Can anyone tell me about their experiences with fluidized bed filters? I tried another forum ( which shall remain nameless) and all I got was a posting saying they weren't popular anymore. Or can you tell me where to go to find out about them?
fluidized bed filter
- Thread starter fishpoor
- Start date
Fluidized bed filters work very effectively for systems that need a large amount of biological filtration. They have the ability to drastically reduce oxygen levels in your tank, due to their effectiveness at filtration though. They maintain such large colonies of bacteria that they can literally use enough of the oxygen in the water column to stress the inhabitants. Good surface disturbance from other filtration sources can help off set that problem. Getting them fine tuned to the amount of water flow you need can be a challenge at first, and water changes where you change the level of water in the tank can be an issue. Turning it off shouldn't be an option, as the bacteria have a huge die off without the oxygenated water passing over them. I don't currently have one running, but they are definitely something something I would use again in a situation where I needed a large amount of bio media in a small space. Hope that helps at all.
Barbie
Barbie
Thanks, & especially for the information about O depletion. How did you have it set up? I was thinking of running it with a powerhead (foam prefilter). But am not sure how big a powerhead it would need or even if it would work. Also I plan to drastically reduce the load as soon as possible. Will the filter cause problems when I do this? Does doing water changes affect it because of the change in draw needed?
I use a fluidized bed filter on my tank along with a canister. I run a Seastorm 60 with a powerhead, I think 304, and a foam prefilter. I've had it running for 4 years. It did take a little adjusting when first setting it up, to how much water flow was needed. Other then that I've never had any problems with it. The only time I unplug the power head is when I take the foam filter off once a month to clean it.
i have one...
the prblem with fluidized bed filter is when theres a power failure..
the sand sometimes gets into the tank
i don't use it anymore since my tanks aren't overstocked anyway. and my other filters can handle the bio load. 
the prblem with fluidized bed filter is when theres a power failure..
the sand sometimes gets into the tank
i don't use it anymore since my tanks aren't overstocked anyway. and my other filters can handle the bio load. I would suspect that a tank so heavily stocked that the oxidation of the ammonia and nitrite produced in the tank dropped the O2 significantly would already be running a severe O2 deficit just from stocking levels. Fish use a lot more O2 than nitrification bacteria.
I have had no problems with the FBFs I have tried, but I did not keep most of them. My primary use was for temporarily heavily stocked tanks such as fry grow-out, since they do seem to respond well to changes in bioload a bit faster than most filter formats. I still have a couple going, but not because of any real need that I see. A bit of media/sand blow-out after power outage is not uncommon for me either. One of my cast-offs is still used on a feeder tank at the LFS.
I have had no problems with the FBFs I have tried, but I did not keep most of them. My primary use was for temporarily heavily stocked tanks such as fry grow-out, since they do seem to respond well to changes in bioload a bit faster than most filter formats. I still have a couple going, but not because of any real need that I see. A bit of media/sand blow-out after power outage is not uncommon for me either. One of my cast-offs is still used on a feeder tank at the LFS.
most new FB filters come with a check valve that prevenst the nedia from back flowwing in the tank in case of a power failure. If they dont it is a piece of cake to add one for $3