Anyone build a Bio Tower Filter/Or know where to get the tower

[Viverr]

The cost of extruding clear pipe is exorbitant, and I don't think you'll find it under a few hundred a foot unless you really start hitting surplus liquidators.

If it absolutely, positively has to be clear, you can try to find an acrylic shop with an oxy torch to bend a flat sheet for you. You might not save too much money, though. Or you can buy (or even salvage) standard sch.40 or sch.80 in the diameter you want and cut a long, narrow port into it, then bend a very short piece of acrylic to the ID curvature and install it like a window.

The window's probably your best bet, as very large FBF towers use that method in installations and the success rate is known.

-V

 

[johnptc]

Does anyone know where to get clear pvc cheap or something like it that will hold water around 12-18in diameter and 3ft tall? Thanks

did you try http://solar-components.com/aqua.htm#knock

 

[Wolf3101]

Your also talking about a lot less pressure here so the material of the tube dosn't have to be very thick.

 

[ray777]

did you try http://solar-components.com/aqua.htm#knock

Yes I looked at it and it probly seems the cheapest but was trying to get other details.

 

[Wolf3101]

Heres a little diagram I knocked out to give you a little better visual idea what I'm talking about.

 

[Ric Foster]

Does it have to be round? I would think a local plastics shop could make you a 3'x18"x18" rectangular one from 3/16 or 1/4 clear acrylic pretty inexpensively. Thats 18 sq ft of material. Call around. I'm guessing 50-60 bucks in material plus their labor if you dont want to assemble it. If you can assemble it yourself, look in the remnants bins for more savings. good luck

 

[Wolf3101]

The round shape helps solved the water distribution problems. and regular...non-clear PVC pipe is not very expencive...you wouldnt need the guage with a clear body but thats hardly worth that kind of money.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

Ok, I know I'm entering this thread a little late...

After reading all this I don't understand how a tower filter is powered, is it part of a sump system, where in the water pressure coming from, where is the pump? How does this work with the tanks water level? Is there another thread detailing this design for someone who wants to learn more about it.

 

[Noto]

The pump setup will depend on the relative position of the tank and the tower. If the top of the tower is higher than the tank and the bottom of the tower is lower than the tank, as is likely in a typical home aquarium setup, then you would need two pumps. I think the easiest way to do it would be to set the tower above a sump; one pump moves water from the sump into the tower, while another pump moves water from the sump back to the tank.

You could use a single pump if the top of the tower is lower than the water level in the tank, so you could gravity feed it from an overflow, or if the bottom of the tower is above the water level, as in a pond, so the return is gravity fed.

Hopefully this makes it more clear:

 

[ray777]

My Main tank drains into my sump into a sock. I have a seperate smaller pump that is in the sump that shots water into the tower and then drains right back down into the sump. Then I have my main pump in my sump that shots back into my main tank. The tower is like a closed loop.