Roger Brauer's Filter Room

The Filter Room looks elaborate, but it is a very basic layout when looked at more closely. The room was originally a down stairs toilet and an understairs cubby hole. We knocked down the wall which segregated the two rooms, this left us with a room measuring some 9ft x 3ft. A swimming pool long drain was fitted lengthways, connected to what was the old sewer outlet. A U-bend pipe was sealed in the 4inch sewer pipe which connected on to the trough, this stopped any smells seeping into the room.

Next we constructed a floor, using MDF and baton wood, after which we enlisted the help of a laminator who fibre glassed the surface, effectively sealing it water tight. A false ceiling was constructed and the whole room was tiled.

We had a vat made out of polypropylene, which holds some 200 gallons in itself. The main pump is an ITT Marlow Half Horse Power, which delivers about 3500 gallons an hour of water. This was positioned partially in the cavity of the wall, where we had already knocked out a hole and fitted an air grill, thus giving the pump air cooling properties.

Most of the pipe fitting was done by Mark Srawbridge, who I consider to be an expert in this field. He made all the four UV tubes and the two 5ft high towers, one being a pressurised fluid sand tower and the other a biological tower. We enlisted the help of Richard Lewis, who is the owner of R J Lewis Engineering Ltd. He manufactured out of acrylic the header tank , the bosses for the towers and the 6ft high protein skimmer, which is venturi powered.

The Protein Skimmer also has a self washing feature and all waste goes out via the waste pipe and down into the floor drain.

Ozone is used in the Skimmer and is subsequently vented outside.

A fitted Reverse Osmosis unit delivers fresh water to the vat by means of a ball cock device, which tops up the system constantly as evaporation occurs. Water changes are done automatically by means of two Peristaltic Pumps, which drip water in and out respectively.

Approximately 30 gallons of salt water are changed every week.

Because of the friction of the main pump, this heat exchange is more than adequate to heat the water, so there are no heaters on the system. In fact I have to cool the system continuously, this is done by an electronic temperature controller, set on cooling mode , which operates a simple solenoid on the mains water supply, onto which a 50 metre hose is coiled in the vat, after which it drains out into the floor drain. This simple device keeps the system at 24.5 C exactly all year round!

Mechanical filtering is done by means of a 50 micron filter bag, which is fitted onto the return pipe in the vat, this is changed about once a week.

The Biological tower has a rotating spray bar and is air injected to enable maximum air interchange with the water.