New Filter

OK so with all the algae in the tank and the tank crashing and black outs and all that I decided to go with a new filter. I had a fluval 206 and I just wanted something that would work more efficiently with salt water. they work amazing with fresh but with salt it just wasn't cutting it. So i went out and got a wet/dry filter. It came with bio balls, an over flow box and all the tubing and hoses I needed to plumb it.


lets start at the top of the tank. this is the over flow box. the box inside the tank is set just below the surface of the water and it flows into the box. the water then gets siphoned into the back box on the outside where it then goes through a sponge and down into the main filter.


this is the business end of the filter. water comes down the grey tube from the over flow box and there is a large thin filter pad in the back box there. it then gets distributed over a large area where it drips down over top of the bio balls. I have raised the level of the filter because I'm turning it into less of a wet/dry filter and move of a sump. i plan on swapping the bio balls out for live rock and maybe even some beneficial macro algae and sand. but i digress, what you cant see real well in the picture is all my media below the bio balls. I have socks filled with phospha gaurd, nitrate absorbent, and charcoal just to be safe and help get rid of any crud. the water flows from the bio balls down through the white grate and through the chemical media and down into the second compartment through a hole cut in the bottom. I plan on actually sealing this hole and letting the water over flow from the first chamber into the second chamber through a slot that is already cut in the wall just below the black box there.  again im going off on a tangent. the great thing about a sum/wet/dry filter is it allows you to hide all your equipment under the tank. i was able to hang my protein skimmer down below my tank now which is awesome considering it was a real eyesore towering above my tank, before. the water is then pumped back to the tank through the submersible pump shown in the second compartment with the green tube coming out of it.

i did have one issue i was not aware of. over flowing. i had my tank over flow when i was working on the over flow box (had the siphon broken) and the pump from below was still going and..... well duh the tank over flowed but i was quickly able to pull the plug and reestablish the siphon and get things going right.

well just running it a couple of days has done WONDERS my algae has died off a little and its gone from a dark green to a dull puke green. the protein skimmer isn't even really pulling much crud out anymore. (its working just its cleaner crud)



its a bad picture but it shows the last inhabitant of my tank and my tank with less algae.

I'll have to dig deep in the recesses of my gray matter but there is a simple fool proof method of ensuring no overflow issues.. It may have even been posted on this forum.!
Bill
P.s......Looking good though!

well if the power goes out im good. I just don't know to prevent in case of a siphon break and the pump keeps going.

if you have any ideas im always open to them ahhahahaha anything to keep the water off the floors

well my perimeters are all good and the algae has been receding real nicely so i decided to get some new inhabitants. one of which is a turbo snail. This little guy is just munching away at what algae I've got left. Its amazing in the 2 days I've had him hes almost wiped it out of my tank. he has even earned the right to a name..... Scooter

also got a decorator crab that is freaking cool as crap and a scooter goby. pretty satisfied with the tank at the moment this filter has been working amazingly. Saturday i will be adding some corals back in as long as the perimeters are still good and stable.

on a side note i think i'll be adding one of these filters to my 55 fresh water. It's doing such an amazing job.