Mechanical filtration options
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 1:11 PM
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What do you all find to be the most efficient and user friendly forms of mechanical filtration? I currently use the 7x16" felt filter socks with drawstrings from BRS. I do not enjoy turning each dirty sock inside out to wash them and then turn them back right side out after. My arms get scratched up from the rough edges, and I am generally irritable when this task comes along once a week. I have been experimenting with cutting the socks open and laying them in a tray (eg. plastic pasta sieve) to catch the water. I don't like how much water splash there is with this method, and the BRS socks need to have the cut edges burned/melted in order to keep from balling up and sticking together in the washer. What I do like is the flat filter mats are SO much easier to gather up and shove in the washing machine. I recently saw a sump (for a reef tank) that was drilled in the back pane near the top for a bulkhead to receive the drain water. The bulkhead then had a short piece of pipe and a 45° elbow to point down onto an egg crate tray to hold a filter mat. The brilliant part was that there was a partition/baffle in the sump sectioning off this area that ran all the way to the top of the sump and was 1" off the bottom of the sump so the water flowed through the mat and down under the baffle. There was then a glass lid over this section. This solved the splash problem. I'm not sure if my description is sufficient...? Any other ideas out there???
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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