Cincala Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 Hi everyone! I need some advice. I just bought a moving bed filter. Aqqa Aquarium Fluidized Moving Bed Filter. It is nice and I really like it, but the bubbles make a lot of noise! Loud!!! I want to try drilling holes in the top cap, but I don’t know how many holes to drill, or where to drill them. Should I drill them in the middle or around the sides where the slits are? I have tried putting foam in the top, very small plant basket in the bottom and still nothing works! I have heard you can use netting over the slits. I don’t know what kind of netting, or how much to use. It comes with a flat round airstone on the bottom. If anybody has any ideas on how to quiet this thing down, I would really appreciate it! Thanks for your help!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktor zhivago Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 (edited) The main problem with any air based filtration is that it's loud. I dunno what you can really do because the whole point of the fluidized bed is that all the little bits and bobs mash around in there to create turbulent flow which is loud by its nature. I had a hob for water polishing that drove me nuts buzzing and rattling and eventually I had to replace it with a sicce internal filter that is completely silent. Edited May 26 by doktor zhivago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 You could try reducing the air flow. To get the self cleaning of the media, run the filter at max air flow overnight a couple times during the week. Then turn it down during the day. A more serious mod, connect a water pump to the filter and don’t use the air stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincala Posted May 26 Author Share Posted May 26 On 5/26/2024 at 3:25 AM, doktor zhivago said: The main problem with any air based filtration is that it's loud. I dunno what you can really do because the whole point of the fluidized bed is that all the little bits and bobs mash around in there to create turbulent flow which is loud by its nature. I had a hob for water polishing that drove me nuts buzzing and rattling and eventually I had to replace it with a sicce internal filter that is completely silent. My problem is with high nitrate and phosphate in 10 gallon all shrimp tank. My township replaced a water tower and now the nitrate reading from the tap is 10-20 ppm. The phosphate reading is 0.5-0.7. Nitrate in shrimp tank is 40 ppm and phosphate is 2.0. I thought the fluidized bed would help! I looked up the Sicce Filter, not sure if it will work either in a shrimp tank. I have to read more about it! Thanks for your input!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktor zhivago Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 Sicces are expensive and nice but I think a sponge filter would be better for a shrimp only tank. No biological filter is gonna remove nitrates and phosphates. Especially if they're in the source water. There are filter pads that can remove phosphates. Nitrates are normally removed by plants or water changes. You may want to look into reverse osmosis if your source water is that polluted On 5/26/2024 at 12:31 PM, Cincala said: My problem is with high nitrate and phosphate in 10 gallon all shrimp tank. My township replaced a water tower and now the nitrate reading from the tap is 10-20 ppm. The phosphate reading is 0.5-0.7. Nitrate in shrimp tank is 40 ppm and phosphate is 2.0. I thought the fluidized bed would help! I looked up the Sicce Filter, not sure if it will work either in a shrimp tank. I have to read more about it! Thanks for your input!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincala Posted May 26 Author Share Posted May 26 On 5/26/2024 at 8:11 AM, madmark285 said: You could try reducing the air flow. To get the self cleaning of the media, run the filter at max air flow overnight a couple times during the week. Then turn it down during the day. A more serious mod, connect a water pump to the filter and don’t use the air stone. I’m using a Hygger 5w adjustable air flow, air pump, as the company suggested. I think 5w is too strong for a 10 gallon shrimp tank. I also have a Hygger sponge filter in the tank. Running the filter at max air flow might be too much water circulation for the shrimp! I have a 3w hygger air pump, I’m going to switch to that for the fluidized bed filter. Don’t understand the water pump idea! Thanks for your advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincala Posted May 26 Author Share Posted May 26 On 5/26/2024 at 12:36 PM, doktor zhivago said: Sicces are expensive and nice but I think a sponge filter would be better for a shrimp only tank. No biological filter is gonna remove nitrates and phosphates. Especially if they're in the source water. There are filter pads that can remove phosphates. Nitrates are normally removed by plants or water changes. You may want to look into reverse osmosis if your source water is that polluted I have always used sponge filters in my shrimp tank. I think you are right. I really bought this to put other media in it, I wasn’t really interested in the media that came with it. Using sponge filters I can’t put carbon or purigen, etc. in the tank. I bought Dr Tim’s NP Pearls, to remove high nitrate-phosphate, but I can’t use it with sponge filters. This is a planted tank 5 1/2 years old. I bought 5 gallons of r/o water and Salty Shrimp + GH/KH. I have a 5 gallon jug I bought years ago to mix it when I first started the tank. I may have to use a small hob filter to hold other media! Thanks for your advice!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galabar Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 I fluidized bed is meant to be used with the light, plastic media that comes with it. It is designed to tumble when the air is added. Also, it is meant to convert ammonia and nitrite to nitrate. It won't remove nitrate. For a planted tank, I think the 10 ppm - 20 ppm of the tap water should be just fine. It is fertilizer for the plants. So, I'm not sure that you need RO. If you want something to run media in, my suggestion would be something like a Sicce Shark PRO. The Sicce Shark ADV is actually much cheaper and probably much more convenient to add media. However, the suction cups wear out quickly. So, I can no longer recommend it (if you are in the Seattle area, I can give you one 🙂). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktor zhivago Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 The smallest shark pro has almost way too much flow for my 40 gallon even on the lowest setting. In a ten gallon the shrimps would be flying 🤣 I second the adv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Since you have too much air, diverting some to a simple box filter that you could fill with alternate media might be an option for you. They're the filters people of my generation relied on when we started in the hobby and still work pretty well. Fluidized bed filters are designed to work with the media they come with. You can't do a lot to supplement them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 On 5/26/2024 at 12:48 PM, Cincala said: Don’t understand the water pump idea! Remove the air stone and connect a small water pump to the air line connection on the filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincala Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 On 5/26/2024 at 11:12 PM, Galabar said: I fluidized bed is meant to be used with the light, plastic media that comes with it. It is designed to tumble when the air is added. Also, it is meant to convert ammonia and nitrite to nitrate. It won't remove nitrate. For a planted tank, I think the 10 ppm - 20 ppm of the tap water should be just fine. It is fertilizer for the plants. So, I'm not sure that you need RO. If you want something to run media in, my suggestion would be something like a Sicce Shark PRO. The Sicce Shark ADV is actually much cheaper and probably much more convenient to add media. However, the suction cups wear out quickly. So, I can no longer recommend it (if you are in the Seattle area, I can give you one 🙂). Sorry to get back to you all so late! The Sicce Shark Pro and the ADV are $40 and up, don’t think I want to waste that money! Thank you for the offer of giving me one, but I’m not in your area. Thanks again! On 5/27/2024 at 7:12 AM, doktor zhivago said: The smallest shark pro has almost way too much flow for my 40 gallon even on the lowest setting. In a ten gallon the shrimps would be flying 🤣 I second the adv I think you are absolutely right! 😄 Thanks!!! On 5/27/2024 at 8:21 AM, gardenman said: Since you have too much air, diverting some to a simple box filter that you could fill with alternate media might be an option for you. They're the filters people of my generation relied on when we started in the hobby and still work pretty well. Fluidized bed filters are designed to work with the media they come with. You can't do a lot to supplement them. What kind of box filter do you recommend! Do you know of a good one? Thanks for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmark285 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 On 5/31/2024 at 5:57 PM, Cincala said: What kind of box filter do you recommend! This is the one I remember, Penn-Plax Bubbler Filter. If you want a smaller one, Lee's Triple-Flow Corner Filter Just use your fluidized bed with K1 media (the plastic macaroni :-) for bio filtration, the box filter for mechanical filtration. The K1 media is self cleaning, just clean the air stone once in awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 There are also a lot of cheap Chinese knockoffs for box filters. They all work more or less the same. The box filter gives you a place for mechanical and chemical filtration that you don't get with a fluidized bed filter. They're very customizable and can be equipped with whatever you want. They're not modern, but there are reasons some things hang around forever. They're cheap, efficient, and work. You already have too much air, so putting some to work in a box filter makes sense. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincala Posted June 1 Author Share Posted June 1 On 6/1/2024 at 5:12 AM, madmark285 said: This is the one I remember, Penn-Plax Bubbler Filter. If you want a smaller one, Lee's Triple-Flow Corner Filter Just use your fluidized bed with K1 media (the plastic macaroni :-) for bio filtration, the box filter for mechanical filtration. The K1 media is self cleaning, just clean the air stone once in awhile. I purchased the Penn-Plax Bubbler Filter. I had been looking at it on Amazon yesterday. Think I’ll move the fluidized bed to my 36 gallon bow front aquarium. My Shrimp tank will have 2 sponge filters ( one on each side ), and the penn plax bubbler filled with filter floss, carbon, etc.. I have Hygger adjustable flow air pumps that have media trays on the bottoms, filled with bio balls. Thank you for all your help and advice!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now