DIY filter set up using 2 canisters?

[amiller0521]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping I could get some helpful insight into an idea I have for a filter for my turtle tank. I have one red-eared slider currently in a 20 gallon tank (will be upgraded soon). I already have a Eheim 2215 filter and a Cascade 1000 filter. I realize either one of these should be sufficient for this size tank but neither are working quite as well as I would like. So for the sake of not buying a whole different filter and also trying to maximize with what I have, I came up with an idea to use both (see attached diagram and please ignore that I didn't include in the diagram the dock and lights, they are there I promise). I still plan on changing out 50-75% of the water periodically as needed but I am hoping this will overall keep the tank cleaner and healthier for my turtle and might even solve some of my upgrade problems for the future.

I've done a bit of research on this already and saw people with similar ideas talking about using one of the canisters as a subfilter by removing the impeller and having the motor from the second doing all of the work but those same posts also said that that would reduce the flow of the water which won't work well in my case. So in my idea I would be removing the impellers from both filters and attaching a stronger water pump to the end of the system to pull the water through and push it back to the tank. I already looked at some pumps on amazon and they looked fairly inexpensive but I'm not sure exactly how strong of a water pump to get for a system like this on a 20 gallon tank though so I would really appreciate any recommendations? Anyway, I'm hoping by setting up my filters this way I could use more media overall and have my biological media separated from my mechanical/chemical media so that I can just clean the mechanical/chemical media more often without disturbing the biological media for better long-term results. I'm also hoping that when I upgrade to a larger tank I could just upgrade to a stronger water pump to keep this system working. Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[Urban Aquaria]

I guess you can look at getting an external pump that has a flow rate around 10x the water volume for a start... so in your case, if the tank is 20 gallon, you should get a pump that can move around 200 gph.

It may be a good idea to get an even higher flow rate external pump to compensate for the expected slowdown in flow, due to the inherent restrictions as water travels though 2 canisters worth of filter layers. If the flow ends up too strong, an adjustable tap installed after the pump can be used to help moderate the output current.

[Suzerolt]

You can get an external DC pump (not AC pump which always runs at full power).
DC pumps allow you to tune the flow rate by adjusting the power applied. One recommendation is the Jebao DC 6000. It should be in the $140- $170 price range locally depending on where you buy it.
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...6000-DC3000%29
This is what i have at the moment for my 3ft & am quite happy with it.



200gph as recommended by UA = 800L/hr.
The DC 6000 supports up to 6000L/hr (without restriction & head/height). You can set it to a lower power for now & still use it for future upgrades.

[Ipit]

Why not hook up separately. One fails the other is still there. Maintenance could be done on one without affecting the BBs much.


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[BFG]

Why not hook up separately. One fails the other is still there. Maintenance could be done on one without affecting the BBs much.


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I agree with this. You will have a gap in between doing the maintenance for each canister, thus letting the canister filter that has been washed to grow the beneficial bacteria while the matured canister filter handle the tank bioload. While cleaning the canister filter, if you chance that the media is choked with waste and stuff, you can purchase a pre-filter down the road, if you have the funds.

[mikepetro]

From an engineering perspective, it is better to push the water through the filters than to try to pull it through. Your pump will last longer and you will get better flowrates.

Rule of thumb, you never want to restrict the intake of a pump, if you need to slow the flow always do it on the discharge side. The filter would effectively restrict the intake.