By Glenn Barrett - Baffle filters are undertank (normally)
installations that require an overflow outlet to be
installed in the tank. An above tank baffle filter would
also be possible, though the design would have to be
slightly different.
Baffle filters have advantages over
conventional trickle systems in that they are significantly
quieter than the wet & dry filters and they have
compartments.
The compartmentation means waters can be
forced to flow through any substrate. This substrate may be
involved in mechanical filtration, or may be involved in
some kind of
chemical filtration.
Here’s an annotated photo of the baffle filter:
Water arrives in a “dump compartment” on the left hand
side of the photo. The distortion visible in the water is
the bubbles from the water arriving. The glass divider on
the right of this section is lower sealed at the base and
water flows down through the filter media in the adjoining
compartment.
In the baffle filter above the adjoining
compartment contains sponges, scourers and scoria, at the
base the media is held in by a coarse red plastic grill. The
water then flows up through a narrow channel towards the
next compartment. It then descends again, through a
compartment that contains the same media as the first. If
the tank contains larger fish, coarser mechanical filters
would be best in the first compartment. The water then again
flows upward into a third and final compartment. In our
example above the compartment contains finer sponges, filter
wool, to polish the water, and oyster shells for buffering.
The water then empties into a collection sump. In this sump a pump sits returning water to the tank.
The entire system is enclosed with lids to prevent evaporation.
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