Pool Sand Filter questions

[lepageg]

I've been thinking about this for a while and my limited research revealed very little information on its application for the home aquarium.

So i figured i would ask the experts, maybe people with pond experience that may be using these Pond Sand filters.

Currently i have a home made trickler type filter with multiple drawers filled with different media and its quite easy to change, just pull the drawer and replace the media and that's it, but I'm always looking at improving my system and other options.

I can remember back in the days of the Montreal aquarium, some of the old timers might chuckle, they used extra Large Sand filters with backwash capabilities for their tanks and these were on the humongous side so say the least.

Well I'm planning to upgrade my setup and was wondering if these types of filter are viable for the home hobbyist.  How costly they would be, how noisy would they be, how expensive to run, how efficient would they be, i've heard they can take quite a bit of water when doing the backflush.  I guess it all depends on the load but anyways, sorry for getting too wordy but any tips, ideas, questions or advise would be welcomed.

Cheers,
/ger.

[fischkopp]

What you are looking for are Fluidized (Sand) Bed Filters. It's basically sand in a column, that's lifted up by water flowing from the bottom to the top. At the correct flow rate the sand will be lifted to a certain level, creating the fluidized sand bed. These are great bio filters, as the surface area of each sand grain when lifted become available for bacteria to settle on. Their filter capacity is huge, a small column can provide bio filtration for hundreds of gallons of water.

I run currently three sand beds all are Lifegard Aquatics Fluidized Bed Filter. They have their flaws, but are usually ok once they are up and running. I have seen custom versions too, and they work just as fine or better; they are easy to build since the principle is fairly simple. The cost of running one would depend on the size and the required pump for the flow. My smaller sand beds are power by MaxiJet 900, a bigger one runs with an Eheim 1250. The operation is as silent as the pumps are.

As said, they are very efficient. In some cases, depending on the hight of the bed and the flow rate, there can be an aerobic and anaerobes zone, effectively running nitrification and also stripping nitrate out of the water! These filters are also maintenance free, just keep them running 24/7, no back flush is required, because no dirt gets trapped. Any dirt entering the filter will simply be flushed out the other end in normal operation.

I love these filters! I keep one of my 180+75, and have 3 running each on a 30gal - which is way overkill btw.

[Al]

I agree with R's comments - fluidized beds are terrific bio filters and have huge capacity. If you mechanically filter your water before it ends up in the fluidized bed, there is never any need to backflush or do any kind of maintenance. As stated, depending on the size of the bed, different gph flows may be needed. In smaller beds like the FB300 from Lifegard, I believe they hold around 3 lbs of sand and do a commendable job bio filtering a tank. I don't know about R's experience, but I have used the Lifegards before and they were terrific. In the last couple of years their build quality has suffered and it has been reported that they have had reports of "too many" leakers. Worth investigating. I had even called Lifegard at one time to question this with them and they acknowledged the issue and were investigating a change in manufacturing location.

If you are ever interested in a fluidized bed purchase, I have available a larger custom made unit which is 6" wide PVC (you can imagine just the cost of 6"clear PVC tube, today) by 20" high probably holding about 25+ lbs of sand - I had it running on a small sump of about 36 x 12 with a 3-4" water level with highly overstocked tanks and it never missed a beat. That was the filtration, period. Just water entering the sump splashing over a coarse sponge and floss material, then straight to the FB. You can filter a small system with this type of filter. By the way, these FB filters typically use fine silica sand and not pool filter sand, making the suspension of the sand a lot easier and increasing contact area for bacteria.

If you would like to rather do your own project and have a look at my unit and how it was set-up, connected, etc let me know and you can drop by anytime, with either beer or coffee.
Good luck.

[lepageg]

Thank you for your response.

Wow, these FSB filters seem quite efficient and a few of them linked together with different media could make quite the system and the price seem reasonable. I will read-up some more into these fluidized bed filter, they seem intriguing.

but just so you know I am thinking of a 300-500 gallon system with a flow rate of 1500-2500 gph, but that may change.  This is an example of one of the units i was considering.

http://www.seagatefilters.com/Small-BioFilter-Systems/FP-1200-B-Xtreme-Filter-and-Pump-Systems-p-51.html

what do you think?

btw, Al, i wouldn't mind taking your offer over a beer or Coffee. I'm sure we could have some interesting conversations and brainstorming ideas...lol

Cheers!

[Al]

let me know when you want to visit
I can sell you my FB with a 2400 gph pump which is what my system ran on, a lot cheaper than your referenced item and much more compact system and ideally you will prefer a clear FB (most aquarium FB like lifeguard, etc are clear so you can visually see action and make adjustments when necessary. lifeguard and similar systems like mine are dedicated aquarium units, not to be critical but your link is an overpriced pool filter for an above ground pool but that's just my opinion if you were looking at lets say a small Lifegard FB300 you could probably get one for $100 plus or minus and then buy a pump for another 150-250 depending on what you want A lot cheaper, better dedicated operation and morw compact , you can even hang it off the back of your tank For spmething larger, what I have could easily run a 500G system , again at a much more cost effective price than 695, assuming US plus tax
lots to think about but fluidized bed systems are excellent

[Al]

I quoted a 150-250 pump because you said you wanted to run a 3-500G system For a smaller system, a small powerhead would do it, even cheaper to set up

[bergenm]

I have used pool filters on a number of systems over the year but they have always been used in retail pet store applications, typically with 2000 - 5000 gallons running through the system.

I can't see any benefit in running one on a smaller system - they suck a lot of hydro, they make a lot of noise and they spill a lot of water...

I currently over-winter 8 very large koi in a 600 gallon holding pond in the basement with a basic 2000 gph pump running sponge/bio-ball filters with no issues.

[lepageg]

Thank you for all for your responses.

It's been very helpful in assisting me make my decision.

I came to the conclusion that its overkill for my system and will stay the course with my homemade Filter.

though the FSB filters did catch my attention, but not for now.

Cheers,
/ger.