Upcoming project: Creativity, Form and Function.

[jjohnwm]

Okay, I am trying to understand this design. The PVC pipes are not drilled or swiss-cheesed, so water must enter at the bottom of the pipe to be drawn up to and ejected by the pump. I had thought you were going to wrap the pipe with three successively finer layers of foam/sponge, and drill the pipes?

The way it is, if the water enters at the top, it must go through the finest layer first, when the logical method would be to have it go through the coarsest layer first and the finest last, before finally reaching the bottom the intake for the pump. But...the vases have those open sides...so virtually all the water will simply enter through the sides at the bottom. I don't think much or any water will actually penetrate through the middle or top layers until the bottom is thoroughly clogged.

Where does the BioBale go? That stuff looks interesting, but how are you utilizing it here? I admit it...I'm lost here.

If you want to connect the strainer to the bottom of the powerhead shown in the last pic, you should be able to use two-part epoxy. Personally, I would just coat the intake area of the pump with some kind of release agent...silicone spray, perhaps...and then put a heavy glob of silicone on it and just push the strainer pipe over it. Let the silicone cure, pull the strainer off, and then clean off the release agent. This should give you a tight friction fit, which is really all you need, but will still allow you to easily twist the thing apart for future cleaning or mods. It would probably even work by simply wrapping electricall tape around the pump intake to create a semi-tight fit.

 

[FINWIN]

Okay, I am trying to understand this design. The PVC pipes are not drilled or swiss-cheesed, so water must enter at the bottom of the pipe to be drawn up to and ejected by the pump. I had thought you were going to wrap the pipe with three successively finer layers of foam/sponge, and drill the pipes?

The way it is, if the water enters at the top, it must go through the finest layer first, when the logical method would be to have it go through the coarsest layer first and the finest last, before finally reaching the bottom the intake for the pump. But...the vases have those open sides...so virtually all the water will simply enter through the sides at the bottom. I don't think much or any water will actually penetrate through the middle or top layers until the bottom is thoroughly clogged.

Where does the BioBale go? That stuff looks interesting, but how are you utilizing it here? I admit it...I'm lost here.

If you want to connect the strainer to the bottom of the powerhead shown in the last pic, you should be able to use two-part epoxy. Personally, I would just coat the intake area of the pump with some kind of release agent...silicone spray, perhaps...and then put a heavy glob of silicone on it and just push the strainer pipe over it. Let the silicone cure, pull the strainer off, and then clean off the release agent. This should give you a tight friction fit, which is really all you need, but will still allow you to easily twist the thing apart for future cleaning or mods. It would probably even work by simply wrapping electricall tape around the pump intake to create a semi-tight fit.

type
In this configuration the intake flow is from the bottom and pushed upward through the media through the top. Unless Marineland has different type powerheads, all the ones I've used work this way.

Currently in the 225 I'm using the same concept. Only diff is the stacked sponges have a pipe running through. The powerheads just sit on top and siphon water through the sponges up to the top spout. Never had to clean the sponges or squeeze them out either.

I'm testing the idea of the mesh attached to the pipe vs a whole pipe going down drilled. The thinking is that this allows even more surface area/contact with the media. We'll see. One of the things with diy is you're always tweaking.

I don't need to wrap sponges around in this stack design, the bagged media (lava rock) is there. They way it should work is the water siphons in at the bottom, hits the lava, then bio bale, then the sponges. And out through the spout up top. These powerheads have configurations you can use for different purposes: as a flow pump, a wavemaker, a sump motor or an aerator.

The Bio Bale will be mixed with the seeded bio bale currently in the aquaclears. I can also mix the seeded ceramic media with the lava rock.

 

[jjohnwm]

type
In this configuration the intake flow is from the bottom and pushed upward through the media through the top. Unless Marineland has different type powerheads, all the ones I've used work this way.

Currently in the 225 I'm using the same concept. Only diff is the stacked sponges have a pipe running through. The powerheads just sit on top and siphon water through the sponges up to the top spout. Never had to clean the sponges or squeeze them out either.

I'm testing the idea of the mesh attached to the pipe vs a whole pipe going down drilled. The thinking is that this allows even more surface area/contact with the media. We'll see. One of the things with diy is you're always tweaking.

I don't need to wrap sponges around in this stack design, the bagged media (lava rock) is there. They way it should work is the water siphons in at the bottom, hits the lava, then bio bale, then the sponges. And out through the spout up top. These powerheads have configurations you can use for different purposes: as a flow pump, a wavemaker, a sump motor or an aerator.

The Bio Bale will be mixed with the seeded bio bale currently in the aquaclears

Okay, I am not explaining myself correctly here. The vases have large openings all around them, top to bottom. The un-perforated pipe that attaches to the bottom of the powerhead is open only at the bottom; all the water being drawn up the pipe must enter that vertical pipe at the bottom. All, or at least the vast majority, of this water will follow the path of least resistance, which is through the large openings at the very bottom of the vase, adjacent to the bottom of the PVC pipe...bypassing the sponges higher up in the stack. The bagged media will certainly experience good water flow, but the water will be essentially devoid of any mechanical filtration when it hits those bags of biomedia. Biomedia functions much better, clogs less and lasts far longer between required cleanings if it is exposed to water that is thoroughly cleaned of all solid particulate matter before entering the biomedia.

This filter really seems to me to place Form far ahead, with Function a distant second concern. I am not suggesting that it won't work, but merely that it could work far more efficiently with a re-design. A good-looking filter is great...but only if it works at least as good as it looks.

 

[FINWIN]

Okay, I am not explaining myself correctly here. The vases have large openings all around them, top to bottom. The un-perforated pipe that attaches to the bottom of the powerhead is open only at the bottom; all the water being drawn up the pipe must enter that vertical pipe at the bottom. All, or at least the vast majority, of this water will follow the path of least resistance, which is through the large openings at the very bottom of the vase, adjacent to the bottom of the PVC pipe...bypassing the sponges higher up in the stack. The bagged media will certainly experience good water flow, but the water will be essentially devoid of any mechanical filtration when it hits those bags of biomedia. Biomedia functions much better, clogs less and lasts far longer between required cleanings if it is exposed to water that is thoroughly cleaned of all solid particulate matter before entering the biomedia.

This filter really seems to me to place Form far ahead, with Function a distant second concern. I am not suggesting that it won't work, but merely that it could work far more efficiently with a re-design. A good-looking filter is great...but only if it works at least as good as it looks.

I get all that you're saying...which is why this is an experiment to see if the alternate configuration is effective. If it isn't I can still go back to the previous format of a drilled pipe. I've considered the possibility of 'static water' at the bottom which is why I need to know if the powerhead can overcome this with flow. If not I can go back to former design that worked. The overall design is easy to change or swap out materials.

The goal here is to make a high capacity all-in-one version of what I'm running now. Despite what it may seem my plan was function first. The form stuff just happened...I didn't even know initially what the containers would be. I debated open vs closed containers. Vases seemed the best option for corner use and additional volume. I just needed to make sure they were glass or ceramic and not too bulky.

Something you said gives me another idea. I could even wrap a layer of sponge around the bagged media like a 10 dpi...this would prevent the solids from gunking up the base.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Hmmm since last i checked in the design has been tweaked considerably.

I think the pipe and mesh wouldve worked well with the original design--water flowing in from the top and working its way through the media to the pipe inlet. You could have precut foam pieces to change out on the top layer whenever necessary and that would theoretically keep the bio media relatively "clean".

But the new container allows water in from every direction. Not a bad thing but in my mind it would necessitate layering the media from the outside-in, not top-down. Even then i wouldnt get that fancy, probably just wrap the pipe in a sheet of coarse foam for ease of maintenance.

I do like the look of the new containers. its just a different style of filter entirely imo, might need to tweak the pipe design in a manner john suggested or wrap the whole media section in coarse foam like youve just suggested.

I look forward to seeing it in action though.

 

[FINWIN]

I always listen to outside input because sometimes you get 'caught up in an idea' which may not work...

I've got leftover foam to try the wrapping method and will post up when that's done.. But now I see what you and jjohnwm are talking about, outside in vs top to bottom because the container has openings.

I was originally thinking about my previous closed filter where some detrius would collect at the bottom even though I had holes cut underneath. So the thinking was that open sides would prevent that. But I could be swapping one issue for another, lol.

There's so much space in the vase that wrapping foam isn't an issue.

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't know what the inside diameter of those vases is, but...you can simply buy the Poret foam cartridges for building your own sponge filters. They come in 4x4 size, not sure what the height is but you can stack multiples. They have a predrilled hole down through the centre. Swiss-cheese a piece of PVC pipe, slide as many of the Poret pieces onto it as needed to match the height of the vase, maybe shave off the corners of the columns to make it a more rounded shape, and drop it into the vase. Done. A sponge filter dressed up in a perforated "jacket".

Simpler is better. More complicated is just...more complicated.

 

[FINWIN]

I'm making them big assed tacos...media filling in a sponge shell.

 

[FINWIN]

More pipe cut and riddled to spec. Holy PVC, Batman!

 

[FINWIN]

I suspect the pipe might be older plastic...I got quite a few burrs on the holes. Went over them (and the inside) with a rasp. Using the granite block as a stabilizer allowed me to punch a hole every 2 seconds.

Paint is next!