Camo Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Hey I am mega confused with how these work. I see they take up a bit of space in the tank and yeah thats all i can get. I need diagrams or detailed descriptions of how they work. When you use side drops you need to heat the room right. Well then how do insulate. The room has thin walls and 4 windows that are most of the walls. It is a sun room thing. Maybe just stick styrofoam to the walls. It gets pretty cold here at winter. I have seen some people with no heater in there room such as mawfish. How can i do this. I want to have cheap side drop filtration going and minimal heaters as i do not want the bill going sky high. Maybe side drops and no heating just room heating. lol. Please help with understanding. Also tell me how good side drops are if you have them. Some people have powerheads aswell right? Cheers Cameron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 When you use side drops you need to heat the room right. Is this a statement or a question?? Side drops are filtration, not a heating method. What you do with your heating is personal choice and should not matter which type of filtration you use. There are some detailed drawings online about sidedrops and how they work, I'll see if I can find some later tonight for you. (you've checked the faq, right?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutto Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 thats one installed, The water is sucked up through the front plate, drawn over the media and fed back into the tank by a pump. Is an example with media (Mind you, ive changed mine a fair bit since then ). used to have some drawings I did but I cant find them, Will have a look though HTH, -Sutto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 cameron I have taken some photos of mine working and will post a link to them soon. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Hello . I hope you can understand this ? If i put too much detail it all becomes a blur :lol But the jist of it is Egg crate or something similar goes around the airpipe about 40mm off the bottom! Filter media fills the rest of the compartment around air tube . Water is drawn from the tank up between the two pieces of glass from the bottom ,down through the media and up the uplift back into the tank ,creating circulation! Again ,back to my first comment ,I hope you understand that! :lolol Media can be anything you like. Personaly i use about 6 inches of scoria and top it up with filterwool . My opinion is that these are one of the most efficient filters that i have seen ! It costs me about $6. per filter and no extra power is needed other than air ! My filters are set up in corners .But they work the same if you use all of one end of the tank (front to back i mean ) Cleaning is no different to a canister really ! I just change the top portion of filter wool about once a month You can make them what ever size you like ! I filter all tanks from 180 ltr to 1000 ltr Well worth considering in my opinion! HTH Cheers Kevin ← Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Side view Waterflow End view of 6 foot tank, this tank has only been running for 24 hours and has sand for substrate, so its still a bit cloudy Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 What a top idea. I'm gonna drain my fry grow-out tank and try a corner version. I'll let you know how I go Camo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camo Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hey Yeah mate i think my mind is made up as well. Tiger what an awesome diagram mate. Perfect just what i wanted champ. So the gap between the 2 pieces of glass is 5mm. Is that for you to little swimmer. How long should you make it like you have a 4ft tank which is roughly 120cm so do you do a 20cm side drop. Also i am a bit confused about the crate part mate. Not sure on that one? What do you do cut a hole in the grate and stick the 20mm conduit in it. Cheers Cameron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Actually, just looking at Sutto's corner version it doesn't appear that the water level is below that 2nd weir/plate as with Josh's. Does that mean you don't necessarily need the water fall? Plus you can see the water level indicated on the drawing by Kevin(Tiger). I can see how the water fall would be better but is it harder to set up like that? So these things will draw water down thru the media regardless of the water level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 I think you will find that Sutto’s gap between the two glass plates is the reason. I think they are too far apart but seem to do a good job still when using a power head. I hope the fish in the tank are large otherwise they would end up in the filter. The water level will need to be above the lowest plate of glass to still operate. As long as your air stone and pipe is below the media then yes the water will be drawn through the filter media. Another place you can check out these types of filters is St George Aquarium. They still have a few tanks on them but it make's you wonder why they have so many canister filters on the tanks if the side drops work so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 They don,t really sell sidedrops do they Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_1 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 in LITTLE SWIMMER'S side drop filter how are you returning the water back into the tank is it air driven or by pump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuong Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 How would you clean it, if the gap between the glass was too small and clogged up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 mark mine are all air driven SchmucK you can use a piece of gutter guard to clean between the glass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Mine look just like Josh's and run on air also. I sometimes need to clean between the panes of glass and I use a long bit of wire to poke around down there. It's a little fiddly but I only have to do it every 12-18 mths Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 I use a long bit of wire to poke around down there. Careful Baz, you might poke your eye out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_1 Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 thanx LITTLE SWIMMER its just i couldnt see any air lines in the photos but as i think of it you can see bubbles coming out of the pipes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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