Awesome, cheap filter media!
 

Everyone run out to "the Dollar Tree" if you have one in your
neighborhood! In the cheap kids toys section, they have what are called
"Whirly Balls", they are 4 for $1. Kind of hard to describe....you know
how when you peel an orange all in one long strip and you can take the
skin and form it into the shape of an orange? They look kind of like
that. A spherical spiral, for the lack of a better way to put it. Whats
more is that on the inside of the "sphere" there is a sort of
zig-zagged piece that run across the center of the sphere from one side
to the other. They are made of white plastic and kind of have a rough
textured finish. They are about the size of a baseball, maybe a little
bigger. These things are perfect and cheap!

My bad, they come 5 to a pack! And here is what they look like....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

.....Perfect! Apparently they are Parrot toys. Just go to Ebay and do a
search for whirly balls.

Also here, better picture. http://www.cabirdnerds.com/wb330.html

"robv60" wrote in message
oups.com...
My bad, they come 5 to a pack! And here is what they look like....


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

....Perfect! Apparently they are Parrot toys. Just go to Ebay and do a
search for whirly balls.
========================
That isn't so cheap! Only a few balls for $1.99? Woman's hair rollers are
cheaper at Wally-World. They're even cheaper at garage sales and flea
markets. :-)
--
Koi4Me.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

No, 5 pack at Dollar Tree $1.

"Koi4Me" wrote in message
...

"robv60" wrote in message
oups.com...
My bad, they come 5 to a pack! And here is what they look like....


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

....Perfect! Apparently they are Parrot toys. Just go to Ebay and do a
search for whirly balls.
========================
That isn't so cheap! Only a few balls for $1.99? Woman's hair rollers
are
cheaper at Wally-World. They're even cheaper at garage sales and flea
markets. :-)
--
Koi4Me.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

You can buy an entire box of bioballs at any petshop for about $5. Why
anyone would want to use them for a garden pond is a mystery to me. I've
even removed them from my marine aquarium because they are a source of
unwanted nitrates. Better to have a natural biofilter that will absorb
these nutrients and that can be harvested, thus elminating those nutrients
from the pond altogether.

These are much bigger than bioballs, and theyre more open so I thought
water would flow through them better. just a suggestion, geez. Would
probably be better to mix these with other media like scrubbie pads or
forks or something.

"robv60" wrote in message
oups.com...
No, 5 pack at Dollar Tree $1.
===================
Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. I looked at the site and they had a bid of
$1.99 for 4 of the balls. They do look like they'd work in a filter.
--
Koi4Me.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

"George" wrote in message
news:Gh8ne.23544$Is4.15791@attbi_s21...

You can buy an entire box of bioballs at any petshop for about $5. Why
anyone would want to use them for a garden pond is a mystery to me. I've
even removed them from my marine aquarium because they are a source of
unwanted nitrates. Better to have a natural biofilter that will absorb
these nutrients and that can be harvested, thus elminating those nutrients
from the pond altogether.
============================
I use both plant and a filter to remove floating "crud" in the water. My
Tetra filters came with bio-blocks but I don't depend on them for
bio-filtration. When I hose off the blocks and filter pads I don't get an
ammonia spike so I know that bio-filtration is taking place in the ponds
themselves. My ponds are maximum capacity now and we need to remove some of
the fish again. I'm hoping to get that done before summer is over. It's
quite a job as the nets need to be removed (and new ones bought) and the
ponds drained down and cleaned..... :-( My least favorite pond activity.
--
Koi4Me... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

"Courageous" wrote in message
...

You can buy an entire box of bioballs at any petshop for about $5. Why
anyone would want to use them for a garden pond is a mystery to me. I've
even removed them from my marine aquarium because they are a source of
unwanted nitrates. Better to have a natural biofilter that will absorb
these nutrients and that can be harvested, thus elminating those
nutrients
from the pond altogether.

Some readers will get confused by this paragraph. You don't mean just any
"natural biofilter," but rather something /specifically/ like a veggie
filter.

Yes.

In marine aquaria this is achieved with an "algal turf scrubber" or
similar
technology, as well as heavily planted refugiums (e.g., thalassia sea
grass
is particularly beneficial for reef aquariums, because not only does it
help
remove nitrates, but also provides an area for the breeding of
zooplankton).

C//

I replaced my trickle filter with a refugium, and my algae problems went
away.

You can buy an entire box of bioballs at any petshop for about $5. Why
anyone would want to use them for a garden pond is a mystery to me. I've
even removed them from my marine aquarium because they are a source of
unwanted nitrates. Better to have a natural biofilter that will absorb
these nutrients and that can be harvested, thus elminating those nutrients
from the pond altogether.

Some readers will get confused by this paragraph. You don't mean just any
"natural biofilter," but rather something /specifically/ like a veggie filter.

In marine aquaria this is achieved with an "algal turf scrubber" or similar
technology, as well as heavily planted refugiums (e.g., thalassia sea grass
is particularly beneficial for reef aquariums, because not only does it help
remove nitrates, but also provides an area for the breeding of zooplankton).

C//

These are much bigger than bioballs, and theyre more open so I thought
water would flow through them better.

Surface area rules the day in aerobic biofiltration. That's why fluidized
beds work so well.

While you mean well, all you would achieve with these babies is water
aeration.

C//