D.I.Y wet/dry filter setups

[herp17]

Long story short, I won a wet/dry filter a few weeks ago from ebay only to receive a giant crack on the side of the eshoppe acrylic tank. After a good 2-3 weeks, I got my money back and am in the process of returning it back to the seller. It was too bad cause it was a good deal for the price I paid.

So now I'm thinking of constructing my whole instead of buying another one. Are there any specific plans/setups online that you guys prefer or like? I also keep reading about containers that get brittle or leak chemicals into the water. Would like to know what plans people here have used and prefer. Again, greatly appreciated any information. :worship:

[terryl]

Get an old fish tank. You can easily find old 20g tanks at about 10 dollars. Cut a piece of glass from hardware store to divide the tank into two half (use silicon to hold the glass), with a one inch gap at the bottom. I use white PCV pipe to make a base that holds bioballs in one side of the tank, put the filter media on top of the bio ball. On the other side, put your water pump there. I have three of them running in my fish room. Very effective and easy to clean. Old glass tank is not much more expensive than a plastic tub.

Terry

[marlin08]

Get an old fish tank. You can easily find old 20g tanks at about 10 dollars. Cut a piece of glass from hardware store to divide the tank into two half (use silicon to hold the glass), with a one inch gap at the bottom. I use white PCV pipe to make a base that holds bioballs in one side of the tank, put the filter media on top of the bio ball. On the other side, put your water pump there. I have three of them running in my fish room. Very effective and easy to clean. Old glass tank is not much more expensive than a plastic tub.

Terry
Would love to see a picture, trying to visualize the PVC pipe base that holds the bio balls and how the media sits on top...

[herp17]

So what about the overflow box? Should I just buy one of those? Or should I attempt to make it? I found plans for one here: http://www.gerasimov.net/overflow.html

[small_ranchu]

How about this? (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219465)

[Ichthius]

Drill your tank. Over flow boxes are a PITA and you risk floods.

You can get everything you need off ebay for cheap or here's a full service company that supplies everything you need including a nice skimmer box.

http://www.glass-holes.com/

<}}}><

[johnatoranchu]

I wonder if we have a "language" problem here! Surely a Wet/Dry filter is where the filter material is in the air not submersed in water (at least that's what it is in the UK) so I don't understand the references to overflows, etc. If you use an external filter simply place a bottomless glass box on the top of the aquarium, fill with light weight filter media - Japanese matting, sponge etc - support with a few thin glass strips and direct the filter's water return through this box. Increases the external filter's performance markedly.
John

[Ichthius]

Hi John

You need either a bulkhead hole drilled in your tank or an overflow/skimmer box to get the water from the tank down to the sump.

It is the return to the sump we're talking about.

<}}}><

[johnatoranchu]

Sorry David, but I'm even more confused. What has a sump tank got to do with Wet and DRY filtration? Could you please explain the DRY part to me?
John

[Ichthius]

Hi John

The sump is the volume of water past the wet dry media. Being the lowest part of a system open to the atmosphere. Most commercial wet dry filters have a sump volume included into the main body of the filtration. This is where heaters or submersible pumps are placed or where the suction side of an external pump would be plumbed.

In my experience the dry part of the media is made to be more important than needs to be. The falling water hitting the media is fully saturated with oxygen so I pack in as much media as will fit. I don't care if the media is submerged in normal operation as there is more oxygen than needed. This would only be an issue where extremely high fish densities.

Hope this is clearer than mud. Let me know if I can help further.

<}}}><

[Cincy Ranchu]

David- In the UK they run wet drys on the top of the tank, simply pump the water to the top of the tank into the media that drip back into the tank.

John - In the US these guyus overflow into a tank of media underneath the subject fish tank and then pump it back into the fishtank usually after UV treatment. Your system is way less energy

[johnatoranchu]

Thanks Gary - yes David it's still not as clear as mud. Once filter media is submerged it's a conventional wet filter and not wet and DRY surely and all the benefits of a wet and DRY system are lost. It's 1.30 am here and my brain is hurting. Best go to bed.
John

[bekko]

John's right - you guys are making it much too difficult.

Put the trickle tower on top of the tank. Plastic shoe boxes with some holes punched the bottom work fine and only cost a couple of bucks.

They are called "overhead filters" or just OHF. Google it.

-steve

[herp17]

Would like to see pictures of these setups over in the UK.

[johnatoranchu]

Nothing to take pictures of really. When my "system" is completed it will comprize of 3 centralised circulating systems. Nothing special just normal system whereby pond type filters are below-ground, filtered water is pumped up to ponds and tanks via pipework and taps from these filters, overflows through stand pipes in each tank and pond and returns to below-ground pond filters. It's not a UK system, just a Parker one, whereby instead of the water simply going from the taps to the tanks I route this water through a wet/dry filter box placed on top of each tank to increase filtration still further. My boxes are simply made from glass - 2ft long (the width of my tanks) by 4 inches wide and 4 inches deep. The boxes have no bottoms instead sufficient glass straps are stuck to the bottom of the boxes to support the filter medium. The boxes could be filled with lightweight sheet filter media such as sponge, Japanese matting etc. simply cut to size - I use a synthetic media called matalan or something similar but I discovered it when I was at Gary's looking through an Aquatic Ecosystems catalogue. I distribute the water over the media by using a simple rectangle of overflow piping which has been drilled with holes, the water from the tap being directed through this framework. All the media is permanently exposed to the air making it a real wet/dry filter. I will use a different approach on my ponds as it's not convenient to have filter boxes. Instead I plan to use 3 or possibly 4 inch piping held vertically and stuffed with the same media. The water will be pumped into the top of the pipe and exit from the bottom into the pond, that is like a tall albeit skinny trickle tower.
A wet/dry system along these lines can be modified easily and cheaply to fit a stand alone aquarium. Simply use a conventional external filter and direct the return water via the spray bar onto the media in the box as described fitted/placed on top of the aquarium. Other than the cost of the external filter, the cost of this wet/dry system will be cents instead of mega bucks and you will probably get much more filtration for your money! As Gary says, it's energy efficient too!
John

[Ichthius]

Over head filters are great and essentially the same thing as an under the tank wet dry. In my experience the huge benefit of an under the tank system is that it is the basic building block of a centralized recirculating system.

If it's big enough you can run many tanks off one filter. I have 3x 125 gal and 6x 30 gal tanks running off an 18 gallon rubbermaid container as the sump with about 15 gallons of. Bioballs as the media.

On the larger system a several hindered gallon sump runs about 4 dozen large tanks for about 2500 gallons on a 215 watt pump.

Another reason the ae done under the tank is there is usually a Loy more space in the stand than the hood of a display tank.

[herp17]

Do people also put lights on their we dry filters to encourage algae growth? Or does that not matter?

Going to spend this weekend gathering plans, trudging thru ebay and scheming what I can whip up.

[BruceP]

Lights are not necessary; the good bacteria will do just fine without light.

[johnatoranchu]

I agree with Bruce. My wet/dry filters are fully exposed to daylight. Algae is a nuisance. Might grow watercress in them next tear but roots might cause blockages and make cleaning difficult.
John

[small_ranchu]

I have never seen anybody selling OHF here. Any idea?

[BruceP]

Fred........ OHF ( i assume stands for Over Head FIlter?). Although goes by other names, Baki Shower, Trickle Tower, etc. are used quite often in koi filtration. They work quite well for degassing and can sometimes have a ff incorporated into them. I havent seen anything like them marketed for aquarium use though. They certainly would be EASY to make but making them so they werent butt ugly wouldnt be so easy. In a fish room, who cares, but in my livingroom, as goldie goofy as Lari is, they would never fly. :)

[bekko]

Fred, I think they are all home-made and, as Bruce says, it is going to be ugly.... but very effective and easy to maintain.

-steve

[terryl]

Space is a key issue. In Asia, like Japana and Hong Kong, space is very expensive and very few people has tank stand. Overhead filters become a standard. In the US, space is not an issue for most people and many big tanks come with stand. It is easy to have sump hidding inside the stand.