I never really detailed out why I needed this new filter
Water flow goes Fish tank > grow beds bell siphon > Sump tank (pumped back to Fish Tank and DWC).
This process takes care of the larger solids and the worms work on eating those solids in the rock grow bed.
Suspended fine solids cover the plants roots and then the plant cannot take up nutrients and air. This will stunt the plants growth or just kill the plant altogether.
I knew I need this filter so each week I was cleaning off my lettuce roots. This kept them alive but not growing like they should be growing.
Now that I have my filter in place it will be fun to see how the plants do.
Here is an example of my plant roots needing more filtering. (This picture was taken a while ago) The roots should be nice and white if they are healthy. As you can see they are not nice and white. They are brown and covered with fine solids.
I was trying to avoid a filter because it requires cleaning and I try to avoid maintenance items.
There is no avoiding this filter and still have good plant growth.
Here is one of my lettuce plants roots now. If you look closely you can see worms at the top and a couple places throughout the roots. These roots look so much healthier.
