Shilo Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 As some of you know I've been trying to make as much as possible of my aquarium system. One of the things I am most happy with is the wet / dry trickle filter (Mark 2). Most W/D's are used on large tanks so I downsized it to suit a 125ltr. After only a couple of weeks I had no ammonia or nitrite readings and the water is crystal clear. As it ages it can only get better. It also cost me under $100 and is almost maintenance free. I have put the plans and instructions on a web page to help anybody else with similar ideas: http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Aquarium/tricklefilter.htm Thanks to Pegasus for some constructive criticism on my 1st version of the page. If you have any questions e-mail me or better still post them here so we can all learn a bit more. Hope this helps somebody. Cheers Shilo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 wow very impressive. I have a question about the drinking straws, You mentioned you are using 1cm lengths.... when they are put in the filter, are they just dropped in higglety pigglety or are they arranged flat??? I'm still on undergravel filters and sponge filters and the like, was a bit nervous to attempt W/D trickles. Didn't really understand how they worked until I read your setup. Thanks Dianna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 Very interesting artical Shilo,congratulations.I think I could have built 10 of those systems in the time it would have taken me to type out and illustrate an article as good as yours! :lol: I built something similar which worked ok the only problem I could not seem to get around was air locks slowly forming over 2 days until the syphon would stop working.Both ends of the tube were submersed but small bubbles of air would form on the inner walls of the tube until they got big enough to rise to the top of the syphon bend,eventually stopping the water flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 Hi Di The straws are put in"higglety pigglety". The reason is to make as great as possible the area where the bacteria can grow. Hi Shilo Nice job, well done. Even though I am not a friend of tricklefilters. But, if you are happy with it, then this is the mainthing. You built it, you use it, and you are happy with it. What else could you wish for. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted February 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 Thanks for the kind comments guys. Delta, The more chaotic the straws are the better. The water travels through the inside as well as over the outside of the straws. With them higglety pigglety it will help spread the water to all areas of the filter. Flipper, Haven’t had problems with air entering the siphon. Where your containers deep enough and outflow hose high enough in the external container? The water level in the external container does flactuate by 1/2cm as air locks in the outflow hose sort themselves out. Also the current in the tube is very strong. Any air I left in the tube when I haven't sucked it out enough gets dragged down to last 5cm of the tube, very small bubbles get dragged right out. :-? John, Yup, it suits my system. As I see them the main disadvantages - size, these things are huge compared to other filter types. Also it can only take water from the surface, not from the bottom of the tank. Main advantage - being able to get all the equipment out of the tank and out of sight. Of course the $ (lack off) had a lot to do with my decision Cheers Shilo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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