Waste/poop collector/separator filter overflow/syphon mainly for bare bottom tanks and fish making heavy waste

[CICL]

Hi fellow mfkers. I am thinking about getting back into the hobby and been doing some research and just found that there is a waste/poop collector/separator which as as an overflow/syphon. It is mainly used in bare bottom tanks as otherwise it will suck gravel and needs to touch the bottom of the tank for maximum efficiency. I found a brand called hygger. Link below:

hygger Fish Waste Collector - hygger

Aquarium fish waste collector has a double effect, can collect large particles of impurities separately, and improves the filtering effect for many fish.

www.hygger-online.com

I am trying to find out if some of you here have been using this type of filters, especially for discus, goldfish or any fish that produce a lot of waste or because of heavy feeding. I have found a youtube video of a product which uses the same concept:

So basically, there is a syphon created which suck in water from the tank inside the filter and there is a mesh sieve which separates the waste from the water and the heavy waste just go at the bottom. I have been trying to examin the concept and could not find out how it works 100%. I understand that the power of the syphon is equivalent to the power of pulling and this cannot be adjusted except depending on the size of the tubes or if it is hooked with a pump or canister. However, if the suction is too much, i wonder how the waste fall down and accumulate at the bottom of the tube. If anyone could help enligthen me, that would be great!

 

[pacu mom]

I don't know about Hyger's system, but I do know that "poop suckers" work really well. We have vertical PVC pipes just off the floor of the tank that suck up the debris on the floor. Our pipes are the uptakes for our closed loop mechanical filtration system comprised of two RTL-25 filters and a Reeflo Hammerhead pump. There has never been any debris to vacuum off the floor in the 18 1/2 years the tank has been running. Others have just extended their uptakes to just off the floor and have had good results also.




Love poop suckers so much, I wouldn't run a tank without them. My big tank upgrade still hasn't happened, but the poop sucker pipes were made years ago for the tank. Will be making a couple more as I realized that there is no need for the two high uptakes I had planned. This picture is of the uptake and return pipes. I will have 8 poop sucker pipes. The mechanical pipes will be the only "decoration" in the tank.





If you try extending a vertical uptake to just off the floor, place it where debris tends to eddy.

 

[jjohnwm]

I really like the fact that this device allows for easy draining of the gunk that falls off the outside of the stainless steel screen, so basically you have the effect of a prefilter screen on the end of the intake but with a very easy way to frequently clean it by means of the drain valve. So it's not just a poop sucker...it's also a poop separator, which adds an extra dimension and benefit to it. You get to remove a great deal of large debris before it enters your main filter and decomposes, so it will slow the clogging of your main mechanical filter and also the accumulation of nitrate in the tank.

I don't use siphons in my filtration setup; all my tanks are drilled. But it looks like a similar effect could be achieved with a drilled/overflow type of water pickup with the creative use of valves. I don't see much point in connecting the drain on this thing to a hose running to some remote point to dispose of the waste water, but I can see the benefit of multiple tanks set up this way and then simply taking a bucket around the fish room periodically and draining a few cups of water from each tank into the bucket to remove the settled waste.

The metal screen has a large surface area, so that the speed of water flow through it is pretty low at any given point. I assume this allows bigger, heavier chunks of debris to drop off fairly readily. I wonder if closing the valve leading from this device to the main filter, cutting off the water flow completely, would allow much more of that stuff on the mesh to drop off immediately?