Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This filter is designed to be downstream from a radial flow filter. The really big solids will be ideally settled out of the solution by the time it gets to this stage. I'm thinking that I will make the screens finer as they get towards the bottom. To clean this filter you would just have to pull out the 6 Inch shroud and spray (backwash) it. What do you guys think about it? Does anybody know what grades of 316 stainless screen to use?

Move the inlet higher than the outlet, change the stainless steel screens to sponges / shadecloth / birdnetting.

Is that to prevent back pressure?



Why's that?

The finest screens would get stuffed first if by nothing else by biofilm.
Brushes might work and they are easy to clean.

Raise for back pressure, yes.

not stainless steel because there are much cheaper option that will actually work better.

or get some Matala filter mats they come in 4 different densities and are very firm so can easily be sprayed clean or hit against something
I just bought some as media to plant in for my strawberry towers instead of expanded clay

This what I've been thinking about

If you're going to do it that way use HDPE or LDPE pellets, 4-6mm, they are a lot more robust than expanded polystyrene and have a SG of about .95 so they are not as floaty.

Sleepe, I agree, brushes would work and they would be easier to clean because you'd just jam them into the shroud instead of figuring out a way to secure them.



Yavimaya, the stainless screens come in 12"x12" sections for 5 bucks. It'd be a one time purchase too. It sees like screen would work better than filter mats because they'd be easier to clean off. gunk might get inside of the mats and make them disposable. Mats have the big advantage of harboring bacteria though.



Tom, So you'd suggest using the 4 different densities in sequence down the tube like that?

Yep I think 4 stages would work well for that and they are easy to clean and tough... I do think that a screen would be very likely to block up quickly and since the matala mats have more thickness it would not clog

The main filter for my 6'x2.5'x2.5' aquarium is a 4ft fish tank as a sump with 4 partitions made from the plastic "egg crate diffuser" for flouro lights sandwiching standard poly filter.
They jam across the tank forming 5 divisions for the water.
Water enters the the first division and percolates through all 4 filter plates to the end where its pumped up to the tank.
As the first plate becomes clogged the water to flows over it making the next plate the first one and so on.
In reality all 4 collect dirt but each to a lesser degree.
To clean I remove the first plate and pressure clean from the hose, move all the other screens screens forward and replace the cleaned screen at the back, this means I only clean one screen at a time and only loose bacteria from the one screen.

I'm still not understanding why mats would be easier to clean than steel screens. It seems that they are the same thing basically. Once the top layer of each gets clogged on either, they will be clogged. The difference is that mats can be clogged from within too.

mats clog within yes, but they create less of a covering on the surface than a screen.

I'll definitely consider using them then. I know most cartridge style filters in fish tanks use mat filters so there's probably something to it. Thanks!

Mats can be more coarse because they are thicker and still capture as many particles as a thin fine screen can which means they take longer to clog.