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Bio Filter Recomendations
Okay.
I am working on building a 45 gallon bio filter. What I really want to know is: What is the best material for a bio-filter??? I have been reading many different opinions on this topic. So what is the best material for use in a bio-filter? Lava rock, PVC cut to small pieces, Bio balls (way too expensive), or ... what??? I would really appreciate some help here. I hope to add a 1600 GPH pump near the end of this year and am building two 45 gallons filters, one will be a mechanical/sediment filter, the other will be a bio filter. But what do I need to use in the bio filter??? I am on a major budget, so the less expense the better. Thanks Marc http://members.cox.net/marctripp for pond pics. |
#2
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Bio Filter Recomendations
Marc Tripp wrote:
I am working on building a 45 gallon bio filter. What I really want to know is: What is the best material for a bio-filter??? I have been reading many different opinions on this topic. So what is the best material for use in a bio-filter? Lava rock, PVC cut to small pieces, Bio balls (way too expensive), or ... what??? ... The best bio-filtering material is one with the most surfaces for bacteria to grow on without becoming clogged or filled. We use the strapping "tape" or plastic strips (~1/4 inch wide) that are overlapped and heat-sealed to secure boxes or bundles or loose items; it is embossed with a design that creates lots of little ridges and cross-hatching. We get ours from the newspaper bundles from our boys' paper route. It was a free, reusable substitute for filter "ribbon" or Springflo. Check with your local paper delivery person; they --or their mom-- might be very happy to give the strips to you. We leave these loose, that way it's very easy to stir and rinse (with dechlorinated water) to clear away debris from the barrel we use for mechanical filtering. We use the other barrel filled with the strips as a partial trickle tower, partial underwater filtering (we reduced the piping leading back to the pond so that this barrel is always half full of water). Other small, light-weight plastic filter materials: * plastic forks (get the least expensive, thinnest plastic) * tubes from rolls of adding machine tape or adhesive tape * PVC pipe (small pieces, or one ponder cut his PVC into 1/4-1/2 inch spirals with a lathe and a blade set at a slight angle) * dish "scrubbers" (typically orange/white, blue/white -- buy in bulk from Costco, Walmart or on line) * quilt batting or other nylon / plastic based "stuffing" or "filling" (large cell foam) * nylon window screening (easy to "swish" clean) * Just about anything with holes, grooves, indented surfaces that water can flow through without any impediment. Don't use anything that creates "dead" areas where water can stagnate or other materials where the water can create channels that bypass the filtering ability of the holes, grooves, indents (Lego blocks, bottle caps). * The other thing to look out for is that whatever material you use can't have any built-in antibacterial or antimicrobial treatments (some furnace filters, some quilt batting, some foam). The finer materials (quilt batting, foam, window screening) can be used as mechanical filters as well as bio-filters. If they are used as mechanical filters, they might need to be rinsed more frequently than other materials with larger holes, but it depends on your fish load, debris load (leaves, algae, etc.), etc. Any of these smaller plastic items can be put into mesh laundry bags, then the bags placed in the filter. They're much easier to swish and clean or hose off with dechlorinated water, and it's easier to create layers that cover the entire barrel or box so no water goes around the filtering material. Determine how much filtering you need, price the different materials in your local area to see which is most economical / easiest to clean for you. -- Kathy B, zookeeper 3500gal pond (Oregon) |
#3
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Bio Filter Recomendations
And don't forget ladies hair rollers! The old-fashioned kind, that we used
to actually put in our hair at night and SLEEP on them! (ugh!) I found a big container of them at Walmart that are perfect - water can flow through in all directions and these actually even have tiny fiber brush-like media on them, supposedly to help grasp the hair, but I'm hoping it will grasp the bacteria! Light, cheap, and hopefully effective. Sue "zookeeper" wrote in message ... Marc Tripp wrote: I am working on building a 45 gallon bio filter. What I really want to know is: What is the best material for a bio-filter??? I have been reading many different opinions on this topic. So what is the best material for use in a bio-filter? Lava rock, PVC cut to small pieces, Bio balls (way too expensive), or ... what??? ... The best bio-filtering material is one with the most surfaces for bacteria to grow on without becoming clogged or filled. We use the strapping "tape" or plastic strips (~1/4 inch wide) that are overlapped and heat-sealed to secure boxes or bundles or loose items; it is embossed with a design that creates lots of little ridges and cross-hatching. We get ours from the newspaper bundles from our boys' paper route. It was a free, reusable substitute for filter "ribbon" or Springflo. Check with your local paper delivery person; they --or their mom-- might be very happy to give the strips to you. We leave these loose, that way it's very easy to stir and rinse (with dechlorinated water) to clear away debris from the barrel we use for mechanical filtering. We use the other barrel filled with the strips as a partial trickle tower, partial underwater filtering (we reduced the piping leading back to the pond so that this barrel is always half full of water). Other small, light-weight plastic filter materials: * plastic forks (get the least expensive, thinnest plastic) * tubes from rolls of adding machine tape or adhesive tape * PVC pipe (small pieces, or one ponder cut his PVC into 1/4-1/2 inch spirals with a lathe and a blade set at a slight angle) * dish "scrubbers" (typically orange/white, blue/white -- buy in bulk from Costco, Walmart or on line) * quilt batting or other nylon / plastic based "stuffing" or "filling" (large cell foam) * nylon window screening (easy to "swish" clean) * Just about anything with holes, grooves, indented surfaces that water can flow through without any impediment. Don't use anything that creates "dead" areas where water can stagnate or other materials where the water can create channels that bypass the filtering ability of the holes, grooves, indents (Lego blocks, bottle caps). * The other thing to look out for is that whatever material you use can't have any built-in antibacterial or antimicrobial treatments (some furnace filters, some quilt batting, some foam). The finer materials (quilt batting, foam, window screening) can be used as mechanical filters as well as bio-filters. If they are used as mechanical filters, they might need to be rinsed more frequently than other materials with larger holes, but it depends on your fish load, debris load (leaves, algae, etc.), etc. Any of these smaller plastic items can be put into mesh laundry bags, then the bags placed in the filter. They're much easier to swish and clean or hose off with dechlorinated water, and it's easier to create layers that cover the entire barrel or box so no water goes around the filtering material. Determine how much filtering you need, price the different materials in your local area to see which is most economical / easiest to clean for you. -- Kathy B, zookeeper 3500gal pond (Oregon) |
#4
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Bio Filter Recomendations
Hi ShawnAnne,
Check out "Skippy's Bio-Logical Filter". You can build one yourself. Personally, I'm using a combination of "scratchy pads" from the Dollar Store and PVC ribbon from a local pond supplier. Very inexpensive compared to some of the other alternatives. See the following: http://www.skippysstuff.com/index.html Another alternative is a fluidbed filter which I also plan to build for fun. Check out Gary's page, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.webster1/ And if you would like more, see this site: http://www.mikebentley.com/ponds/homemadefilters.htm Hope this helps. It all just confuses the heck out of me. Mark |
#5
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Bio Filter Recomendations
Thanks for the responses. This will help a lot.
Marc "zookeeper" wrote in message ... Marc Tripp wrote: I am working on building a 45 gallon bio filter. What I really want to know is: What is the best material for a bio-filter??? I have been reading many different opinions on this topic. So what is the best material for use in a bio-filter? Lava rock, PVC cut to small pieces, Bio balls (way too expensive), or ... what??? ... The best bio-filtering material is one with the most surfaces for bacteria to grow on without becoming clogged or filled. We use the strapping "tape" or plastic strips (~1/4 inch wide) that are overlapped and heat-sealed to secure boxes or bundles or loose items; it is embossed with a design that creates lots of little ridges and cross-hatching. We get ours from the newspaper bundles from our boys' paper route. It was a free, reusable substitute for filter "ribbon" or Springflo. Check with your local paper delivery person; they --or their mom-- might be very happy to give the strips to you. We leave these loose, that way it's very easy to stir and rinse (with dechlorinated water) to clear away debris from the barrel we use for mechanical filtering. We use the other barrel filled with the strips as a partial trickle tower, partial underwater filtering (we reduced the piping leading back to the pond so that this barrel is always half full of water). Other small, light-weight plastic filter materials: * plastic forks (get the least expensive, thinnest plastic) * tubes from rolls of adding machine tape or adhesive tape * PVC pipe (small pieces, or one ponder cut his PVC into 1/4-1/2 inch spirals with a lathe and a blade set at a slight angle) * dish "scrubbers" (typically orange/white, blue/white -- buy in bulk from Costco, Walmart or on line) * quilt batting or other nylon / plastic based "stuffing" or "filling" (large cell foam) * nylon window screening (easy to "swish" clean) * Just about anything with holes, grooves, indented surfaces that water can flow through without any impediment. Don't use anything that creates "dead" areas where water can stagnate or other materials where the water can create channels that bypass the filtering ability of the holes, grooves, indents (Lego blocks, bottle caps). * The other thing to look out for is that whatever material you use can't have any built-in antibacterial or antimicrobial treatments (some furnace filters, some quilt batting, some foam). The finer materials (quilt batting, foam, window screening) can be used as mechanical filters as well as bio-filters. If they are used as mechanical filters, they might need to be rinsed more frequently than other materials with larger holes, but it depends on your fish load, debris load (leaves, algae, etc.), etc. Any of these smaller plastic items can be put into mesh laundry bags, then the bags placed in the filter. They're much easier to swish and clean or hose off with dechlorinated water, and it's easier to create layers that cover the entire barrel or box so no water goes around the filtering material. Determine how much filtering you need, price the different materials in your local area to see which is most economical / easiest to clean for you. -- Kathy B, zookeeper 3500gal pond (Oregon) |
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