The Combo System

[GaryD]

Hi,

Here's the product of my holiday meanderings.....the Combo System.

This little system started out as a mega bin.....supporting a Nexus Eazy Pod.

The 'Pod is said to be capable of handling the nitrification and mineralisation of 100 grams of fish food per day.

I've retrofitted an old particulate filter sump so that the filter body now comprises four chambers:

1. Sedimentation
2. Packed Media - Kaldnes K1 - 60 litres.
3. Brush Filter - 10 Black Knight - 920mm.
4. Sump

The water drains from the fish tank through the 50mm ball valve and up into Chamber #1....where the sedimentary solids settle out.

The water enters Chamber #2 at the bottom.....and rises up through the K1 packed media......to a weir, over which it passes. The water is then directed through a narrow chamber and enters Chamber #3 at the bottom.

It rises up through the filter brushes....before flowing through a large hole at the top into Chamber #4.

A 4500lph pump moves the water from Chamber #4 up to the Nexus Eazy Pod.

I'm going to keep the Eazy Pod connected to the system to assist the colonisation of the new filtration module with nitrifying bacteria.

The water then exits the 'Pod and enters the fish tank again.

Once the filtration module is fully functional, I'll remove the 'Pod.

My goal is to expand this system to have three mega bins running off of the filtration module.

The departure of the Nexus 300 System (scheduled for January) means that I have to find new tanks for the 94 jade perch that currently live in the system.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

The water in the Combo system is crystal clear and my golden perch are fully visible for the first time.

The lack of overhead cover.....and the fact that their tank is located under a double fluorescent array......and they don't much care for it.

I'm syphoning the solids off of the sedimentation chamber bottom each day.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,

I've been experimenting with the outlet from the Eazy Pod.....with a view to directing fish waste and uneaten food to the 50mm outlet in the tank.

At the moment, I just have the 90mm outlet discharging directly into the bottom of the tank. That creates a current across the bottom of the mega bin and sweeps everything gently toward the outlet side of the tank.....and eventually within the range of the suction from the tank outlet.

The waste doesn't seem to be gathering anywhere.....so, sooner or later, everything goes down the drain.....at this stage.

Gary

[Cecil]

May I please have fries with that? (Here in the U.S. a combo can refer to a meal from a restaurant).

Awesome Gary! Love it!

[Shane]

Neat looking system, looking forward to keeping an eye on its progress.
& that really is a nice sized shed you have there.

[GaryD]

Hi Cecil,

The narcissistic nature of multi-national corporations and translocation of American popular culture throughout the world means that "combo" often means the same thing here, too.....regrettably.

In this case, of course, it's a combination of filter types all within a single housing. Nothing new, about this.....the Nexus 300 filter that we've been using is just one of many filters based on a combination of filtration processes. We've been playing with this sort of thing for the past couple of years.

The big difference is that this combo filter is a fraction of the cost of its proprietary brand name cousins. So far, this one owes me about $200. The particulate filter housing.....and 50 litres of K1.....were given to me by friends.

Gary

[tpilk]

Hi Cecil,

The narcissistic nature of multi-national corporations and translocation of American popular culture throughout the world means that "combo" often means the same thing here, too.....regrettably.

Gary

OMG!!! We've ruined OZ!

[GaryD]

Hi,

OMG!!! We've ruined OZ!

Yeah......well stop it!

Gary

[tpilk]

Hey, I'm going the other direction....I've actually started drinking Aussie wine! The sad part is that it's priced two to three times higher here than what you all pay

[GaryD]

Hi,

The new system is continuing along quietly. It will be several weeks before the Kaldnes K1 media that I'm using in the packed media will develop a coating of bio-film and reach optimum effectiveness. Same with the brush filters .....they need to get sticky enough for the suspended solids to attach to.

In the meantime, I'll keep the Eazy Pod hooked up to the system.

Gary