Trickle filter return?

ryanoh

Large Fish
Mar 22, 2010
858
0
0
#3
I put a 90 on it at the end last night after I took the video, and it didn't really do anything but redirect the flow of bubbles. I could put another return on it if I had to, but I'm going to try and solve it first with one. If I have one I can slide the drawer open, but if I have two I'll have to take the top off every time I need to clean it.

I'm going to try and cut some teeth into a pvc elbow and see if that will disrupt the flow of the vortex enough to quiet it down. I'm assuming that's where the bubbles are coming from as well?
 

skjl47

Large Fish
Nov 13, 2010
712
0
0
Northeastern Tennessee.
#6
Hello; Looked at the video again. I can spot where the water enters the tank. Still not sure how it operates. Does the long clear tube that runs in from the side carry water from some sort of pump?

Cavatation at the pump impeller came to mind, but if the clear tube carries water from the pump, then it should be visible inside the tube.

Do you draw water from the tank and the pump it up into the box on top of the tank? Then the water falls thru the box and back into the tank?

Might be the drop is high enough to create a water fall effect.

Is there any filter medium in the box. If not, then the medium may slow down the flow.

Some other thoughts. Some people pay good money to have a waterfall in their homes, saying the trickle is very soothing. You could claim that the gurggling is on purpose to create a zen mood.
You will in time get use to the noise. I have a loud air pump that needs to be replaced and have gotten use to it for the most part.
 

ryanoh

Large Fish
Mar 22, 2010
858
0
0
#7
What I ended up doing was adding a 90º at the intake to sort of disrupt the vortex, but it was still pulling a lot of air so I stuck two small airline hoses down into it. This works, but its caused the water level to be a lot higher than I intended and now I won't have that much room for my bioballs to go where they stay dry, and that sort of defeats the purpose.

So, what I'm wondering now is can I go back to the vertical drain, but fill it with airline hoses so the water can't make a loud vortex? I'll try this when I get home after work today, I'm just wondering if anyone's tried something like that before. There's actually not a whole lot out on on the web about top mounted trickle filters and how the water gets back into the tank...
 

ryanoh

Large Fish
Mar 22, 2010
858
0
0
#9
The clear hose was water coming from a powerhead, but I'm going to replace that with the spraybar from my canister when I actually install the filter. I was able to pretty much silence the thing with the airline method I mentioned above, so that's good.

The point of the bioballs being "dry" is the whole theory behind a trickle filter. Nitrifying bacteria grow better with more oxygen, so having the water trickle over them rather than submerging them capitalizes on that.

I'll post more pictures later when I have the drip plate finished and the bioballs in.