Didier and Jane in BRUNEI Darussalam

Bonjour ,

Cette idée me trottant dans la tete depuis un bon bout de temps , j'ai décidé de la construction d'un bac a decantation pour mon aquarium a poissons et de me servir de celle-ci pour l'élevage de crevettes vivantes pour mes tortues.

 

Hello,

 

I was wodering for a long time now for a trickle filter for my fish tank and for another purpose : Prawns Nursery for my turtle. 

Main requirements :

 

-A trickle filter big enough to welcome some small prawns in one of the compartment.

-The trickle filter should be big enough to be used with a bigger fish tank further.

-The trickle filter shall be under the fish tank.

-4 compartments for an efficient and reliable filtering (mecanicaland biological).

-1 pump only to save some money and to please my wife for the electricity bill.

-1 pump should provide at least 1000 L/H

-80 Euros max for the overall price

Problems to be solved :

-Using one pump only will introduce an adequate system to extract the water from the Trickle filter to the fish tank with a relevant suscion system.

-Security : in case of problem with the water pump , the water from the fish tank will continue to pour into the filter and involve some flooding.

Buying the material and equipment :
-glass to build the filter: 30 euros

-Water pump 1400 L/H (Made in China) 15 Euros

-Plastic pipes :  20 Euros

-Misc and glue : 20 Euros

 

So far i reach 85 Euros : not so bad......

Trickle filter  :

Size : 71X31X31cm




From the left to the right : 

-Water compartment with the water pump to extract the water from the filter up to the fish tank

-Coral stones , will be dedicated for the prawns nursery.

-Bioballs and ceramic

-Water arrival from the fish tank with mecanical filtering.



So now the water feeding system :

Owerview


Hereafter the system during the testing to check the correct setting to provide an accurate balance system


The pipe dedicated to extract water from the fish tank





Main system body :




The sucion system :



This system is coming from the following post (many thanks for the nice advise)

http://www.aquabase.org/articles/html.php3/trop-plein-sans-percer-aquarium=1118.html


The main problem is the security , so to solve this problem i add for both (water extract and to the water pump) a system to stop the water coming from the fish tank or extract from the trickle filter.

 

I am using a small plastic pipe and apply the hose to a suitable level inside the fish tank. iF the pump stop extracting water from the filter , the water will still pourring from the fish tank (suction). To stop the suction and all process, the pipe will be setup at a correct level and when the water will reach this lever it will stop pourring the water to the trickle filter by stopping the suction process.

 

Same for the water pump from the filter. check the minimum suitable level inside the water compartment and apply the same system.  The benefit is to prevent your water pump to overheat because a lack of water inside the compartment. To maintain both tube i am using a suction cup.



-One hose output to start the suction process
-One hose for the security system

 

The system is simple in fact and we are using the suction laws to balance the flow of water coming from the fish tank thanks to the suction. The most difficult is to find the correct high for the system to provide the right water flow. When done , the water flow will adjust it automatically and balance properly the water level in the fish tank , the water pump flow and finally the water lever in the trickle filter compartment.


Overall system

Hi all,

 

Finally i have my casing for the Turtle Pond. I manage to hide also the trickle filter for a better rendering. The Wood is a special Marine wood from Indonesia.

 

Hi there,

 

So far so good , everything is ok by our side.

 

For two months now i am more than busy with my job here in BSB . The project still on going and on track without any delay.

 

This Year we expect to travel in France to visit the family and enjoy some good French food.

 

One year already in Brunei Darussalam and we still enjoy the country and the life style . As i said before , the life over there is really cool and peacefull . Very far away from the stress we can encounter in Europe . We are expecting to stay as long as possible in Brunei: For family life it is really great

 

In August, the twin will go to the international school. They seems to enjoy school nowadays (Kindergarten)  and i am sure they will enjoy it.

 

As an international Family with different culture (Europe and Asia) , we are targetting for them the same way of life and they really can start to speak in many languages now (English, French, Bahasa and a little bit Chinese) . i am so happy for them and hopefully for them it will be usefull in the the future.

 

So herewith some pictures :

 

 

Bye for now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trickle filter or trickle towers, are filters that are designed for biological filtration of pond water in 'dry' mode.  'Dry' mode filtration simply means that the filter media are not submerged under water.  In the case of the trickle filter, the pond water is instead allowed to drip in small 'trickles' through the filter media, which are usually hundreds (or even thousands) of bio-balls stacked onto each other to form a column or tower. The primary purpose of trickle towers is to reduce the nitrate levels of the pond water and turn green water into gin-clear water.

       

Trickle towers reduce the nitrate level of pond water by exposing the water to a large surface area of good aerobic bacteria that consume nitrates.  The large surface area is achieved by choosing filter media that has a high surface area-to-volume ratio, such as bio-balls (plastic balls that have pegs).  For trickle filters to work, however, their filter media need to be fully colonized by the good aerobic bacteria.  This colonization occurs naturally with time, usually in 3-4 weeks after the pond is filled with water.  Colonization may be accelerated by mixing some 'old' filter media in with the new ones, which in effect 'seeds' the new filter with a small colony of bacteria.

 

For my filter i put both ceramic and bioballs in order to accelerate the chemical reaction in the second compartment.

 

The third compartment is fil up with : small lava rocks, Charcoal (10 % only) and a piece of coral rock to absorbe the bad smell

 

the forth compartment is the last decantation area and the water goes back to the pond

 

 

 

 

 

Bye bye for now

 

 

Gong Xi Fa Cai to everybody.

 

This is the year of  OX , hopefully it will bring prosperity to everybody.

 

Enjoy , Health and love.

 

Didier