Thinking of building a bio tower. Need some help.

[koop171]

In a bio tower I have a VERY hard time believeing that water flowing 500 GPH is going to fall throught the bio tower any slower than 5K gph. In other words if it's falling it's falling regardless of what GPH it's being pumped up to the top of the tower.

Before commiting to a bio tower I'de look into submerged media...... Sopposed to yield better results. I'm guessing this would be because of prolonged contact time.

My issue with totally sumberged media is that I'm not sure over the long run that if I got souly the route that i won't have enough bio. But If I built a tower that's 16" around and 6' tall It can hold around 80 gallons or bio (that's a guess on volume) and I can still use the existing drip/trickle.

 

[tylerperkins]

pix for sure

 

[DB junkie]

Build the bio tower. Get a nice high head pump and push the water up through it. Record results. Switch to water falling down through. record results.

If everything I hear is true you should see a night and day difference.

Submerged you're not supposed to need NEAR as much, but supposedly the REAL advantage is the fact that submerged harbors more nitr"A"te eating bacteria.

 

[koop171]

Build the bio tower. Get a nice high head pump and push the water up through it. Record results. Switch to water falling down through. record results.

If everything I hear is true you should see a night and day difference.

Submerged you're not supposed to need NEAR as much, but supposedly the REAL advantage is the fact that submerged harbors more nitr"A"te eating bacteria.

That would be one HIGH head pump. If it's 16" OD pipe and 6' tall that's alot of head pressure. I would have to do some math to do it like that. and see how big of a pump I would need

 

[Dr Joe]

Read Johnptc's threads, their humbling .

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66676&highlight=bio+tower

And check out his other stuff too!

 

[dr_sudz]

In a bio tower I have a VERY hard time believeing that water flowing 500 GPH is going to fall throught the bio tower any slower than 5K gph. In other words if it's falling it's falling regardless of what GPH it's being pumped up to the top of the tower.

Before commiting to a bio tower I'de look into submerged media...... Sopposed to yield better results. I'm guessing this would be because of prolonged contact time.

Its not about the actual fall time, but the hang time and coverage in the tower. SO a slower pump over the tower is really the way to go, so that you can spread your water thinner over the balls. And you want a long fall as well. Arobic bacteria creates the cycle process from ammonia to nitrates, its only in a anarobic inviroment that nitrates are broken down any further, unless you are using a plant.

 

[mrunlucky07]

1. where would I get a pipe for this that's say 16"+ around?

Pipe that large is pretty expensive unless you have a "guy" or you DIY the tower.

55 gal barrels are free at car washes, 23" diameter. Several pond guys have stacked them successfully for TTs.

I just finished making one using a single 55 drum for a 180 tank. I am flowing about 1200gph actual flow do disperse the water over the whole diameter of the drum.

With liner you can make them any size you want, This summer I made one around 150 gal for my pond.

 

[shluffer]

What type of liner are you using?

To make sure I understand, the box is filled with water and the media is submerged. The submerged media will harbor bacteria, getting rid of the nitrate. Sound correct? I have a nitrate problem in my tank (city water is 10 ppm so water changes don't help much) and I would like to go saltwater. Seems that something like this is my best bet.

 

[Dr Joe]

Unless the last pic can stand on end or atleast a great angle, it's a sump not a bio-tower. Should still work well because of it's size.

Dr Joe

.

 

[koop171]

Read Johnptc's threads, their humbling .

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66676&highlight=bio+tower

And check out his other stuff too!

Very nice link Dr.Joe. I did a little search before posting this but didn't find that thread b/c it was so old. thanks for the nice find.

Pipe that large is pretty expensive unless you have a "guy" or you DIY the tower.

55 gal barrels are free at car washes, 23" diameter. Several pond guys have stacked them successfully for TTs.

I just finished making one using a single 55 drum for a 180 tank. I am flowing about 1200gph actual flow do disperse the water over the whole diameter of the drum.

With liner you can make them any size you want, This summer I made one around 150 gal for my pond.

I think the 55 gallon drums will be to large. I think that I should be looking at 16"OD at the most.