Media in sump

[tootie]

Have 3 chambers in sump with baffles. 

Chamber 1 - water inlet, spinning arm. Filter wool and bio balls. Egg crate a little of the bottom. 

Chamber 2 - coral sand and refuge.

chamber 3 - air pump.

Most baffles have jap mat in them. They seem to be a bit problematic here as its reducing water flow from chamber 1 to chamber 3. I'm unsure what should be in the baffles, if anything??

I was thinking of placing a large piece of jap mat in the first chamber so there would be filter wool - jap mat-bio balls.

Would this work ok?? Or do I need to have jap mat in the baffles to avoid any debris moving from the refuge chamber (where I grow out a small amount of fry) into the chamber where the water will be pumped back into the main tank??Then how would I address the reduction in water flow from one chamber to the next?

Any suggestions more than welcome. Thanks.

[Buccal]

First of all, be sure your not being unrealistic with your pump size, because to much water flow is simply what is it to much flow.

Next thing, if do have the correct size pump, then make sure your wool isn't to fine in texture and clagging up (prematurely spent).

If that's not it,, then you may have to give up the Jap mat, and start looking at various grades of matalla mat, which gives various selections of various grades.

Note that some coral sands stacked to surface level doesn't allow much flow if it's a fine grade.

Usually flow problems fixed with coarser bio medias will result in the water buffering quality drop a little, but be patient,,, as within a week or so, the waiste caught in your filters begin to invest upon itself (more crap building up on crap that's already in there).

Same thing happened to me after I first set my breedroom up,, the bioload or fish in my systems grew 3-5 times bigger,,, so I had to replace all my jap mat with coarse grade matalla (black) and actually used the japmat as the actual mechanical media.

Make sure your not over feeding or leaving your filter cleans for to long also,,,. I can see you got 5 dots under your user name, so my last sentence was just for the hell of it lol.

constant perserverance and testing,, your system has its own identity and you must learn it,, sometimes it just takes many trials and errors, possibly a little money waistage due trials,,, God knows how much money I've wasted in the last 8 or so years on tried or failed attempts,,, but that's how you work it out.   Soneones else's advice that works still may not work for you, as I said before your system is different to most others,, as all systems are to each other.....

[Link2Hell]

Shirley has got 5 dots

got any pics of the sump Shirl ... air pump + sump = 

are the bio balls submerged or above water level  ?

is it a sump or end drop  ?
 

 

 

[tootie]

The sump has been running for a while now (2 years where I live now and several years where I lived previously) and only had this problem in the last couple of months. Have washed everything out so that not too much gunge on the jap mat in the baffles.

The bio balls are submerged under water. This is in first chamber. The egg crate is supported by PVC thick tubes. 1st the filter wool then bio balls in this chamber.

Maybe I'm getting a bit bloody OCD about the whole thing. 

As Buccal says, I may have added too much water in last water change.

However it seems a bit of a reoccurring problem over the last couple of months. Prior to this I thought it may have been due to evaporation in third chamber (where pump is).

Chris, I will have to text you photos later as I don't know how to post pics on this thing...

Thanks Guys

[tootie]

Hey Buccal,

what kind of filter wool do you use??

thanks for your advice ??

[Buccal]

I use jap mat for mechanical,, it doesn't take long for the waste to invest on its self, so this means the first few days, the mech filtration is fairly poor until the first bit of crap catches then it continues to invest.

A massive factor people don't realize, is that their lovely young fish in the tank have grown and are now 3 x the size putting 3 x as much pressure on the biological system.,,,, so more water changes and often filter cleans,, but sometimes you just have to reduce the mech power a bit and try some coarser (porous wise), mech screen,,,,,

I have some very exciting finds I've recently discovered but Definetely keeping it under my hat for now as I'm running tests and don't want to to say to much until I'm sure, but some outstanding results,,, its known to be used in filtering applications in the full on old school days.

[Buccal]

Do you guys have a Clark rubber, because they sell loose non woven polyester sheeting of a roll,, roughly a centimeter thick,,, and holding it up to the light you can see straight through it,, it looks like it wouldn't do much but jeez, it stays puffed right out and it's body fills with water waste.

[Alex]

I will 2nd what Buccal has said about Jap Matting. 

I have two media chambers in my sump for my 8 footer. The first one is filled only with Jap matting. When it is clean and fresh, it acts as mechanical filtration, but is not excellent at removing particles due to being quite coarse and not overly densely 'woven' as time goes on small particles catch and the mechanical capabilities increase in time. My second media chamber is all K1 media (50L) it has been an excellent combo for me to date, and I keep big messy fish and have a heavy hand with the food container. 

A recommendation when using Jap matting (and other matting) is to prop it up off your glass. I use some PVC cut into 3-4cm sections and space it out under the matting (can place some egg crate on top of this) it will keep the matting off the glass and increase flow through the matting and makes sure that the water is going through the matting and not just flowing over the top of it and over the baffle. 

Matala matting is a great option as you can select the 'grade' or multiple grades that best suit your needs. 

[tootie]

Hey Alex,

where do you buy egg crates??

At Bunnings who don't seem to sell it...

Thanks ?

[Alex]

Lighting places sell it - I think it is called light diffuser (or similar). Most decent LFS stock it too. 

[Buccal]

On 27 June 2016 at 7:42 AM, Alex said:

I will 2nd what Buccal has said about Jap Matting. 

I have two media chambers in my sump for my 8 footer. The first one is filled only with Jap matting. When it is clean and fresh, it acts as mechanical filtration, but is not excellent at removing particles due to being quite coarse and not overly densely 'woven' as time goes on small particles catch and the mechanical capabilities increase in time. My second media chamber is all K1 media (50L) it has been an excellent combo for me to date, and I keep big messy fish and have a heavy hand with the food container. 

A recommendation when using Jap matting (and other matting) is to prop it up off your glass. I use some PVC cut into 3-4cm sections and space it out under the matting (can place some egg crate on top of this) it will keep the matting off the glass and increase flow through the matting and makes sure that the water is going through the matting and not just flowing over the top of it and over the baffle. 

Matala matting is a great option as you can select the 'grade' or multiple grades that best suit your needs. 

Wise uncomplicated words.

I see all this high tec stuff these days, that costs a fortune, and usually works so well that in larger tanks or larger loads they aren't efficient and exhaust or spend out very easy.

High flow mechanical media (waste investing).   Lower maintenance and increased performance after first few weeks of invested waste to begin building upon its self.

 

[Link2Hell]

Shirley the egg crate grid is fluro light diffuser and you can get at any electrical wholesaler

John R Turk at Parramatta Rd Leichhardt

Leichhardt Electrical Wholesalers Parramatta Rd Leichhadt

look to be close to you