.
 
i got into the hobby, around 92, and salt/reef by 94-95. oooh i am so tempted to actually try this out, i have always wanted to experiment with it.

magi - i am starting to dislike you for encouraging me. shame on you.
 
LOL... We have been talking about it in a FW thread here lately.. I drug up a very old thread about it..LOL
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=31994

The kicker is the Reef threads Ive read are saying that the ATS's turf is doing such a good job at michanical filtration that there protein skimmer has stopped functioning.... Ive been trying to think of a way to remove the mucus that discus produce from the water and if the turf can out do a protein skimmer Im thinking it just might remove the mucus..LOL

In other words Im trying to hold back myself!!!..LOL

If my tapwater was 1 KH softer I would be buying the book and building one of these systems for a fish-only Discus tank!!!
 
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