need ideas for trickle filter

[gary1218]

I'm having made a large trickle filter for my new tank set up. It is being made to fit in the area under one of my tank stands. Basically it will be a covered/sealed 80 gallon tank - 36" long x 18" wide x 30" hide.

My concern is getting the water to flow over all of the bio balls. If I use a trickle plate it would be 36" x 18". I'm wondering with that large a trickle plate if the water will flow to all parts of the filter.

Any ideas/comments?

Thanks,
GARY

[slicksta]

Gary
what I did on mine is that I made a spray bar and ran it around the outside of the trickle plate and have it spaying to all parts of the plate....
if I get a chance I will take a pic for you....

John

Gary

If your going to use a trickle plate I think you might have a real problem getting even coverage over the bio-balls with a plate that size.
Ive never made a plate that large, biggest Ive made is about 16x16. The most effective method Ive found is to drill small holes in the center of the plate with the holes getting larger as they radiate out from the center. Im not sure how well this would work with a 16x36 plate. If it was my setup, I would use two lines into the filter and use two smaller 16x16 plates.

Tony

[slicksta]

........I didn't glue any of the fittings.......This makes it easy to adjust and take apart to clean..

[gary1218]

VERY cool John ;D Thanks for the pic.

GARY

[Lance_Krueger]

Hey Slicksta,
Any way to post more overall pix of your wet dry? I really like that idea of the spraybar over the drip plate. Hadn't seen anyone do one like that before. I'm planning to make a DIY wet/dry for my 200 gallon Oceanic Discus tank. From your picture, it looks like a small rubbermaid filled with bio balls inside a bigger rubbermaid which is your sump. Right? Pix, descriptions, and drawings, please.
Thanks,
Lance Krueger

[slicksta]

Lance
that's pretty much it....I will take some more pics this week...It's been running since August....haven't had a problem yet...

John

[Lance_Krueger]

Looking forward to them.
Thanks,
Lance

[slicksta]

Lance
....don't know if I'll get to the pics before the week-end....IM me if you have any questions....
John

[Rod]

Hi Gary,

If the return water to your drip plate proves not too be enough flow, perhaps you could place an auxillary power head in the sump to flow extra water back over the filter media.

HTH

Rod

[gary1218]

Well I talked to the fellow last night that is going to make the filter for me. We decided to go with the drip plate. I'm going to start with 1/4" holes placed 1 1/2" apart. We'll see how that works. I think for the few tanks I'll have on the system now that should be fine. As I add more tanks and increase the water flow to the filter I can just enlarge the holes.

THANKS for the other suggestions

GARY

[slicksta]

Here ya go Lance....my DIY wet/dry
It starts with a AGA 155 bow with built in dual overflows.
I didn't use there overflow valve kits.....instead I made one overflow an intake and the other the return.
The intake is filled with 3 gallons worth of bioballs and topped with two sponge pads and a trickle plate....all home made

[slicksta]

1

[slicksta]

Through the 1" bulk head and a ballvavlve to the wet/dry

[slicksta]

Here is a the wet/dry which is made from two plastic containers.
The larger sump is a Rubbermaid 24"L x 18"H x 16" L . If I remember correctly, it is a 27 gallon. the pic looks a little funny because I spliced two pics together