What about this kind of filter?

[wanderingfish]

hello everyone,
I have not kept fishes for a long time,but I found a very high efficient filter ,so i can raise many fishes.I've diy many of this kind of filter.but i cann't find material(information in English) about this kind of filter.why?it's called tidal filter( literally translated).it's place on top of tank,like trickle filter,but needn't so high, it's water level (filter tank filled with filter material)vary so aerobic bacteria can uptake o2 when waterlevel is low and when waterlevel is high,bacteria can uptake No2. it's a kind of wet/dry filters.they have many other advantage,when filter tank's water siphon into main tank ,the current is strong than usual overflow ,feces can be blow to one side of tank.
they have some disadvantages,sometimes it's very noise,but with this kind of fiter,the most worried about thing is no3 if there are too many fish,ph drop very quickly.is there anyone who have experience with this kind of filter?or anyone interested?

[yikesjason]

This (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48640)guy has this kind if filter along with other filters as well on his 5,000 gallon tank.

[wanderingfish]

This (http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48640)guy has this kind if filter along with other filters as well on his 5,000 gallon tank.

wow,the guy's tank are awesome,i'll study it in detail .but how do he control the waterlevel in the filtertanks,his filtertanks is so big.thanks
the filter i used is no more than 15cm in height,or there are too many noise.

[wanderingfish]

i found one schematic diagram

[wanderingfish]

make a new setup
http://gs162.photobucket.com/groups/t255/LTC3ZG31ZC/?action=view&current=a.flv

http://gs162.photobucket.com/groups/t255/LTC3ZG31ZC/?action=view&current=b.flv

the photo is siphon pipe's component,simply put them together

[wanderingfish]

how it works
1,water come from pump continuously,waterlever rises up.
when waterlever reach elbow of siphon pipe ,water begin to overflow into tank.
When waterlever reach peak of the siphon pipe,the air in siphon pipe is

expulsed,and siphon is formed,because the velocity of watercurrent in siphon pipe

is faster than that come from waterpump,so waterlevel drop.
When waterlever is lowered to inlet of siphon pipe,air is intaken,then siphon is

terminated,thus water current into tank is switched off.then waterlever rise up

again,continuing its next cycle

construction
Depending on the flowrate of waterpump,use different diameter of pvcs like the

photo above.I only use pvcs for drinking water,so I use only three kind of

pvc,diameter of 1\2" 3\4" and 1" .
Choose the bigger diameter of pvc that can form the siphon.because the bigger

diameter have faster flowrate

draining in tank than that come from waterpump,so

that the waterlever can drop when siphon is form.if the diameter of siphon pipe is

too small,it's easy to form siphon,but its flowrate is too small that waterlevel

can't drop.
I use 1/2" pvc for 200L/hour of waterpumps , 3\4pvc for 800L/hour of waterpumps

,and 3\4" pvc for 1200L/hour of waterpumps .Choose diameter of pvc rough,because

it's almose impossible that a particular diameter of pvc making up siphon pipe can

form siphon and terminate the siphon withal .But through simple modification,it's

easy to build the tidal filter.

The configue above aren't alway forming siphon,but by simply inserting a length

of pvc that is smaller diameter into outlet of siphon pipe,it's easy to fix .the

smaller diameter pvc can be wrap by pvc tape,just like the second video show.the

smaller diameter,the more ease it's to form siphon,but cann't too small.


when the siphon is formed,water level drop,it's best that the waterlevel can lower

to inlet of siphon pipe,and intake air,terminating the siphon thus tidal filter is

done.if the waterlevel stop just above inlet of siphon pine,air cann't be suck in

to terminate siphon,because the flowrate of siphon pipe equal the flowratethat come

from waterpump at this time. but it's easy to fix too,just put a cap that is

slightly bigger diameter than siphon pipe under it,and use something to fix the

cap,such a piece of glass or pvc,just like first video show,the pvc is stuck

between pipe and cap, so they are all fixed.When waterlevel lowers into the cap

,the water in the cap can be drained quickly,so that air is suck into the pipe to

terminate the siphon.if the air still cann't be suck in,try to slow the

watercurrent into the cap,for example,put some pieces of glass on the cap so the

path that water run into cap become smaller.when watercurrent that is draining into

tank is bigger than that coming in from pump ,air is intaken.

above is my experience on building the wet/dry filters.i'm not really good at

English,so if there are some mistakes or confusions ,please let me know ,thanks.

[yikesjason]

Well done. So how has it performed for you?

[wanderingfish]

thanks,I'm very satisfied with this type of filter,because my tanks are always overcrowded,the main maintenance work is daily waterchange keeping the ph ok,if the ph is ok,the discus fishes are vigorous.