REACTORS- Filtration for stingrays

[DIDYSIS]

Well I know I am not even close to being done as I said I need far more bubbles in the reactor area. Ordered a large air pump which should be here soon. But wanted to give people an idea of my setup. Mostly right now I have the media conditioning and getting to the point where it will be ready. The media has been in the sump for about a week now and I feel that it will take 3 weeks to a month or more before I really see the stuff turning brownish. The bio balls are just there to try to seed it faster and will be removed soon. As you all can see I need more air or what to move more of the media around and am working on it, but here is the one week playing around with it since I have it and figured I would put it into the sump anyways to start the bio growth, I use to have another larger pump in there and was getting almost all the media to move around so I know it will not be hard, that pump was about 600 gph. If you look close in the middle you will see my auto drip drain which is the PVC with cuts turned at a 45 degree angle more or less, still by far a work in progress as I plan to trim the egg crate so I can put the insulation back on the sump and probably get more egg crate to make better dividers. Wish it was dry and I could silicone some glass in with a bunch of holes.

[video=youtube_share;9R2ZiwN9wpA]http://youtu.be/9R2ZiwN9wpA[/video]

 

[DIDYSIS]

Well this morning before I went to work I used spare parts around the house and built a super strong air pump with diffuser to try on the tank. Air pump is 1hp piping is 2" out of pump down to 1.5" then I put a ball valve on a T so I could bleed off extra as I knew I would have. I had the 1.5" ball valve all the way open and a little closed with no change and everything was still boiling like crazy. Lol. Ill upload the video I took with my nice camera when I get home but it looks like with a large air pump ill be having everything flowing perfectly. Here is a little vid with phone, sorry for quality.
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[video=youtube_share;iUgsP1P0xzQ]http://youtu.be/iUgsP1P0xzQ[/video]



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[B_IN_SD]

My 2 coralife air pumps were getting a little weak after 1.5 years of use, I got a replacement pump on ebay CHEAP a few months back the coralife pumps were 65 watts each i think. the new pump is 185 watts and it seems like the ticket ! the K-1 seems happy with the bump up in air volume.
After seeing the difference I don't think I will go back to the smaller pumps. pic is to show the size difference in the pumps.

 

[DIDYSIS]

Looks like an eco air 3 vs an eco air 7 way way larger. Well I decided to go with an ap100, sure hope it will give more then enough air for my little reactor. And when I rebuild in future for an even larger build. Unfortunately wont get her till Monday, was hoping to have it done this weekend.

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[B_IN_SD]

You should be happy with the ap 100 they are much more quiet than these I am using.

 

[gmaniax]

Im also using K1 kaldness media. Great choice. try using multiple powerheads or a couple of the disk airstones.. they really help to fluidize the media.
GM

 

[DB junkie]

I compared AP100s against every airpump I could find and I couldn't find ANY that could come close to output vs cost. Noise made no difference to me as everything's in the basement, but was pleasantly suprised when I plugged it in and it was quieter then the coral life lufts. Can't even hear it over the crashing water.

Downfall..... Both my diaphrams tore around the 1st year of use. Rebuild kits are cheap, I'd highly recommend keeping a few on hand, cause when they do fail you'll be glad you can put it back in service within an hour instead of having to order and wait till it gets there.....

 

[Miguel]

Well this morning before I went to work I used spare parts around the house and built a super strong air pump with diffuser to try on the tank. Air pump is 1hp piping is 2" out of pump down to 1.5" then I put a ball valve on a T so I could bleed off extra as I knew I would have. I had the 1.5" ball valve all the way open and a little closed with no change and everything was still boiling like crazy. Lol. Ill upload the video I took with my nice camera when I get home but it looks like with a large air pump ill be having everything flowing perfectly. Here is a little vid with phone, sorry for quality.

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Mine boils three times that, Dyodysisi, from bottom to surface level.

I am absolutely convinced that strong, savage, water pumps placed on the bottom with ewater exits pointing upwards are more efficient than air stones.

And i also found a huge difference when i put about a dozen big bio balls ( those black round ones ) in the mix, revolving around with the K1 and bashing throug its jams...

 

[DIDYSIS]

Its hard to see in this video the area where all the air is actually being pumped into the water, its to the far far right past the 2x4, Ill post the other video I have maybe when I get a chance, I did not have a chance to make a difuser for water jets to have multiple jets but having just 1 1000gph pump pushing stuff around didnt really do that much for my setup. And with the two power heads I had vs power heads with air vs just air, the air helped allot with everything and just the air was about the same as the power heads. My media is a little larger then K1 so it might need a little more force to move it around right now till it gets fully setup with bio. And one other thing is that I do not think boiling the heck out of the media is good. With this test one area had a really harsh boil but the rest was moving very nice and slow which is what I am looking for. I think to much force will not let the bio grow effectivly on the media. I might be wrong in my thinking but I look at it like a UV but kinda backwards, the media needs no contact for a certain amount of time to grow the bio really well, but not too long as it needs to crash and shed the old bio at some point to start growing new bio if its boilding or having too much force pushed onto the media it can prematurely shed that good bio and start the growing process before that bio cycles fully and should be shed. I am sure this might be all well known and what but I am just saying my thoughts out loud.

Mine boils three times that, Dyodysisi, from bottom to surface level.

I am absolutely convinced that strong, savage, water pumps placed on the bottom with ewater exits pointing upwards are more efficient than air stones.

And i also found a huge difference when i put about a dozen big bio balls ( those black round ones ) in the mix, revolving around with the K1 and bashing throug its jams...

 

[DIDYSIS]

My air pump should arive today, depending on time ill get it all going today or tomorrow. Can't wait.

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