I have gotten a lot done on the system. This week I got the drumscreen filter and protein skimmer up and running.
The drumscreen is the backbone of the whole system. It removes solids from the water down to 60 microns. For every pound of fish feed the fish eat, they will produce 0.25-0.5 pounds of solid waste. When you feed the fish 40 pounds of food a day that ends up being a lot of poop.
We thought this filter was dead but I was able to do a complete rebuild of all mechanical and electrical components. The pics below show some of the components and how they work
This is the before picture. The drive motor, backwash pump, and screens are gone. The control panel is full of faulty electrical components.
This pic shows the internals of the filter before being put back together. It is all 316 stainless steel. Water will enter through the inlet on the right of the picture. There will be a 60 micron screen placed around the drum which rotates to be sprayed by the blue spray nozzles near the top. Clarified water leaves from the left side of the filter.
The blue backwash pump is back in place. It will pump about 10 GPM at 160psi through the blue spray nozzles in the previous picture. The outlet line is made of stainless to handle the pressure. The pump turns on every few minutes so the constant expansion and contraction of 160 psi of water eventually breaks schedule 80 PVC.
Here it is in action! As the screen gets clogged from the dirty water, the drum starts to fill. The rising water trips a float switch which turns on the drum motor and backwash pump. The backwash pump pressure washes the screen as the drum rotates. A collection tray catches the waste and sends it to the drain. This removes the fish waste from the system immediately instead of it sitting in there.
