Jump to content

Side drop filtration


Camo

Recommended Posts

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

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

user posted image

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.

user posted image

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

Hello .

user posted image

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! thumb.gif

HTH

Cheers Kevin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Side view

user posted image

Waterflow

user posted image

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

user posted image

Josh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

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?

confused.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. wink2.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 wink2.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...