DIY Wet/Dry Filter questions

[Pacu Man]

got a few questions here about the bio tower in specific:

1. Can the tubing both input to the sump and output back into the tank be regular outdoor hosing?

2. The pump that pushes the water from the sump back into the tank, can it be a standard air pump or can it be a powerhead or something?

3. can someone explain the drip tray in a little more detail?

4. Egg crates, are they the same material that they use in dividers?

5. the glass sections in the bio tower, are they just regular glass w/ sealant of some kind?

thanks for the help in advance, Nick

[justDIY]

got a few questions here about the bio tower in specific:

Originally Posted by Pacu Man

1. Can the tubing both input to the sump and output back into the tank be regular outdoor hosing?

no - 'regular' outdoor hose or garden hose contains fungicide and algaicide to keep it from getting gunked up on the inside - this is toxic for fish and the filtration bacteria. Use only the white 'semi flexible' polyproplyne tubing or the clear / black vinyl tubing. There are also larger diameters of polyproplyne tubing that have thinner walls sold as "sump dischare hose" ... those would work fine for draining an overflow or any other LOW pressure application.

2. The pump that pushes the water from the sump back into the tank, can it be a standard air pump or can it be a powerhead or something?

you could probably get away with an airlift for a small filter, that hangs on the back of the tank or something - for any other application you need a powerhead or centrifugal pump.

3. can someone explain the drip tray in a little more detail?

the drip tray is just a mechanisim to slow down your water and make sure it "wets" as much of the biomedia as possible. the drip tray is nothing more than a piece of plastic with holes drilled in it.

4. Egg crates, are they the same material that they use in dividers?

egg crate is a plastic "grid" used to focus the light from an overhead fluorescent down onto a work area. IMO they are very expensive ($40+ for a 2x4 sheet) - all the eggcrate does is stop your biomedia from escaping the biotower - use whatever you can find to do the job, unless you can get a deal on eggcrate

5. the glass sections in the bio tower, are they just regular glass w/ sealant of some kind?

a glass biotower is a rare thing, if it even exists. It is clear plastic called acrylic, that can be 'easily' shaped and is welded into place using special glue called "Weld On"


Hope this information helps!

check out our DIY forum - there is a lot of info on filtration and sumps.

[Pacu Man]

this helps greatly, what about the acrylic plastic and weld on, where would one obtain thoose ?

[justDIY]

you can get acrylic from any glass store, or home depot

it's sold under a variety of brand names, plexiglas or lucite being the two most well known.

finding the weld-on is difficult. If you have an industrial supply shop that sells to the public, they would be your best bet.

I ordered mine from www.crafitcs.com - their shipping is high, but it arrived quickly and works well!

[Pacu Man]

does anyone want me to photograph along the way just in case it works it might be a help to other who want to try it out?

[BillyZ]

absolutly! it's good for if it works AND for if you have troubles it will help us see what you've done so we can better understand and suggest solutions!


besides... we like pictures

[Pacu Man]

alrighty, the best thing about this is that i hardly need to buy anything i have all this stuff lying around the house, im even gonna do some dress up work on it, its gonna be the hot/ghetto mod