Thanks so much Cory! Means a lot to know you've found the channel. Glad you enjoyed the project. I always enjoy experimenting with air powered filters, and have learnt a lot from you and Dean over the years! Thank you!!
My approach is really simple and very affordable - take the benefits of undergravel and sponge filtration, and combine it with DIY Co2, estimative index fertilisation using dry salts, and a siesta dual lighting period. This combination maximises plant growth, reduces algae, and creates incredibly health root systems for the plants. All those methods might sound complicated, but once you watch my Mission and Vision playlist - ru-vid.com/group/PLzvyg5tMYencf1K8yLjRfCRlLQgi4Bz9w - you will be on track to create your own affordable aquascape in no time at all! Let me know what you think, and please ask any questions below and I'll be sure to respond ASAP! Cheers! 👍
Hi there. If you scaled up this method up you could definitely use it on larger aquariums, but I would be hesitant to recommend it for Goldfish simply because of the amount of waste they produce. Your going to want more mechanical filtration than this will achieve I suspect. 👍
I would have thought the holes in the pipe after being covered in gravel would be significantly higher resistance to the flow and 99% would be drawn from the sponge filter, would have been cool to see your dye test after the gravel was put on there, also drilling the holes on the underside or lots of holes would decrease the clogging, or actually use a plenum rather than a pipe, I recently 3D printed my own UGF because it was significantly cheaper than buying one, novel idea though, I like it.
Hey everyone! I have created a quick update about this video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AOGqLJbbDXk.html Hope you find it useful!
Thanks so much, really appreciate the support! Currently sat in the basement putting the finishing touches to a project that takes this idea in a whole other direction, so keep an eye out for that video coming soon. Pretty excited about it! 👍
Completely with you, I went over to air only about 7 years back and it’s save me an absolute fortune! And now with energy prices rising it has made it even more worthwhile doing. Great tank looks awesome and just pennies to run!👍
Hey hey! So glad you liked it. Awesome that you've been on a similar journey. Really hope we can spread the word that you can do an air driven high tech tank! 👍
with such minimal bioload you can easily build this without the intrusive sponge part, just go full under gravel filtration ... and the rdy made sets are dirt cheap, especially for such a small tank. A set with under gravel plates for up to 42x28cm + adjustable air lift pipe + silicon air tube + bubble stone I get for around 7-9 bucks here in Germany. I manage even breeder tanks (full house) for shrimp and dwarf crayfish with such sets, a single fish bored to death rly doesnt need a sponge+under gravel setup. Also pretty silly to add the CO2, air driven filters bleed out CO2 ... get rid of the CO2 and use a silent pump instead of air for the filter (also dirt cheap), you will end up with pretty much the same CO2 levels.
Hey hey, thanks for watching. I've actually switched to an undergravel plate after breaking it down earlier this year. The idea of the sponge/undergravel combo was to slow the undergravel flow somewhat so that it behaved more like a plenum. I have to say, the plant growth was definitely better with this original setup. As for the Co2, I simply don't buy the "you can't use Co2 with air powered filtration" argument. Plenty of people do it, including Cory and Dean at Aquarium Coop. As long as you minimise surface agitation and use a drop checker to dial in the Co2, it works a treat. 👍
@@AquariumShed the point wasnt that air driven filter dont go together with CO2! But that the use of air driven filters creates a need for added CO2 were in most cases isnt one ... and that most setups would easily maintain the level of plant grow by just exchanging the air for a slow waterpump while dismissing the additional CO2. So ofc you find a lot of people using CO2 together with airdriven filters, they practicly force it up on their setups as without fixing the CO2 loss problems like slow growth or hair algae come up. As for Aquairum coop and other such "experts" ... you should realize its benefitial to their business/shops/sponsoring to present and sell the needlessly complex/expensive solutions. Same with the channels who tell everyone to religiously do waterchanges all the time ... no better way to sell more branded fertilizer and watertreatment solutions if you convince the amateurs to throw their aquarium water into the sewage on schedule. Not much of an argument to point to those people for expertise, ofc they wouldnt show how to achieve the same results with less. And no, I dont argue against airdriven filters in general, a couple of my tanks rely on undergravel filtration with airpumps ... its just not a good/cheap choice for the kind of pretty aquascapes given the CO2-related issues.
Do You think it will be working with skimmer? To make another pipe and make a skimmer? Could you make video about this solution? Make more video's with filters like this, I love it 👍🏻
Thanks for the feedback, always useful to know what content people are interested in. You've definitley got me thinking, and I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work in theory. I might even be able to customise an acrylic skimmer to form part of the filter. Leave it with me, and I'll see what I can come up with! Cheers.
The only problem I see is the fact that u put powdered material and or substrate directly onto the tubing. I can see it being drawn directly into/clogging the pathway of the water. Covering it with mesh, screen or landscaping cloth would prevent that.
Yeah, it's a good point and something I was concerned about to. The main reason I think this hasn't happened or at least isn't hindering the flow is that the sponge is pulling in lots of waste material and that is installed the opposite side of the outflow with the undergravel bit in between. When I come to break this tank down eventually, I'll be sure to provide an update and observations! 👍
Like your idea very much and cheap easy to find materials to work with BUT by drilling small holes along the top side of the pipes, doesn't that reduces the negative pressure at the end of the spong filter thus makes the latter less efficient? Your precious advice is welcome as I'm a new beginner to aquarium.
Hiya. Yes,by combining the two it definitely makes both elements slightly less efficient. But the idea is to slow the flow through the gravel so it behaves like a plenum. By encouraging nitrification at root level, you can get some pretty impressive plant growth with a setup like this. Some people just slow there ug filter right down, but I thought this was a good way to still achieve some extra biological filtration, and the hybrid design seems to have worked well. I've actually done a little breakdown video of this tank if you are interested - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AOGqLJbbDXk.htmlsi=LPPiCF2SNeSMrJWX Hope that helps! 👍
@@AquariumShed Thanks man. I really appreciate your quick response. I will certainly try your idea on my new 57 liter aquarium that I'll be purchasing soon. I will keep you posted of my progress. I watched Dr. Novak's plenum/substrates system which works wonders to most of fish keeping lovers but I will try yours as it's more simple. Based on your system, how often do you recommend to change the water and siphon the fish excrements & leftover food off the substrate? Cheers.
I'm still so confused by air driven filtration in general! Like in a small sponge filter I get it, it's not so much flow, but to go through the pipe through the gravel with so many holes how does it travel all throughout enough if there is no seal and a water pump? I love the idea, but until I fully understand something I'm afraid I'll stick to the tried and tested, but I love it when I'm puzzled and curious about something. Can someone explain this as if I were a 5 year old? :D
Hiya - if you look at the Wikipedia article for an airlift pump (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlift_pump) there is quite a straightforward explanation. I just think of it as upward displacement. The air is less dense and so the higher density water displaces it all the way up the pipe. The result being that more water is pulled into the filter, either through gravel or a sponge, in order to continually displace the air. I suppose a super simple way of thinking about it would be to think about what happens when you blow down a straw in a cup full of water. You end up with water spilling out of the cup.... Hope that helps?
Brilliant filtration. One question though. Wont the holes in the pipes get clogged by the substrate and muck? I would put a plastic mesh or something over the pipes to prevent the substrate from directly touching the under gravel pipes & clogging the holes. The bio home particles are big enough and could stay under the mesh around the pipes to provide a home for the aerobic & anaerobic bacteria.
I'm thinking that maybe during my next maintenance I should record me cleaning it with a pipe cleaner and see what comes out since I'm also intrigued but not ready to break it down just yet since it's looking so lovely and has become a cherry Shrimp Breeding ground. But the sponge continues to draw in detritus so my assumption is that the pipe remains unclogged. Definitely agree that a mesh would have been a sensible idea in retrospect! 👍
@@AquariumShed I agree don't break it up if everything is running smoothly. What I liked about your system is even if the holes in the under gravel pipes do get clogged, the pipes themselves will remain clear and the sponge will continue filtering.
Hi. No, the air line just sits at the bottom of the outflow pipe on left side. Via displacement, this draws water through the sponge and the gravel. The only bit of the sponge filter that I used was the sponge itself, which is attached over the 21mm pipe on the right which has several 4mm holes drilled into it. Hope that helps! 👍
hello, I like it and I watched your videos carefully, on this project with this kind of filtration, cleaning the holes that I suspect are getting clogged, after a certain time, and the sponge, how do you clean them exactly
Hiya, thanks for watching. So the sponge is very easy to remove and clean in tank water during regular maintenance. And essentially the sponge is my gauge too, since as long as that it still drawing in waste mechanically, then the water flow is still fine. A few months ago I performed a more intense maintenance and used a flexible pipe cleaner (same used for external filter pipes) to clean inside the filter by removing the end cap and the outflow pipe and pushing it through the system. Only a tiny amount of gravel had made it into the filter which was great news. The gravel I use is JBL Manado and its generally quite a bit bigger than the holes that I drilled. Hope that helps! 👍
@@AquariumShed Thanks, And the water flow, you give the flow rate based on how thick the air leak is, that is, the thicker the air leak, the higher the water flow?
Yeah, correct. The more air, the more flow. It creates an uplift which draws water up and the dispersion pulls the tank water through gravel and sponge! 👍
Hiya. It's biohome and alfagrog biological filter media. I just used some cycled stuff from other filters to kick-start the biological filtration in the gravel. 👍
I couldn't tell in the video, how did you cap off the sponge end of the pipe? Just a regular end cap? I like your idea of keeping it air powered but still having good flow. I have a 10 gallon with a sponge filter and want to increase flow but not buy a bunch more equipment!
Hiya. So I couldn't find proper plumbing end caps (tho I'm sure they exist), so what I've actually been using is 20mm rubber end caps which I found on Ebay - www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254024472625?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=l5g4WtCsQRG&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Qh0CKkqARl2&var=553362400900&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Also, thanks for the positive feedback. I've customised quite a few of my sponge filters in a similar way now, it's great for directing the flow better!
No worries, don't know if you have spotted my other videos, but in a couple of my tanks I've now created a spray bar for the air powered filter which works really well too! 👍
That's very simple yet looks amazing. Do you have to use a higher co2 dose when using an air driven filter? I always notice that my tanks co2 levels drop if my spray bar causes too much surface agitation, so I assumed an air stone would draw out a lot of co2.
Hiya. Yes the surface agitation will cause some co2 loss but I monitor with a co2 drop checker and haven't had to turn the pressure up on any of my air driven tanks and all their plant growth is incredible. Of course I'm also dosing estimative index which helps too! Glad you like the tank. Thanks for watching!
Hiya, yeah it would certainly be more effective at the undergravel filtration, but I wanted to experiment with combining a sponge filter with an undergravel filter and the results have been fantastic. 👍
🤣🤣 Yes indeed! Kate took a little persuading tbf, but it turned out great. Not sure if you'll fully get the reference in Germany, but Google 'M&S Groove Armada Advert" and you will see the inspiration! Lots of fun putting it together. Hope you are good mate!?
A plenum is an undergravel filter which is operating at a very reduced rate. Because this design is essentially a sponge filter with a long outflow that runs under the gravel, the flow through the gravel is secondary and therefore operates like a plenum. Hope that makes sense!? 👍
