Modular PVC Inline filter.

[Gator]

Always a bad idea to have a restriction in an overflow gravity fed system. Could result in a flood.
What I would do is overflow straight to your sump. Then use your sump as a giant settlement chamber and then pump through your filters to your tank.
If your settlement chamber is well designed, then you will settle out all solids and this will also prevent your filters from clogging quickly. Also less dissolved solids from solids in your "cartridges" dissolving as water flows over them.

lol When I replace this system there will be no more sump, No more overflow. It will be just like a canister filter. Its impossible for the tank to overflow. The 4 bulkheads are 1/3 of the way down in the side of the tank. here is a pic of how the pipes work now.

here is an actual pic.

when I replace the over flow pipes the pipe will run out from the bulkhead wrap around the back of the tank then down into one of the filters. Again each bulkhead will run to its own filter.
The chance of it clogging are just the same as any canister filter clogging. The reason I'm not running them in parallel is because as soon as the first filter gets clogged then then the whole system is clogged. By running each filter off its own line when one starts to restrict then the others can pick up the flow and be much easier on the pump. All 4 filters will come together at the bottom and converge into one pipe that will feed one pump that returns the water back to the tank.
In the 3rd picture I posted on this thread the top illustration is looking at the manifold to show where the filters will fit into and the lower illustration is looking from above to show how they all fit together and the one line coming to the pump.

then the one line coming out of the pump feeds the Under gravel jets in the tank.

 

[unstopablepuffers]

i would put the pump before the filters to force water thru. otherwise flow will decrease with clogging. and you could put a pressure gauge to simplify maintance shcedule.

 

[Gator]

I thought of that but I'd rather have the water go through the filters first to remove any debris before it gets to the pump. The total filter volume will be just over 6.5 gallons. 1.63 per filter. Just to put that into perspective an FX5 is 1.5 Gallons and an Eheim 2260 is 4.8 and each is rated for a 400 gallon tank.

 

[Ramesh]

Your design and idea are very good especially in terms of filter volume and cost.
My only concerns are over the ease of servicing the filters.
Breaking the filters down may be time consuming in comparison to a FX5.
As for the pump being placed after the filters and the filters being gravity feed.
The flow through the filters will always slow if they are working properly regardless of where the pump is paced.
In this case he pump will assist in drawing water through the system as it pumps it back into the tank.

 

[James1]

You still have a problem of the possibility of the pump cavitating from not enough water getting to the pump in the first place from restrictions in the filters. Pumps are designed to either suck or push water or a combination of the two. Most of aquarium pumps have very little suction power and are designed as a push pump. A high volume low pressure pump.
The second problem is that you still have an overflow! It does not matter how low down the bulkhead is , it is still acting as an overflow because you have an open anti-siphon loop. this effectly lowers the height of the water level to the same as the bulkhead. If you are going to persist in this design, and have no sump for reserve water, then remove the anti-siphon loop and direct to you filters from bulkhead height. You do have stopvalves for cleaning of filters so you do not need the anti-siphon loop.

 

[rezin]

Cancel the antisiphon and it will act as a regular canister. Put everything in series and you will be golden. Same thing that I was planing on building this summer.

 

[Jgray152]

What is the flow rate this will handle?

You were smart by having the bio and mechanical load split between 4 of these units. you have roughly 50 sq/in of surface area for mechanical filtration. Thats pretty good, not the best but good. Depending on the flow rate and mechcanical load, you may find them clogging within a couple months or less. Just an assumption. Reality will tell the truth.

I like the manifold idea. You think it would have been better to go with 6" PVC instead of 4"? The Fx5 clogs up real quick with 6" diameter cylinder at 600 GPH. I know you have the aquarium load split between the 4 canisters, but you might find them clogging faster than having one or two intake loads split into 4 or more canisters instead of 1 intake going to 1 canisters.

As long as you don't have a real high flow rate, I don't see why you would get any air in the canister system you are designing with the open suction intake system you have. BUT, multiply the length and width of the aquarium and then multiply your answer by the number of inches from the bulk head to the water's surface. Divide that answer by 231 and you will have the amount of gallons that will be on the floor if something starts to leak. I would eliminate the anti-siphon design the way you have it.

L * W * H / 231 = Gallons. 48*18*4/231 = 14.96 Gallons (just an example)

I am not 100% sure how well this system will work in terms of clogging and restriction. I can see it not working that well and I can see it working good.

I would suggest doing 2 intakes that marge to one pipe which gets split between 4 or more canistesr.

 

[Gator]

Ok now were getting somewhere.

My only concerns are over the ease of servicing the filters.
Breaking the filters down may be time consuming in comparison to a FX5.

I had planned on removing 1 filter Every month so that every 4 months each filter will be cleaned out and mech media replaced. As for the Time involved I'm assuming it will take less time than cleaning the FX5 now and the sump filter.

The second problem is that you still have an overflow! It does not matter how low down the bulkhead is , it is still acting as an overflow because you have an open anti-siphon loop.

No. There will be no more overflow/anti siphon loop in the pipe like there is now. The line will come out of the tank and go directly to the filters.

I like the manifold idea. You think it would have been better to go with 6" PVC instead of 4"? The Fx5 clogs up real quick with 6" diameter cylinder at 600 GPH. A 4" cylinder will clog up much faster. I know you have to aquarium load split between the 4 canisters, but you might find them clogging faster than having one or two intakes split into 4 or more canisters instead of 1 intake going to 1 canisters.

I'm going to look now at the price of one more Bushing or reducer to take the pipe from 6" to 4" or smaller. So if I used 6" I would have a volume of 3.67G per Canister and a total of 14.68G. The Mech surface area would then be 28.3 sq/in per filter and a total of 113.68 sq/in.

I would suggest doing 2 intakes that marge to one pipe which gets split between 4 or more canistesr.

I'll look into that as well. I still want to try to keep cost to a minimum but not at the expense of efficiency of the system.

Thanks guys this is what I was looking for.

 

[DB junkie]

I'd be worried about burning up the pump. I tried a huge prefilter on my pond pump and that thing locked up so tight I couldn't even get the inpeller out with a puller. Pump froze within 36 hours.

If you use media that won't clog then you still might end up having to have another means of filtering the fine stuff........

NOT saying it won't work but rather saying if there is something that is questionable with the idea, this would be it.

 

[Gator]

I'd be worried about burning up the pump. I tried a huge prefilter on my pond pump and that thing locked up so tight I couldn't even get the inpeller out with a puller. Pump froze within 36 hours.

If you use media that won't clog then you still might end up having to have another means of filtering the fine stuff........

NOT saying it won't work but rather saying if there is something that is questionable with the idea, this would be it.

Is this if I were using the 4" pipe ? I was planning on using a coarse pad at the top where the water first enters the filter then a polishing pad at the bottom. It just popped in my head that If I use the 6" pipe I can use the FX5 pads and not have to modify another filter pad to fit in there. Still looking for Cheaper Reducers for 6" to 4" Cheapest I've found is $9 from Ace Hardware online.