Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My new project a "Drum Filter" for aquaponic practicioner

- 60 × 60 × 70 cm
- 2 Inlets : 110mm
- 4 Outlets : 110mm
- 1 Coarse debris flow : 50mm
- 1 Small motor
- 1 Mister pump 12V

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Clearly, commercial systems use them to good advantage, and I wonder if you can make one in smaller scale , and economically..

It will be interesting to see what your skill can produce..
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The plan is to make 3D cutting files globally available so one can get it cut in perspex ( acrylic plastic ), assembly and power to specific needs.

This thread might be helpful for you:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24340&p=496911&hilit=drum+filter#p496655

I look forward to seeing it come together.

If I had room for a bigger system, this would be on my to do list.

Cheers "Colum"
working on a under 300$USD solution to remove solids without loosing water...

What micron mesh are you looking for?

Wedge or sieve?

You'll still loose a little water with it, but hopefully not too much.

Nice one. Watching with interest.

Good on you for going open source!!! I have been tinkering about with drum filters for a while now and had a good look at your drawing. The microns and motors/pump would be up to the individual user. I personally find it usefull to remove larger( more then 100mc) and leave the rest to the bead filters and so on. How expensive do you think the cutting and material would be?
Cheers Ben

Hey Ben,
it should not cost more then $300 in material at 10mm and your local tec or uni cuts for 20c a meter. So $100 cuts it twice.
You will have to glue and screen it yourself. Compared to 3000€ think I can make a dent

It's the stainless steel wire used. It's the way it's weaved, wedge allows more water through without clogging. But it's more expensive.

I'm not sure what's used in a drum filter though, I'm thinking more along the lines of the koi filters that you run the water through and it ends up at the end from gravity.

I would suggest going a little smaller with your mesh. Because a properly set up RFF is supposed to already filter down to the 100 micron size. And their cheaper to build.

Hi
100 micron SS mesh on UK E bay 32 cm by 32 cm about £6

Here are some strainers for paint or whatever that you could fit in a 5 gallon bucket or 55 gallon drum. Might be able to use the drum or bucket as part of the structure. Some of these are nylon and some are HMW polyethylene. I've seen them down to around 75 microns in smaller sizes so you may be able to go that low elsewhere.

http://www.thecarycompany.com/containers/ez-strainers.html

Stainless would be better but a lower entry price might work best for some if these are workable.

edit: Some sort of removable rods to hold them in place was kind of the direction I was going. These might limit you on how the drum was built too.

The more I look at these the more I think they aren't worth the hassle. Some of the ones I thought would work only have a bottom that's the right size mesh and don't go all the way to the bottom of the drum. It's conceivable that they could be made to work but the stainless would be much simpler.

You can;t resist the old paint filter bag Scotty.....