Settleing tank in place of filter socks

Depends on the flow rate too. For a fast flow rate of 2400gph, it work out to be ... Drumroll please...

206 feet .. Almost 2500"

Clearly not an option for most people. But at very low flow, say 150gph, it comes down by a factor of 4 to only 51.5 feet... Hahaha

So... Not very good for ultra fine particles.

Going back to the assumptions, many would start to break down at that fine of a particle anyway.
 
Thanks for the input. One I get the spot picked out I will run numbers. I will be using this in my next setup, just not sure when that's going to get started.
 
Imo, and from watching someone over the passed few years fail miserably, settling tanks = false hope.

You need to address nutrients differently.
 
karimwassef said:
I wouldn't use a settling tank to reduce nutrients. It's just an alternative to socks and foam blocks.
Click to expand...

Exactly, not intending to use as a way to lower nutrients. I want to add some water volume and eliminate socks is all. With the cone bottom tank I plan on using I can just periodically open the valve and in the bottom and flush the detritus down the drain as opposed to vacuuming it out of the sump that will follow in line.
 
karimwassef said:
I wouldn't use a settling tank to reduce nutrients. It's just an alternative to socks and foam blocks.
Click to expand...

Yes to the latter; not so sure about the former. I designed a settling chamber into my current sump and it's worked pretty well. What I don't like about filter socks is that the detritus that gets caught is then constantly 'washed' by moving water and I'd think more of it would get dissolved. That wouldn't happen in a settling chamber. Of course, whether that makes any material difference is less clear.

 
Rodrigo_BG said:
Hi guys, I'll try to give some hand here. Carlos Moreno is known here as "the one" when we talk about sps in my country.

Here come some pics from the beginning.

2771437972_a0092f8087.jpg


2770586861_3510fcf6b9.jpg


2771441732_9fa65e46d7.jpg


2771455342_8e5840afcf.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Wow. Now to scale that setup to fit under my cabinet...

I took the sponge and media from the filtere area of my nano cube. Think I vacuumed MORE detritus from all the chambers. It's a .much easier and effective cleaning than wrestling with a sponge that weighs more than me.
I like it so much I want to use graduated sized containers as settlement chambers in the other sump. Then I can just lift them out, water and all, during WC.
 
This is essentially a miniature version of a grit chamber used in municipal wastewater treatment. The unknowns that I cannot find are te typicall sediment loading, particle size, particle density, and particle shape. If someone had these values, they could design a host of clarification and settling mechanisms using tried and true processes from waste and freshwater systems.
 
Chris Abbott said:
Just brain storming ideas for my next system an d was thinking of using a cone bottom tank as a settleing tank n place of socks. I currently have a simple system with a bare bottom sump and I siphon the bottom once a month when I don't use socks. Has anyone ever tried this? I am sure it has been done and somebody can post a link to a thread. Please share your thoughts on the idea
Click to expand...

I did try it, unless you can get a very large cone bottom tank it doesn't really work well. The stuff in the water is just too light. Take a look at my build thread and you can see how it was plumbed.
 
ok. So I made a settling tank with a large rubbermaid container. I didn't really plan to, it was a bit of an accidental discovery really.

I set up an aux tank connected to my DT. The inlet just happened to push water in a loop around the edge of the tank and the rubbermaid shape forced the water into a circulating loop. The return just happened to be an overflow pipe in the middle.

Maybe subconsciously this thread was influencing me, but all these elements of a settling tank made their way into this aux tank.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/75218DD0-236D-438D-85FC-854D98F67A18_zpskd2n3cyz.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/75218DD0-236D-438D-85FC-854D98F67A18_zpskd2n3cyz.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 75218DD0-236D-438D-85FC-854D98F67A18_zpskd2n3cyz.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg"/></a>

Of course it's under CFL for 18hrs, so a little cyano built up...

I cleaned it up and here is what it looks like a couple of days later:

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/16FE7539-933F-4B70-ACF5-401C559F592E_zpskaoi49lx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/16FE7539-933F-4B70-ACF5-401C559F592E_zpskaoi49lx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 16FE7539-933F-4B70-ACF5-401C559F592E_zpskaoi49lx.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/74DA92BC-7BD1-4AC0-8A52-266792FCC414_zpsxqa7g2dv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/74DA92BC-7BD1-4AC0-8A52-266792FCC414_zpsxqa7g2dv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 74DA92BC-7BD1-4AC0-8A52-266792FCC414_zpsxqa7g2dv.jpg"/></a>

so - it works and works very well at that.
 
but now that we have the math and the experimental results showing that it can be done...

the question then is... is a settling tank a good thing for a reef tank?

It doesn't really reduce nutrients, it removes detritus and particulates. But wouldn't that effectively remove a food source without improving water quality?
 
I wonder. The math used in the examples. Was for a grain of sand, right? That's a relatively heavy partical. Detritus isn't nearly as heavy. So, maybe a "tank" is the wrong idea. What if it were a cylinder on top, cone shaped in the middle, then it had another cylinder on the bottom. Input would be on top on the outer edge to create a whirlpool effect. Then the output would be out the top, with a pipe extending down inside a bit in the center.

Think of a cyclone vacuum.


Edit:
One might even use one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JP315K?psc=1
 
2_zoa said:
I wonder. The math used in the examples. Was for a grain of sand, right? That's a relatively heavy partical. Detritus isn't nearly as heavy. So, maybe a "tank" is the wrong idea. What if it were a cylinder on top, cone shaped in the middle, then it had another cylinder on the bottom. Input would be on top on the outer edge to create a whirlpool effect. Then the output would be out the top, with a pipe extending down inside a bit in the center.

Think of a cyclone vacuum.


Edit:
One might even use one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JP315K?psc=1
Click to expand...

I think it's worth the experiment. The cyclone is forced by a vaccum vs. the result of a gravity fed inlet. Also, dynamics in water are different than air.

It might still work. Go for it and let us know how it works? :)
 
karimwassef said:
ok. So I made a settling tank with a large rubbermaid container. I didn't really plan to, it was a bit of an accidental discovery really.

I set up an aux tank connected to my DT. The inlet just happened to push water in a loop around the edge of the tank and the rubbermaid shape forced the water into a circulating loop. The return just happened to be an overflow pipe in the middle.

Maybe subconsciously this thread was influencing me, but all these elements of a settling tank made their way into this aux tank.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/75218DD0-236D-438D-85FC-854D98F67A18_zpskd2n3cyz.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/75218DD0-236D-438D-85FC-854D98F67A18_zpskd2n3cyz.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 75218DD0-236D-438D-85FC-854D98F67A18_zpskd2n3cyz.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg"/></a>

Of course it's under CFL for 18hrs, so a little cyano built up...

I cleaned it up and here is what it looks like a couple of days later:

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/16FE7539-933F-4B70-ACF5-401C559F592E_zpskaoi49lx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/16FE7539-933F-4B70-ACF5-401C559F592E_zpskaoi49lx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 16FE7539-933F-4B70-ACF5-401C559F592E_zpskaoi49lx.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/74DA92BC-7BD1-4AC0-8A52-266792FCC414_zpsxqa7g2dv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/74DA92BC-7BD1-4AC0-8A52-266792FCC414_zpsxqa7g2dv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 74DA92BC-7BD1-4AC0-8A52-266792FCC414_zpsxqa7g2dv.jpg"/></a>

so - it works and works very well at that.
Click to expand...

Impressive. How large is your system to have such a large settling basin? In looking at the picture, it seems that your flow rates / current velocities are very high. I would not think that to be good for a settleling basin method.

I use an EcoSystem mud filter on a 75G display tank. The second chamber with the mud is a settleling basin. Unfiltered display tank water enters the settleling basin and deposits detritus unto mud bed crawling with worms. They consume these nutrients, multiply and feed the display tank.
 
It's a 700 gal system with a circulating flow rate of 4000-5000 gph. However, this tank is on a separate loop that pumps water up from the aux sump to drive an ATS underneath it.

So think of it as a small separate loop where this is the secondary display... But with nothing in it.

The flow is probably 700-800 gph? The white PVC elbow tilted at an angle pushes water up into it.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 021AEE2E-7E2B-403B-914C-55264496BC42_zpspc04jy36.jpg"/></a>
 
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