adjustable baffles/bubbletrap

[DaBrowns]

I found this on WWM yesterday and was thinking about giving it a try. Has anyone else tried this?? What do you all think?

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/baffles.htm

Thanks

 

[diablo]

nice concept. thanks for sharing the link!

 

[DaBrowns]

I'm "trying" to cut the baffles now...am gonna make them 13" tall but need to know the interior width of a standard 55g tank. I think I'll go with 11 3/4...and cut 11 1/2...but would love to actually know for sure.

 

[diablo]

measures right about 12 inches give or take 1/16th of a inch

 

[DaBrowns]

bump for a cool link to check out...now that more people are awake

 

[theJ]

crap I wish I would have seen that before gluing up my sump! maybe someday I'll drain and install some of these, it would be really nice to move the baffles for maintenance and whatnot.

 

[Llarian]

I'm using one, but the stripping doesn't stay on very well. It does work reasonably well to keep my chaeto out of my return pump, but I've had a difficult time getting it to stay put when in a bubble-trap configuration taking the full force of the water flowing through the sump.

-D

 

[Scooterman]

I would use the stripping as a guide then silicone it once I get it where I want it, It wold make for a neater job & probably hold on better than either one alone!

 

[davidabrown66]

I found this on WWM yesterday and was thinking about giving it a try. Has anyone else tried this?? What do you all think?

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/baffles.htm

Thanks

I looked over that article before I started my sump last year. The problem I had was finding the EPDM molding it talks about. I gave up after looking at several different molding pieces from Home Depot and Lowes. I even tried McClendons which tends to keep more hard to find items, but they even looked at me funny when I asked them about it. I didn't want to use the other types of moldings, so I went with a tighter fit on the pieces I cut, and went with silicon.

 

[Fishead77]

I found this on WWM yesterday and was thinking about giving it a try. Has anyone else tried this?? What do you all think?

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/baffles.htm

Thanks

I tried this and it worked well as long as all chambers (I have 3 seperate chambers) are full of water. When the water in one chamber gets low the water pressure from the next chamber causes the divider to colapse on the lower chamber. I tried it a few times and tried to make the fit very tight. Still didn't work. I ened up siliconing the main wall of each chamber and used the other method for bubble traps. Good idea but didn't work for me. Maybe if your water hieght in the sump is low.

 

[Llarian]

I looked over that article before I started my sump last year. The problem I had was finding the EPDM molding it talks about. I gave up after looking at several different molding pieces from Home Depot and Lowes. I even tried McClendons which tends to keep more hard to find items, but they even looked at me funny when I asked them about it. I didn't want to use the other types of moldings, so I went with a tighter fit on the pieces I cut, and went with silicon.

It should be available at Home Depot, I found it in all sorts of sizes at both the ones in my area. (West Seattle and SODO)

-Dylan

 

[DaBrowns]

I'm going to be trying it soon...so I'll let everyone know how it goes...I found the EPDM @ home depot for under $5 for 18ft...and a plastic shop in town said they would sell me a 13x12in square of plexi for $4...so this whole project will cost less than $30 opposed to almost $400 for the custom sump I designed...we'll see.

 

[charlesr1958]

For those with small tanks or are unable to use a sump, I found that this little easy DIY rig allows the use of an air stone without the mess of having bubbles all over the place.

My bubble trap

Chuck

 

[burban94]

I built one of those sumps, easy and works like a charm.


The post I did back in Jan.:

EZ Pressure Locking Baffles 4 Sumps

 

[davidabrown66]

It should be available at Home Depot, I found it in all sorts of sizes at both the ones in my area. (West Seattle and SODO)

-Dylan

Good to know, thanks Dylan.

 

[ecobalance]

only one

There's no reason to make all of them removeable.The whole concept behind it is so you can put the bafffles closer together and alow more area for the sand bed,so if you just make the middle one removable than you can still get your hands in there for maintance or mabey snail removeable[i've always made them this way]it also alows you to move it higher if you put a bag of carbon in there and still not flow over the baffle.I just cut two quater inch pieces of plexi for each side and silicone them in so the second baffle can slide between them.

 

[ecobalance]

"what can be done with less is done with more in vane"

 

[burban94]

Oh btw, just to let everyone know, EPDM is plain old car weatherstriping. So you should be able to find it at your local auto parts store.