July 23rd Meeting

[davemonkey]

Hey folks!! The July meeting will be the 23rd and we'll be meeting at Kevin's place. PM me or him (kwc1974) for directions/address. We'll be discussing Filtration! Is it needed? How much? How to set the proper flow...etc...

-Dave

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Cool. Finally, I will be in town (I get back in Friday night ha!). I'd be interested to hear what the pros and cons of mechanical filtration are from others. I don't use mechanical filtration myself anymore, but I do have a filter....

I built a Mattenfilter box that fits inside my 58g tank across the back. Yes, bulky, but it was more of a test than asthetics. It has a very slow flow rate, and by design does not do much mechanical filtration if at all, the idea is to make it a biological filter. There is a German page that gets into the mechanics of the filter here, and a translated page here. I used the calculations to get my size, but made it just a little bigger in case I ever got a bigger tank.

For the record, though I have a planted tank, I do have many fish, mostly Tetras, but also Endlers, Bushy-nose Pleco, etc., so I think the filter is helping there. I've yet to ever have an algae problem.

According to the calculations, I purchased a piece of the foam from this site for my project. It is not cheap, it cost $50+ dollars. I built the box from black scrap acrylic I had laying around. As part of the box, and seperated from the mattenfilter, I designed an area that pulls water from the side and then disperses the water through a slit across the entier length of the bottom of the box which provides a slow, steady flow of water form the rear of the tank to the front. The design is powered by a Koralia 4. The current is gentle, and circulates the water in the tank, but does not produce any surface agitation, so minimal CO2 loss there.

As noted, I inject CO2 in my tank, and the output from the reactor is fed into the chamber of my "circulation" design so it gets distributed evently in the tank as well. I also have my heater in there, and also my PH probe. I can post some pics if anyone is interested.

As for water parameters, I stopped testing after several weeks of 0 readings for the usual chemical problems. I add minerals to the water, ferts, in the chamber where it is mixed by the Koralia, and then circulated in the tank.

So, I recently ordered a new rimless tank that should arrive in a few weeks. I ordered the tank as a reef ready tank and will design a sump for a planted tank with minimal agitation of the overflow to avoid CO2 loss. I plan to design my sump with the mattenfilter in mind because I think it really does what it is supposed to do.

The mattenfilter will not be used as a mechanical filter though, it will still be in the same housing I built with a very slow flow rate. The main reason for the sump is to put all the probes, reactors, ATO, heater, etc. in there so it is hidden as the tank is a rimless tank. That said, I will not be filtering the water per say, no mechanical filtration other than the natural settling of particles in the sump where I can remove them from time to time.

'Sorry for the long post.

[davemonkey]

That's great information Albert! If you realyl can make it would you mind discussing that at the meeting. I'll be talking a bit about an experiment I recently did on whether or not a planted tank needs filtration at all, only water movement, or good filtration and the types of flow that work best.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Dave', I'll try to make it. :^(. I am in California this week and get back on Friday, and the wife is thinking of starting our vacation on Saturday since we have not been able to take the kids on vacation this summer and time is running out. This is on the account of my travels. I will know more by Friday though.

[jarrodaden]

Is this the HGAC meeting or is it a meeting for HAAPS? I have never been to one of these, but I am thinking about it.

[davemonkey]

Is this the HGAC meeting or is it a meeting for HAAPS? I have never been to one of these, but I am thinking about it.

This is for HAAPS (the planted side of the hobby). If you are the slightest bit interested in planted tanks, we can get you started on the never ending journey of planted aquaria!

[davemonkey]

We had a great meeting with discussion on filtration. We even made an official vote and an action on club business...that's the first official one since the adoption of the articles and constitution. Anyway, there were 6 people there total and I hope we can continue to grow as a club. Though we are still in an infancy stage, there is a wealth of knowledge to be passed along to/from fellow hobbyists in the area. If you were not able to make it this time, we hope to see you next month.

If you have ideas you'd like considered for next month's topic, please post them in this forum. And if you have a particular plant, or type of plant, that you are needing or wanting to try out or that you have and want to bring as part of our plant swap...post that as well.

-Dave