The Dennerle scaper's flow HOB / canister filter is a really interesting design which offers a decent provision for both mechanical and biological filtration. Trays are really easy to set up with alternative media / foams and they fit together very securely to eliminate bypass. The top media tray holds around 550g of Biogravel so is really suited to normally stocked tanks of around 60 litres (16 US gallons) or heavily stocked tanks of around 30 litres (8 US gallons) if you want to achieve a full cycle. If you are using this on a well planted tank you could achieve a full cycle in 100 litres+
A full cycle is completed by bacteria - the aerobic part of biological filtration which processes ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate followed by an anaerobic part which processes nitrate into soluble nitrogen which bubbles off to the atmosphere. Therefore it requires a suitable amount of excellent quality filter media to be able to provide the environment for both aerobic AND anaerobic bacteria - that is what Biohome ultimate does perfectly but even with such good media there are limitations and we recommend the following amounts for different stocking scenarios: (1 US Gallon = 3.8 litres) (1kg = 2.2 lbs) Average community tropical aquarium = 1kg per 100 litres Average coldwater aquarium = 1kg - 1.5kg per 100 litres Predator aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Large cichlid aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Malawi / Tanganyikan aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Marine aquarium = 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres Average mixed fish pond = 1kg per 200 litres Average koi pond = 1kg per 150 litres
You may be disagreeing with the above figures but remember that they are for a FULL CYCLE not half a job - achieving 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite is quite easy since aerobic bacteria grows freely on any surface but the anaerobic bacteria responsible for COMPLETING the cycle needs more a specialized habitat. Size a filter properly, set it up sensibly and you will have perfect water - it's that simple....and your filter won't be the dreaded 'Nitrate factory'.....you'll spend less money on treatments too......basically the filter is the foundation of a successful aquarium.
This series of videos is all about trying to squeeze more efficiency out of internal and external aquarium filters which generally have a limited filtering capacity - If you have a filter you'd like me to feature in a video then please contact me on: [email protected] 07772848730 (Richard)
Anyone who sends a filter (UK only at present) will have it upgraded and returned to them for free and the only cost you will pay is how much it costs to ship it to me - I'm helping to boost your filter and the resulting videos will hopefully be useful to viewers all over the world so it's a win/win.
The following videos will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about filtration, bacteria and making the conditions for your fish as good as possible: Sizing a canister properly and filter set up: https://goo.gl/om19un Looking INSIDE different filter media: https://goo.gl/hZWS6c Bacteria and filter media: https://goo.gl/123gAF How to clean an aquarium: https://goo.gl/bPMhvh Aquarium tips / filtration playlist: https://goo.gl/pXgqVj
Check out my channel for hundreds of videos on a wide range of my hobbies - many of the videos have educational content so if you have enjoyed any give them the thumbs up and share.
This channel is purely a hobby for me so I will never ask viewers to donate money for any of my projects or charge anyone for information - information should be shared freely and I certainly don't consider myself an 'expert' in anything I pursue as a hobby so please do your own research, never accept anything as 'fact', reject anyone claiming to be some sort of authority or 'expert' and make your own minds up about anything you wish to study.
If you've enjoyed this video please check out the playlists on my channel for hundreds more - on a variety of subjects. Feel free to share or link any of my videos on facebook, twitter, forums etc. for the benefit of anyone you think may also enjoy watching. See you next time. Pondguru
AI Generated·May contain errors
Hello there, welcome back to another edition of Pimp My Filter.
In this video we're going to be
taking a look at something that is a little bit different
to what we've looked at before
and that's because it's almost a hybrid of two different filters.
It is a hang on the back filter
but also it's a canister filter as well.
This is it here.
This is a Dennerle ScapersFlow hang on external filter.
So it recognises the
fact that it is a hybrid.
It's hang on the back but it's also a canister filter.
Now this particular filter has actually got a very low flow rate,
it's only 360 litres per hour, which is about 75 to 80 US gallons,
maybe it's a little bit more, my maths is terrible,
but you can look it up, 3.8 litres in a US gallon, you do the maths
on that one, and it's rated for tanks between 30 and 120 litres.
Again, 120 litres would be 30 to 35 US gallons, or thereabouts.
So it's for quite small tanks.
But it does have a lot of good features,
and it packs in quite a lot of media.
Let me show you how it works.
Okay, that's our filter there.
Now that basically just hangs on the back of your tank,
just like an ordinary hang-on-the-back filter would.
But this sits well below the waterline.
Because it's a pressurised unit, you can get away with that.
Draws water in here through a little sponge covered inlet,
goes through a series of trays
and it spits back out to your tank.
There you go we've got a top down view.
See how it hangs on there it's got
these little hangers that are detachable
and that just keeps it nice and straight on the back of your tank.
It opens up just the same way as a canister filter does
and the fittings are actually pretty good.
I'm impressed with the overall build quality
of this thing to be honest with you.
Okay and in here we've basically got two removable trays.
Okay so without the main
body of the filter on that's how it would come set up.
So your water would come in here down
and it would just spread out along here.
It would go down the sides of the trays
and then it would rise up through the trays
and back into the pump and out to your tank.
On your intake of your pump there there's a rubber seal
and that presses into here to prevent any
bypass. It basically has to suck water through the trays.
Okay these are the trays and when it came
it had nothing in this top tray.
I think it's meant to have ceramic rings in there.
I've just put Biohome Ultimate in for the time being
and in there I could fit
400 grams
which is just short of one pound of Biohome Ultimate.
And in the bottom, it's set up how it would come from the manufacturer.
The close-up on the trays there,
they actually fit together with little plastic clips there.
You just press on the side and take them apart.
They do fit together very, very well.
So I've explained what's in the top tray.
In the bottom tray, basically all you've got is
a thick, reasonably coarse pad, which actually does a pretty good job.
That's a very, very good quality foam in there.
And then on the top, you've got a cartridge.
Which has got like a plastic skeleton
and sandwiched between two bits of fine material is some carbon.
Obviously that would need replacing every seven to eight weeks.
So bottom tray mechanical, top tray biological.
I actually laid those in very very neatly,
that's the only way I could get up to 400 grams in there.
And if you fancied maxing it out even
more you could use some of the bio gravel
and you'll actually get
550 grams in here, just.
Okay so that's a nice neat little cartridge to remove from this filter.
Before I drop this back
in you might notice there's a little bit of space in the bottom,
probably about that much,
which isn't very much.
You could get some tiny rings in there like the Eheim mech,
I personally don't think there's much point
but if you wanted primary settlement
that would be the place to have it.
Put the top back on which is actually pretty difficult
unless this thing's hanging on the back
because you've got these removable hooks and
Put them on, and then as you hang the thing on,
they kind of slide up and lock it in position.
See how that's locked in there?
That makes it quite steady, so if you've got it hanging
on the back of a tank, it's easy
to drop this on.
If it's not on the back of a tank,
it makes these things
a little bit floppy.
You see?
That's not ideal, but I do like
the idea that they are removable.
And the intake and the outlet pipes just lock into there.
Now that is a pretty good self-contained filter.
And everybody's got space for one of those on the back of the tank.
Now I really like this filter.
It's certainly better laid out than a lot of those very very
plasticky clear hang on the back filters
which don't get much in and rely on cartridge systems
or revolving wheels or equally useless bloody things.
This one actually is very very useful
and if anybody's wondering about problems priming
the pump with this sitting quite low on a tank,
It's actually got a little removable cap here with a good seal in,
so you just fill it up with water, put that back in as so,
to make it pressurised, switch the pump on,
and then because the pump has got water in it,
it's got enough to push water out and therefore draw water in.
It's really well thought out, really well made,
it's got quite a large capacity for media.
And if the truth be known, I wouldn't really change much about this.
That's why I've just left the bottom section as it is.
Although there is another option with that.
So if you remember,
the bottom section just had a big lump of coarse foam and a pad.
It's a very specifically shaped pad that you couldn't
really buy another carbon and fine pad and cut it down
because it does have a hard plastic skeleton.
That makes you reliant on buying pads.
You could go with a layered approach. That's a coarse, medium and fine.
And the coarse and medium are actually joined together
to make like a sandwich effect.
And that fits into the bottom
tray very, very well. Like so.
So really there's no need to buy the manufacturer's replacement parts.
You can just do your own. Just make them out of pond foams
or big foams that are sold for aquariums.
Basically just stuff you can cut down yourself.
It'll save a lot of money.
And if you wanna put carbon in,
you would just put it in a bag in the top of the top tray.
So you'd go mechanical, biological, chemical
in exactly the right order.
I will put this on a tank now
just to show you exactly how it should be set up,
but I'm not gonna set it away
because this is actually gonna go back to a guy called Stuart
who was good enough to send it up to me.
Now this is actually a very, very neat system
just for lifting straight off.
You get a couple of little drips and that's it.
There's
no mess.
There you go.
Apart from the little bit of water coming out of here,
there's barely a drip from this.
And what that means is you can take it away to your sink,
give it a good clean and bring it back with minimal mess.
A few drips and that's it.
Right, I'm going to get this thing pulled to bits now
and sent back to Stuart, who'll be using it on his tank.
But I may as well give you my closing thoughts
on it before I package it up and get it back.
I think it's a good filter.
I really like the design of this.
I don't generally like the idea of a hang-on filter
because of the over-reliance on cartridges and so on, but this one...
It basically just leaves it up to you.
It comes with the cartridge, obviously. If you don't want
to use that, you don't have to.
It's not a really, really awkward shape with little things that you've
got to slide in and out. It's basically just
a canister filter that hangs on the back of your
tank. Really, really well designed thing which,
given that Dennerle is a German company,
probably shouldn't surprise you.
I'll put the link to this in the video description and check it out,
it may be a good one for you, more so if you've got a planted tank
with a few fish because of the low flow rate, it's not going to pull
in masses of fish waste, it's not an FX6 or anything like that,
it hasn't got a huge draw to draw in all the fish waste and uneaten
food and particulate matter in the water, it's just a low impact filter
to keep the water very very healthy in a planted tropical tank.
Now if anybody's wondering that rock feature
that was on that tank where I hung this is actually a
filter. I'm not going to mention anything more about it in this video
but by the time this video
is up I certainly will have done a how-to video on that rock filter.
That is something to behold
so check that out. I'll put the link to that in the video description.
And if you or anybody you know has a filter of any sort
that would benefit from being stripped down and put back together
in the most efficient way, by all means, please get in touch.
My email address is in the video description, as is my phone number.
Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't forward all of the messages to me,
so please use either the email or the phone.
And at present, I'm only taking people's filters
from the UK due to the postage costs.
If I start sending filters all the way around the world at my own cost,
it's going to cost me an absolute fortune.
It's going to cost me way more than it does
to make this series of videos.
But really, for me, this series of videos is all about creating
a huge database of filters in a video sort of form.
So if anybody has this particular filter,
hopefully this video might come up on Google.
Google, they'd be able to see exactly how the filter works
and an example of how it
can be.
Optimised. This isn't a be-all and end-all,
you know, there's numerous ways to make filters more
efficient. I'm just offering you one option.
Thanks very much for watching. I'll see you next time.
