What to do with old Bio-Wheels

[Dan F]

I had some old Bio-Wheels taking up space in the garage (they sure outlast the impellers on the filter) so I built this "]^[onster" filter. It cost a total of $15.00 in PVC. Nothing is glued, since it is in the sump a drip or two doesn't matter. The tricky parts were lining everything up right (careful measurement of PVC pipe important) and reaming out the 1/2" T's on the ends to allow the pipe to pass all the way through. That way the 1" framework is not pressurized, only the 1/2" manifold and spray bars.

 

[azfishfool]

Pretty damn cool does it spin the wheels, what is the pump rated at

 

[Dan F]

I am running it off of my return from my sump. The pump is an Iwaki MD-70RLT, it is rated at 1500 GPH at 4' head, but I am only using a fraction of that for the filter (maybe 150 GPH?).

They do spin quite well, if I open the valve too much they get some serious RPM going on!

I attached a picture of the sump. It's a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank, a little over 1/2 full.

 

[azfishfool]

holy crap what size tank is that sump for? anyways great use of old stock

 

[Dan F]

The tank is only (?) 125 gallons. I originally set it up as a reef tank, but I got bored and wanted to go back to freshwater. It's pretty cool, I plumbed the whole thing as we built the house.

 

[azfishfool]

cool as hell either way sump as big as the tank

 

[Gwenkat]

That is truly awesome!

 

[Wolf3101]

I can understand why you built it the way you did and it looks great by the way....however it makes a far more effeciant system if you STACK them...only feed the top wheel and let it cascade down....this dramaticly increases contact time with the BB.

You can also drive them from below using a slopeing tray to save space.

 

[Dan F]

I thought about stacking them vertically, but I don't have the height available in my sump.

It certainly would be more efficient, but I have LOTS of extra flow (the same pump used to run a big skimmer in addition to recirculating).

I like the idea of a sloped tray with the water driving the wheels from beneath.

 

[muckieman]

wow i see some has a little to much time on there hand to come up with that...lol very nice