new member, diy filter with 200L ex pickle drum
- Thread starter mitch.silk
- Start date
i just bought my self some sponge today. i cut it to the required diameter. i figured i had about 42cm (approx 16inch) i dont know if ill put it all in there though.
Unfortunately, i've already purchased the pump so ill give it a shot, and i bought it because i figured well 18KL/hr minus head height and filter media will drop it, down a few thousand, and then i'll have a nice amount... and it does have a three year warranty so if i get three years out of it i'd be happy.
is lava rock expensive? and i think i've seen that used in landscaping, it'd pretty much be the same wouldn't it?
i did a mock setup in anticipation of my pump and i have the laundry basket (pump cover) sitting there surrounded by bio balls, then i stuffed heaps of sponge in.
would it be worth taking out some bioballs to have all 16in of sponge pad (coarse) and then some fine wool pad?
thanks
ps i'd fill it with old shoes but i dont have too many pairs lying around haha
In my neck of the woods (Central Oregon) lava rock is spread on our roads during the winter for snow/ice traction instead of salt. So in my region it is very cheap, we literally have mountains of it... i.e. cinder cones from extinct volcanoes.
I have a couple hundred yards of lava rock driveway. I have scooped it up with a shovel, washed it, boiled it and used it in filters. I would not suggest you to pay a premium for lava rock. But you can do much better (bang per buck) than bio balls for a submerged medium. Personally I love bio balls because of their ability to break streams of water down to drops of water maximizing the air/water surface area of the water being filtered. They really do a magnificent job at this. But when they are submerged their primary benefit is nullified... in my opinion.
You can use pretty much anything that has a decent surface area for bio filtration. The bacteria just need a surface to colonize on. The more surface area you have the more bacteria you have a potential of growing. Of course the amount of bacteria in your system will depend on how much bacteria your system can sustain. You will only sustain as much bacteria as your fish can feed with their waste. If you have a small canister filter (maybe a Rena XP) and your tank has 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites then increasing your bio filtration capabilities a hundred fold is going to do no good as far as bio filtration goes. If you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites then your system already has as much bacteria as it can sustain. Providing more space for the bacteria isn't going to increase the bacterial colony because it is already as large as the tank can maintain.
My suggestion for your pickle barrel filter would be to make it into a giant wet/dry sump. Instead of pumping water into the barrel and letting it overflow back into the tank I would recommend letting water overflow from the tank into the pickle barrel and then pumping it out of the pickle barrel into your tank. In this configuration bio balls would be very useful in breaking the incoming stream of water down to droplets giving you a huge air/water surface area for oxygenation and off gassing. I would put a bubble wand at the bottom of the barrel to keep a supply of fresh air in the barrel.
