Best Filter Ever

[VIVVIV]

So you might have seen my post about Debunking Skimmers. Along the same lines I would like to share with you my DIY Sand filter.

Again, this is a very inexpensive DIY I got from YouTube, but I made a few mods to make it even simpler to make.

You just cut a piece of 4" PVC so that with the cap installed on the bottom the top remains under water in the sump. Then you put a cap on the end of a 1/2" PVC tube which is long enough to exit the big tube at right angles. Then you drill 4 holes into the cap and put it at the end of the PVC. DO NOT GLUE. You can move the cap up/down to adjust the water flow, but mine runs full out.

Fill the tube with sand to about 3" below the top with pool filter sand ($12 for $20lbs at any pool supply store). Then just cut a plastic green scrub pad so it fits snuggly on top of the sand and put a hole in the middle for the tube.

Plumb it to the outside of the filter and attach a powerhead or pump.

I am using one of these but and going to add another. Along with the 2 DIY skimmers I made my chemistry is bang on the these piece cost less than $50 for EVERYTHING except the pumps. With enough left over to make 4 more of each.
Hope it works as well for you.

 

[Joe0813]

pictures would probably help out people to understand better

 

[windlasher]

pictures would probably help out people to understand better

this!

 

[ThRoewer]

Filter????
Who puts a filter on a reef tank these days?

 

[Big E]

Your previous thread had many factual errors along with over generalizing skimmers and now a sand filter..................you trying to send the hobby back to 1985?

 

[billdogg]

Fluidized bed sand filters were a thing in 1988 when I was new at this. Like bioballs, it's not that they don't work. They can actually work a little too well. Also, I would not use silica based sand (ie pool filter) due to the strong possibility that that the silicates released into the water could fuel a diatom outbreak. If you are going to use one, sugar fine arragonite would be a better choice IMO.

And don't get me wrong - I am 100% for DIY to help decrease the costs associated with this hobby!

 

[Bpb]

Serious question. How is this any different from just having a sandbed. Or sand in a refugium


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[Tripod1404]

Serious question. How is this any different from just having a sandbed. Or sand in a refugium


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Ideal it would have higher effectiveness since you pump the water through the sand. This prevents anaerobic layer that you would get with a regular DSB filtration. Sand reactors are commonly used in large tanks, like the ones you might see at public aquariums. They are used for such large aquariums is mainly because it is a cheap method of filtration for a swimming pool sized tank.

However, I am not all that certain how useful these kinds of overaggressive filtration systems for home-sized tanks. IMO they can cause more harm than good. If not cleaned regularly, they can turn into nitrate factories. And if it clogs up for some reason, or water flow stops (due to power loss or etc), turning on the reactor would wipe everything in the tank due to decaying bacteria. When you have that many bacteria (or biomass) in a small confined space, things can go pretty bad pretty fast.

 

[Bpb]

Ideal it would have higher effectiveness since you pump the water through the sand. This prevents anaerobic layer that you would get with a regular DSB filtration. Sand reactors are commonly used in large tanks, like the ones you might see at public aquariums. They are used for such large aquariums is mainly because it is a cheap method of filtration for a swimming pool sized tank.



However, I am not all that certain how useful these kinds of overaggressive filtration systems for home-sized tanks. IMO they can cause more harm than good. If not cleaned regularly, they can turn into nitrate factories. And if it clogs up for some reason, or water flow stops (due to power loss or etc), turning on the reactor would wipe everything in the tank due to decaying bacteria. When you have that many bacteria (or biomass) in a small confined space, things can go pretty bad pretty fast.

Fair enough. I tend to like staying in the 2008-2010 area of reef keeping. Where people were able to grow platter and watermelon sized acro colonies, frags were appropriately sized, and it wasn't a tech race.


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[Tripod1404]

Fair enough. I tend to like staying in the 2008-2010 area of reef keeping. Where people were able to grow platter and watermelon sized acro colonies, frags were appropriately sized, and it wasn’t a tech race.


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Yep, its an outdated method at best. There are far better filtration systems today that are equally low tech and cheap. A fuge would probably cost the same, is easier to set up and provide better filtration all while contributing to biodiversity of a tank. I dont think a sand filter has a place in modern reef keeping, except for super large systems (public aquarium sized) where it is the only economical option.

 

[nematode]

Simple and effective in the right situation.

Could you please describe your tank in more detail. What are you trying to accomplish?
Create a mixed reef? A Fish dominated tank with a few corals? A coral dominated tank with a few fish?

A few pictures highlighting your success at creating the biosystem your are aiming for would help the other members of this online community appreciate the methods you are trying to present in your posts.

A fluidized sand filter is for processing high levels of fish excrement in a setting with little live rock type biological filtration. We used to use a very large one (2 ft diameter x 6 ft tall) for our zebrafish facility. Worked wonderfully. But, it does no mechanical filtration and because it is purely aerobic, it yields nitrate as the final nitrogen product. The filter you describe is an excellent solution for a large heavily stocked FO tank. Some morays and lionfish, etc.

However, biological filtration isn't really the issue with reef tanks. With any significant amount of live rock in a tank, there is more than enough of a bacterial population to take all the ammonia that fish can deliver and rotting food that isn't eaten and process it.

Could you explain to us the logic for why are you adding this to your tank?

 

[mcgyvr]

nematode.. I think VIVVIV has moved on from this forum due to the way their posts were viewed and how users reacted to them..

I'm assuming thats who you were directing your questions too anyways..

 

[nematode]

Probably, but still should be asked.

 

[KafudaFish]

He mistook questions being asked as personal attacks on a discussion forum and seemed to have the inability to distinguish the two.

Anywho, a few years ago someone posted their own DIY sand filter on a larger system and when the thread was active he showed it being successful. It was something like a 20-gallon tall filled with sand and the kicker was he flushed it like you would a pool filter with a garden hose when he did water changes. There were videos as well.

On the flip side there has been discussion here regarding why aerobic only filters can cause issues in a reef tank but as stated above in afo or folwr tank, it may not be an issue.

 

[smatter]

I think I still have a Quicksand from the early Nineties lying around