madmark285

For quiet, the Hebie drain system works very well:

I just bought the Orlushy DC-5000 pump, they had a black friday sale and I got it for $60. I just got it day, no reviews yet. For quiet operation, a very knowledgeable person recommend a DC powered pump.

I have a DIY sump on a 40 gallon breeder shown below: The sump is a 20 gallon tank and was made with 1/4" PVC material from Home Depot and 4" thin wall PVC pipe for the sock holders. I kind of screwed up this design, the fluidized bed section should have been larger. There is a much better way to make one using the above materials, I working on another one for my 75 gallon tank. If interested, send me a message. Mark

That's an excellent point concerning the Matrix media which I regret buying, it was an impulse decision. Matrix may require clean water to work effectively long term and may be best used in pressure filters ie: canisters. I do have some plastic scrub pads which I am conditioning, those may be a better option for what I am doing. The HOB shown has minimal mechanical filtration but it still is highly effective, it is rated at 100 microns. It just has to be replaced/cleaned more often than large sponges. You may have noticed with me, I like to build or tinker with filters. I have the material so I am going try installing a large felt pad in my Tidal (no basket). I want to try using some K1 media, is a fluidized/moving bed filter feasible? Thanks so much for your feedback, you raise some excellent points for me to think about. Mark

Yep, that how it should work but does it really matter? The debris may/will just move thru the course Matrix media. Another issue, the bio-filter will still be working when the felt pad gets plugged up. If you put the felt pad first then the water will overflow on the top and rush to the exit when it gets plugged up. I could add a course sponge in the water intake section of the Tidal. Sidenote: I screwed up my first sump, I was unaware of the existence of filter socks. So with a kludge modification, I added filter socks after the fluidized bed filter shown below. Same thing, the socks should go first. Surprisingly, it actually worked quite well. The debris would get churned up in the fluidized bed then dumped into the socks. Note: I ended up removing one of the walls in the above sump. And making it out of cellular PVC was a bad idea, it is slightly porous. This sump is being rebuilt using a 29 gallon tank.

I don't like disposable nor am I a big fan of sponges. I love felt filter socks which are so easy to clean, just toss them in the washing machine. So when I wash them, just toss in the felt pads. The 100 micron 24” x 36” felt pad cost me $14 and i should be good for a few years on filter material.

Low price and low sales volume would also be a negative factor for commercial breeders.

PetCo in my area is selling 10 gallon tanks for $15, you shouldn't expect high quality with that price. But as others have said, get a level/straight edge to see what the problem is. If it is the tank, exchange it when they get more in stock. For my framed tanks, I put felt weather striping on the bottom frame using Gorilla glue.

I was thinking about converting my Tidal to a whisper style filter, just get rid of the basket. The media used for the bio section (scrub pads and/or Seachem Matrix) rarely needs cleaning. So using 1/2" thick PVC material, rig something up for a slide in/out cartridge where the water exits. I have a large sheet of washable 100 micron felt material, make a cartridge or just use a large Whisper one show below with just a felt pad: So if the cartridge can be lifted out freely, this would be so easy for maintenance, Just put the cartridge out and replace the pad. As you can see, the 100 micron felt pad is very effective, why even bother with sponges? My 2 big tanks use filter socks which I clean in the washing machine. Just toss these in to clean them. Any thoughts?

Yes I did, I modified the basket base on your recommendation. It helps but the problem still there. In the corner of my fishroom, I have a 29 and 20 gallon tank shown below: What I want to do, build a horizontal sump in the corner for both tanks. Each tank would have an overflow box using siphon tubes dumping the water into a 14" filter sock. The bio filter would be a fluidized sand filter. If that doesn't work, just replace the sand with K1 media and add a air pump. But I have too many projects going on, I am still working on my 75 gallon Mbuna tank and Mrs Mad is getting mad with all the time I spend in my fishroom 🙂

I really wanted to love this filter but.. Many don't understand that water will take the path of least resistance. I have seen sump filters use these bio-logs neatly stacked in a compartment: WTF, most of the water will just flow around them. Stupid! I love filter socks because they are easy to clean AND the water can't bypass them (until they need washing of course). This is also why canister filters work so well, the water is force thru the filter material and there is no bypassing it. So I agree with you, just buy a canister filter with quick disconnect hoses.

Understood, I have an old house. One cheap and easy fix to strengthen old floor joist, cut some 3/4" plywood into ~10" planks and glue them to the joist using clamps. You can also nail the plywood just in case. I made my own stands, I attached it to a load bearing wall using lag bolts. If using a metal stand with 4-6 legs, I would cut a 3/4" piece of plywood and set it on the floor. Put the stand on the plywood, this will reduce the pressure points from the legs.

To be fair, the buyer beware attitude with fish store is a problem. The Bala shark is a classic example, so cool looking when young but they grow into monster over a foot long. These should be hard to buy as you need a 100 gallon tank for them.

I am using an ancient Whisper filter on a 20 gallon tank used for growing out some barbs. I bought Felt Filter Pad 100 Micron Bulk 24 ” x 36 ” to make my own filter pads. Since i have to wash filter socks on my other tanks, I can just toss in the felt pads into the washing machine. It was quite easy with the Whisper cartridge, just cut out a pad and clip it on.

I have a Tidal 75 mounted on the side of a 29 gallon tank, a strong current is created at max output. The Tidal has all the desired marketing features but kinda failed on the engineering side. The main problem is the removable basket which is great feature but at high output, the water just goes around the basket and back into the tank. The water flow control works great so with the Tidal filters, buy the biggest you can justify and just turn down the water flow.

My condolences, much respect to you on keeping his tank up and running. You need to figure out how he did water changes and does that work for you. As a general rule, people tend to skip water changes if it is difficult to do. Just changing 25% of the water once a week will help keep the tank clean and the fish healthy. The Python water change system is quite popular, maybe you already have one.

I first tried a whisper 40 (3.3 l/m), that was not enough. The Pawfly is more than enough to drive the bed. I bought the Pawfly before i decided to expand my tanks (another 40 gallon with sump) . The pump is on sale so I just bought another one for $31, this will be on the big tank, a 75 gallon. But thanks to you and other for confirming what I thought, you can't connect 2 diaphragm pumps to a manifold. I like to build things like filters so I may build a fluidized sand filter for the 29 and 20 gallon tank, this would be powered by the main circulating pump.

For the fluidized bed sump filter, losing air is not major issue. Losing power to the main water pump is the issue. The COOP dual outlet pump ($39) is rated at 2.1 l/m using 2.1W, the Pawfly (currently $31, Black friday sale) is rated at 16.4 l/m using 7 W. I need alot of air to drive the fluidized bed filter.

I am trying to figure out the physics of this system. My fish room will have a 75, 40, 29 and 20 gallon tanks. The 75 and 40 gallon tanks will have sump with a air driven fluidized bed filter. I have 2 Pawfly Aquarium Air Pump. So what I am thinking about, connect both air pumps to a 1 1/2" piece of PVC pipe to act as an accumulator/air tank. Then run air lines from the pipe to the tanks. So the question is: Does the 2 air pumps connected to an accumulator/air tank make sense? Will the air pumps be working against each other? Note: To build a system like this, I would use Push to Connect Fittings air fittings. Just drill a hole in the pipe and screw them in. The threads on the fittings will cut the pipe.

That sucks. Their reasonable shipping cost with priority mail ($12.99) is great. He dropped off the fish to USPS on Monday night, I got them Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to buy some Odessa Barbs from Select Aquatics but their shipping charge is ridiculous ($120) My goal was to fully stock my Mbuna tank before winter arrives but that's not happening. I plan on buying them from Tampa Bay Cichlids, I should get free shipping. Mark.

That's a good idea. I rushed buying the Hillstream loaches, I got them from Aqua Huna which is 2,600 miles away. I was concern about winter shipping of fish, I live in western New York. Last week we had 50 degree weather, I got them before a cold front went thru. I have another problem as the water keeps cloudy up and I don't know why. I been using a 5 gallon bucket dosed with ammonia to get the bio media ready.

Very cool, I love PVC pipe 🙂 For the cheap yeast CO2 system, a smaller modified version of the Yugang reactor might be a good match. The yeast will start out going crazy then ramp production down. So use a pipe to store the CO2 could work. FYI, you can dye PVC pipe using this, Rekhaoil® Dyes for PVC Stains. I used this for my overflow box, I can scrub it hard to remove any algae with no worries about removing any paint. I painted a PVC overflow box with Fusion spray paint, the paint was seriously peeling off, I just left it alone for a year.

Here is a photo of the tank. For the rocks, I glued on a piece of PVC pipe to get them on top of the sand. No, that is not a potato, it's a rock. It is a 29 gallon tank with a Tidal 75 on the side. At full output, it creates quite the current. I may attach a PVC strip to the lid to direct the flow towards the front of the tank. The goal for this, the back of the tank in the plant area will be much calmer to give the fish a break if needed. I got 10 Forktail rainbows and 6 Panda cories in the tank. And yes, those are plastic plants.

Yep, sound like a good plan. Now forgive me for I have sinned, I bought Lyrow 6 Pieces Aquarium Plants and CNZ Artificial Plastic Plant for my tanks (29 and 40 gallon), they look great! Plastic plants can buy you time to decide on what path you want to take. My barbs now have a cool environment so I can work on my planned 75 gallon Mbuna tank. My fish room may have 4 tanks running. I may use a 20 gallon tank to grow plants which can be moved to the other tanks. I truly suck at growing plants, I would start with Anacharis Elodea. If I can't grow a high evasive weed then I should stick to plastic -:)

First, a big congratulations. Your tank is amazing! I never really understood the minimal fish thing, it seems so unnatural for a natural setup. Your tank is nature at it's best and should be teaming with life yet the rules say, minimal life other than plants.