This is the kind of mechanical filter I had on my system... I just has a piece of filter floss wrapped around the pipe, loosely, with an egg crate shelf to catch stuff. It was highly inefficient.
And so I replaced it with this:
I extended the PVC drain another six or so inches down in the water and used a t-cap with a small vent in the side that is at the water line. The whole thing is double wrapped in filter floss. Underneath the floss, the water has to pass through about a cup and a half of carbon, which I will replace once every thirty days. (once a month.)
I feel like this system is much better because it doesn't allow as much detritus from entering into the sump. Maybe later on down the road I will buy a filter sock so all I will have to do is wash them, but for now, quilters batting is handling it pretty well. I'm going to try to replace the filter floss once every five to seven days. I know that is longer than many of you would go, but considering that I usually don't replace my media but once every two months, this is a big step up for me.
Also, I added a powerhead to my sump to stir up detritus and push it back into the display tank for the corals to eat and for it to get stuck in my new filter (which I will replace this weekend.) I blew out the sump of all the detritus that I could and have gone back several times now and moved the powerhead around to stir up the rest of it. I think cleaning out the sump and keeping it clean will go a long way towards maintaining low levels of nitrates and phosphates that SPS corals seem to thrive on.
Thanks for reading.
