OziOscar Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 Hi Guys!I'm planning to have a go at a DIY trickle filter over the Christmas break and was wondering what might be a valid alternative to bioballs, owing to their high-ish price. I've heard tell of people using clear plastic drinking straws cut into 25 mm sections and filling their chamber with those. Would that work? The surface area seems to be perhaps high enough to encourage bacterial growth. What other materials have you used or heard of being used with a reasonable degree of success?Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious Camel Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 plastic clothes line pegs?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudrat Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 you could try Scoria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 hi,if you try drinking straws, put 'em in soem sort of mesh bag first. the little varmints are horridly difficult to keep under control if they get loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterworld Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 gutter guards from hardware stores Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiona Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 what about folded up, packed in shadecloth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limno Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 You could try the ceramic tubes that the LFS sell :D - BUT call the ceramic electrical isolator manufacturers in the yellow pages and buy their seconds - a lot cheaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 I use a combination of bbq rock and broken oyster shells in my diy filter. All up the media cost me $25, and it filters exceptionally well, buffering the water at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbuna Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 Baz,what exactly is bbq rock made of.thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunder Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 I'm also doing the same thing over the next few weeks. I'm going to try the scoria idea and see how it goes. I know of people that have done it and had no probs. It's cheap as also. Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 It all depends on how heavy you want your biofilter to be. Any beads are great. you can get ones that float or sink. I've used bean bag balls with a lot of success. Gutter guard is good too. You just need to maxamise the surface area of the media. I wouldn't use oyster shells or anything like that as they are not that great for surface area. Basically anything under about 5mm will have an equivilent or higher surface area as bioballs. The gutter guard and things will be about the same per volume.Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbits Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 Hi,I use Scoria, $8 for a 20kg bag.Make sure you give it a good wash.You can pick it up from any garden supply shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gutty Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 I wouldn't use oyster shells or anything like that as they are not that great for surface area. The oyster shells would be in the filter as a buffing agent more so than as bio media.I too use shells(though beach shells) in my canister filter as a buffing agent, after 2 months or so you can visibly see them deteriorating/disloving.Lata Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matra Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 Hi...I'm just wondering if we can use the tape form a cassette or a video?Cheers,ib Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gutty Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 Hi...I'm just wondering if we can use the tape form a cassette or a video?Cheers,ib I wouldn't but thats because i don't know what it's made of or what coatings it has.You can buy rolls of packing tape pretty cheap, it'd probably do OK.LataMatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nissky Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 Im using 2x60L plastic tubs (stackable), one inside the other, the bottom one formsa sump, the top one has the media...top layer, polyester foammiddle layer, gutter guard, cuts into sheets to fit (4 rolls $2 each)bottom layer, scoria (same as bbq rock, volcanic rock)a bulkhead attached to sump which feeds external pump, works great and cheap, for 2 4ftx2x2 tanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted November 28, 2003 Author Share Posted November 28, 2003 Thanks for the tips, everyone!I'm guessing that scoria would seem to be the go. The only thing is, what are its chemical properties? Does it alter ph? gh? kh? Given that it is reddish, does it have any serious amount of soluble iron (or oxides etc thereof) that might have any unpredictable effect? Thank you for the hint on bagging the straws. That sounds like a wise idea. If the scoria has any odd properties, then I may go down this path... else the ceramic insulators - if I can score some at the right price. Weight isn't really an issue - I'm a big bugger so pulling it out for service shouldn't be too much of a hassle. :DJust on the using old video / audio tape: I wouldn't do it. The oxide coating on the tape is an iron - chromium - only-God-knows-what blend that will delaminate from the tape very easily in water after a few months. The chemical reaction is a potential problem, as would be any fragments finding their way into pumps etc...Thank you so much for your help. Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious Camel Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 nice thread guys, just wondering though if anyone knows what BBQ rocks actually are?cheersVC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zacariabottleneck Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 G'dayPlastic scourer pads are cheap from your local supermarket,just take the aluminium clip off unravel them and bobs your uncle.Cheerszac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudrat Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 VC,BBQ rocks=Scoria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trofius Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 my filter is made of two 25l canisters the first has a central perforated core that is removable for cleaning its full of rocks, around the core is 4 rolls of gutter guard. in the second canister at the bottom is crushed shell for buffer and fine filter ,then down into the secondcore of filter foam and filter wool, more foam , pump.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 Sorry guys I have been busy and missed this thread Bbq rock is not scoria, it is the rock which you can buy from any bbq supplier and it is designed to go under the gas burners in a gas barbie. They act as a heat sink i guess, spreading the heat evenly under the grill and plate.Scoria is red I think, this stuff is brown. It is similar to pumus, full of holes and cracks, but a little heavier.I find it has a great surface area, and has been working very effectively in my filter for 3 years now.Adam is right about the oyster shells, and I would never recommend them as a sole media. But if you have enough other media they make a great addition to any african tank, and they are free :^: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 Guys,I thought I'd post this so that you get the idea of what sort of surface area you get for you media.5mm Rock 600m2/m312mm Rock 420m2/m325mm Rock 210m2/m350mm Rock 105m2/m312mm Ceramic Rasching Ring 264m2/m3OviFlow BioBalls 500m2/m3BioMate BioBalls 528m2/m3I don't have a figure for the gutter guard but I don't think it will be all that high, in the order of 300-400m2/m3. I'll also see if I can find the figures I have for sand in Fluidised beds, from memory it'll be around 1000m2/m3.Also as a rough guide in freshwater systems you can assume that 1.6m2 of biomedia Surface Area is required for each gram of ammonia loaded onto the system daily.Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiona Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 You can buy expanded fired clay balls diameter from about 5mm to about 9mm, porous right through, inert. They are light in weight for the volume. I imagine they might work similarly to Matrix, being similarly porous, the pores are very small but somewhat bigger than the matrix ones. They are used as growing media for hydroponic growers. You can get a big bag (about 15kg at a guess?) of them for around $40 I think? I have used them as biomedia successfully and reckon they work well. If you put them in water they float at first but sink when they soak up the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted December 1, 2003 Author Share Posted December 1, 2003 Hi Adam!How do you calculate grammage of ammonia per day? Is there a rule of thumb that might be useful?Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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