OMG... I just came up with the best idea...

[froggsong]

What is it you asked? Have you ever wished that your pond filter would actually clean the water (like the stuff on top, not just the stuff on the bottom). I have. Over and over and over again I've wished it. Well, I just figured out how to do it.

I don't think I'll share... This could be a big vivarium product...

Of course, there are probably products already on the market that do it, with my luck...

Anyway, it works by creating a whirlpool, like the drain in a bathtub. It sucks down everything that is collected and deposits it.. well, somewhere. I haven't finished working it out quite yet.

I'm very excited. I've had some Eureka! moments in the past, but not as good as this one! (I've seen lots of things I've come up with making people millions... it doesn't mean I came up with it first, just that I did before it got onto the market.)

So, what do you think? Is there one on the market already, and if not, is is something that would be useful to people other than myself. After all, CWDs poop in the water, and it floats. Wouldn't it be great to effectively flush that crap down the toilet?

[lowcountryfire]

That is an awesome idea!! I have thought the same thing as I clean my BD's cage!! I will do a little research on it and see what I find... I am also working on my own "invention" to do something similar.....

[Jason]

You cant buy something like this on the market for Vivs, but this tech has been around for a long time, not in the same principal that Froggsong mentioned with a whirlpool effect, but is reffered to as Surface Skimming in the reef community, ive built maybe 40 of these things in random sizes and i have a couple ideas on how to get this whirlpool effect your talking about, but as i mentioned this may be a First for Vivarium.

The way i planed to accomplish my surface skimming need was to cut a slit in my background big enough to drag Oils or waste passed it into the FB where a DIY filter would prosses it before hitting the pump again.

As with my plan and yours, hide the Whirlpool as i have to mind the slit i made because the current and pressure required will suck down crickets or smaller fish. Mine will suck them in like an Overflow where yours is more of a Rollercoster/Blender combo lol

[froggsong]

lol, it's a gentle whirlpool. It won't be like that fight between Jack Sparrow and Davey Jones' ships at all, rofl.

Most of what I need to remove is chitin that comes out of the CWD poops when the filter breaks them apart and sucks most of it up as it cleans. The chitin is too light and immediately floats to the surface, where the filter can't get it. Netting the tank everyday is a big pain in the butt, not to mention my dragon gets pissed at me for messing around in his bathtub, lol. There's also the occasional bit of peat moss (floats for quite a while before it sucks up enough water to sink).

I'll have to wait to work on it some more until I get some more equipment. I had to put what I discovered it with back in the CWD tank (working like a proper filter again).

[RecycledAgain]

The water level will have to be constant, to low and air; to high and no whirl.

[Jason]

I think you will end up with a gurgling sound anyway, if the current isnt strong enough the crud just may float and spin around above the whirlpool. If the whirl pool is effective it will sound like a tub draining. Unless you can find the right distance from the surface into a PVC inlet tube at the right speed it may just work out.

[froggsong]

When I was messing with it, I tested to see if it would suck stuff down. It was pretty weak (I took apart a Whisper 10i), but it still sucked down hair, flour, and little bits of stuff out of the CWD's water (which is what it would need to be sucking down anyway).

RecycledAgain, you're right, it would have to be pretty constant. You could vary the strength of the whirlpool by making the water deeper, but if you did it too shallow trying to make it stronger, you could mess the whole thing up. If I end up making one, it will probably be built into the sump system I am planning on building into the tank (necessary for an animal that gets it's water so dirty, IMO).

[repman01]

that is cool that your making something that almost sounded impossible at first
( well to mee it did) lol

[froggsong]

lol, thank you.