The Great Big Filter Thread

[Valerio]

Hi! About the pump I have chosen the Sicce syncra SDC 3.0, not cheap and maybe not enough for large tanks, but for my 55 Gal it definitely should be. As you said, the more powerful models (6.0 etc) are all geared toward PVC in /out, while the 3.0 comes with hose fittings.
It has a rotating chamber that is convenient if you don't have much space
Plus, they say I could install it with the inlet on top. Do you think it could give me any trouble? It could be more convenient.

Last question: When I do my 75% WC I usually get a lot of air going into the filter, because the water level gets lower than the filter inlet. I have to use the prime button to help the filter push out so much air, since the impeller can't do it alone and it runs "dry". Should I avoid it? How? I am afraid to damage this pump, which is not cheap to me. I am thinking I could disconnect the inlet fitting of the filter and open it in a bucket to remove the big air pocket in it.

 

[BranchScape]

Hi! About the pump I have chosen the Sicce syncra SDC 3.0, not cheap and maybe not enough for large tanks, but for my 55 Gal it definitely should be. As you said, the more powerful models (6.0 etc) are all geared toward PVC in /out, while the 3.0 comes with hose fittings.
It has a rotating chamber that is convenient if you don't have much spaceView attachment 17230
Plus, they say I could install it with the inlet on top. Do you think it could give me any trouble? It could be more convenient. View attachment 17231

Last question: When I do my 75% WC I usually get a lot of air going into the filter, because the water level gets lower than the filter inlet. I have to use the prime button to help the filter push out so much air, since the impeller can't do it alone and it runs "dry". Should I avoid it? How? I am afraid to damage this pump, which is not cheap to me. I am thinking I could disconnect the inlet fitting of the filter and open it in a bucket to remove the big air pocket in it.

Unplug on WC, then on refill before you plug the pump in lift the outlet and suck on the end to create a vacuum and purge air. This is a manual prime. We had to do that to prime a lot of the ADA canisters this last weekend.

 

[Count Krunk]

Yeah just let it slurp in the little bit of air (unplug it) after a wc and let it rip

 

[Aquajack]

I finally got around to testing the Jebao DC 6500 pump and netlea filters. Also part of the delay was waiting nearly 3 weeks for a basic order from Amazon of barbs to fit on the end!

Anyways, I set it up in a temp position in the shed for testing.

1. As @JayP mentioned in an earlier post, the input side is not good to go out of the box. I went to the local hardware store and picked up 4 plumbing fittings (as I didn't use the supplied first connection. Don't ask me why. I think I just had to use what the hardware store had in front of me at the time to make it all work). Then the barb at the end. The outlet, I just used standard 16/22 vinyl tubing with the boiling water trick to connect. Once the tubing reverts back to normal form, its a great connection though.
2. Having to pull water through 2 netlea filters certainly didn't help with priming. It took a bit but got there in the end. Once it started though it was fine. I've only tested with the default sponges but may take one of them out of the second netlea and replace with bio media. Not sure yet. Maybe I'll leave the sponges in who knows. Not 100% sure on the density rating either.
3. Even after running for hours, there must be still a bit of air which I'm not sure yet how to get out. I'm not going to go crazy trying to work it out as its final position will be under a tank, not next to it like this one for a start so that will help a bit. Still I'll try. Could be the new foam still trapping a bit of air, not sure.
4. The 16/22 tubing definitely restricts the ability of the pump to output what it is capable of. But for now it is what it is. A quick test on a ~20 litre bucket (which is a bit more than 5G) gave me 1:30 at the lowest and 1 min at the highest flow. The bit of air in the system might have influenced those results too. Still, results don't sound that great I know. You could see at the highest flow it was pushing what it could, much faster than my current cannister filter anyways. Problem is you could easily convert the output to 1" tubing but that isn't going to help much when the input still has to go through 2 netlea filters with 16/22 connections. I guess, technically you could use 1" tubing throughout and just have the adapters but it starts to get more messy then.
5. To complete the picture I would love to get hold of the official connectors from netlea which has custom plumbing to join multiple netleas together for a nicer more secure finish. However, finding where to purchase them from maybe a challenge.

Anyways, clearly more playing around and experimenting to do.