As some my know a month ago I modified my AC 110 and 70 filters to filter water horizontally with twice the surface area because I got tired of the AC filter design which IMO insufficiently tries to force water from the bottom of a sponge that is too thick (4") when only the first inch is critical in filtering. After only a week the sponge would start to be forced upward lifting the lid and leaning up against the drywall leaking water and bypassing unless the filter was cleaned, also difficult as its thickness made it hard to clean out dirt migrating toward the center.
As in my original AC filter MOD thread rather then two big block sponges with surface area only on the bottom, I split 1 sponge down the middle of its length exactly in half. Then I stack the two halves toward the front of the filter so that there is twice the surface area of sponge exposed to the water. Plastic straws are used in front between the front plastic housing and the sponge face to provide a 1/8 inch gap for exit water that is filtered. Water from the pump now free flows unrestricted through the open grates to form the new reservoir of water behind the 2X large surface area filter sponge. This reservoir applies hydraulic pressure to hold the sponge in place forward position forcing water horizontally with hydraulic water weight pressure (like a dam) rather then like before from the bottom using only pump pressure. The reservoir's hydraulic weight does most of the grunt work while the pump only provides water to the reservoir under minimum load. A dam is also created with a spillway at the top of the sponge which is still 1/2 inch lower then the plastic tank encase both sponges were to get completely clogged.
After running this MOD for 30 days without any maintenance or loss in performance I had almost forgotten about maintenance and filter quality is much better not having to once clean or adjust the filter in 30 days. In fact today when I thought for the first time the filter flow had slowed to a trickle, after cleaning the filters the filter was still at a trickle because there was an obstruction in the pickup tube strainer which had actually caused the clogged trickle and not the filter sponge filters which it turned out I did not have to clean LOL, perhaps for another month.
The MOD is truly quite a remarkable improvement, so much so Iv decided not to sell my AC 110 and 70 which I received free as part of a craiglist tank buy, they have become true work horses now without the high maintenance and sponge pushups.
As in my original AC filter MOD thread rather then two big block sponges with surface area only on the bottom, I split 1 sponge down the middle of its length exactly in half. Then I stack the two halves toward the front of the filter so that there is twice the surface area of sponge exposed to the water. Plastic straws are used in front between the front plastic housing and the sponge face to provide a 1/8 inch gap for exit water that is filtered. Water from the pump now free flows unrestricted through the open grates to form the new reservoir of water behind the 2X large surface area filter sponge. This reservoir applies hydraulic pressure to hold the sponge in place forward position forcing water horizontally with hydraulic water weight pressure (like a dam) rather then like before from the bottom using only pump pressure. The reservoir's hydraulic weight does most of the grunt work while the pump only provides water to the reservoir under minimum load. A dam is also created with a spillway at the top of the sponge which is still 1/2 inch lower then the plastic tank encase both sponges were to get completely clogged.
After running this MOD for 30 days without any maintenance or loss in performance I had almost forgotten about maintenance and filter quality is much better not having to once clean or adjust the filter in 30 days. In fact today when I thought for the first time the filter flow had slowed to a trickle, after cleaning the filters the filter was still at a trickle because there was an obstruction in the pickup tube strainer which had actually caused the clogged trickle and not the filter sponge filters which it turned out I did not have to clean LOL, perhaps for another month.
The MOD is truly quite a remarkable improvement, so much so Iv decided not to sell my AC 110 and 70 which I received free as part of a craiglist tank buy, they have become true work horses now without the high maintenance and sponge pushups.
