Bio media

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Nice, seems to be the same media for $10 + cheaper. That is a win win. Thanks

While this may look very similar to the Kaldness K1 media, it may not have the same surface area as Kaldness. Less surface area per cubic foot = a larger volume of media required to perform the same function. Granted small systems that people have here, it wouldnt make a difference. But if someone was designing a larger system, that little bit of difference would matter.

-Ryan

[Vee]

Can you just throw this into a cannister?

[acroken]

Can you just throw this into a cannister?

this media is designed to be more free flowing and kinda churn/tumble as the water flows through it. A canister would limit the media's area too much.I do not run 100% of my return water through this media only approx 30% set up on a bye pass. This allows me to push the water through it without washing it totally clean which would seem to happen if too much flow was used. The media is a moving bed media,i set mine up to feed from the bottom so there is 100% contact to the media. This is how i use it, not saying it is text book correct.

Kenny

[abmcdonald]

This allows me to push the water through it without washing it totally clean which would seem to happen if too much flow was used.

After a fair amount of research, the "wash" off is a main conern, that and how to keep the media "flowing" around the sump area without getting pinned to the outflow portion of the sump. The only room I have for the filtration is in the factory cabinet underneath the 210 tank. So about the bigest my sump can be is the size of a 40 gallon long. I keep bouncing back and forth from trickle filter to a diy/modified kaldnes filter to a "fully" submerged sump with sintered glass or ceramic rings.

I'm getting lost in all the options. It is seeming more and more likely I will end up with a traditional trickle style wet/dry as that is certainly tried and true, as well as readily available. I do really like the idea of using filter socks and have only seen one comercial style sump with that set up and of course it was by far the most expensive (must be why I want it).

Any thoughts about using the highly boyant bioballs in a sort of reverse "kaldnes" set up. Let the balls float around a sump area with water flowing into the chamber at the top corner at a downward angle and have the water leave the chamber from the bottom at the opposite side. Inflowing water would constantly push the bioballs around the chamber and push them down, but hopefully the balls would float enough not to get traped on the sponge at the outflow baffle.

[Rex82]

I also agree that the Kaldnes media is the best. Here are some prices that I can sell it for if anyone is interested.
Kaldnes K1 Bulk box 25 litres $45
Kaldnes K1 50 litres 1.8 cubic feet $88
Kaldnes K3 50 litres 1.8 cubic feet $85
Kaldnes Bio Chip Media 25 litres $120

Bill

Can you ship to Australia Bill?

[Inland Empire Discus]

Can you ship to Australia Bill?

No reason that I can not ship these to Australia. The best way is probably via the Postal service in a flat rate box or something of the nature. PM oR EMAIL me with your address and I can get you a shipping quote.

Bill
inlandempirediscus@att.net

[abmcdonald]

Bill,

Any tips, tricks or suggestions as to how use the Kaldnes in a typical sump situation? Do you have any systems up and running with the Kaldnes that you happen to have pictures of? I'm planning to have approximately 1,000 - 1,100 gallons of water flow through the sump each hour and am worried that much flow would just pin the filter media to the outlet side of the sump and prevent any of the "moving bed"

[Inland Empire Discus]

Let me see what I can do. I have not uploaded video to this site before but I can for sure take some pics of my sump with the media in it. Will try and up load them later this evening or tomorrow. My sump flows about 3,000 per hour through and all seems to work fine. Will post dimensions when I post the pics.

Bill

[Darrell Ward]

The kaldness is a great bio media. Moving media works much more efficiently than a static media like matrix, or bio balls because the media is in constant motion, making it self cleaning. To make my filter, I wedged a 4" thick piece of Poret foam across a section of the sump, with another piece across the top for the pre filter. No need for filter socks here. Super easy. The media is fluidized by air stones on the bottom, held in place by sand filled pieces of 1/2" pvc zip tied to the airlines. It runs at approximately 1600 gph on a 240 gal. tank, with a 55 gal. sump. One note, 1 cubic ft. of the Kaldness media is a LOT of this media. You probably won't need no where near that amount. I didn't.

[mios]

I have a habit wherever i found the words "filter" or "filtration" to find how can be usefull in my filters
So one day i opened the capsule of my coffe machine and that what i found seems similar to "Bio Chip Media" . You can even open small holes with a dremel-type drill .After bleach them for a day i'llput them with my other Kaldnes-type media in the sump.
You have to drink more coffes

[mios]

and a close-up

[abmcdonald]

To make my filter, I wedged a 4" thick piece of Poret foam across a section of the sump, with another piece across the top for the pre filter.

So your drain pipe just dumps on top of the horizontial foam at the top, drops into the kaldnes, then flows out through the foam on the side to the pump to be returned to the tank?

[Inland Empire Discus]

Here are the pictures of my sump with kaldness media. Water is dumped onto the filter material on the top then goes into the kaldness chamber and flows out the bottom through a sponge. The sump is is 36 x 24 x 16 and the pump will flow 3600 per hour at a 10 ft. head. I also have 11 airstones in the bio chamber to keep it moving.

Bill

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Bill,

Any tips, tricks or suggestions as to how use the Kaldnes in a typical sump situation? Do you have any systems up and running with the Kaldnes that you happen to have pictures of? I'm planning to have approximately 1,000 - 1,100 gallons of water flow through the sump each hour and am worried that much flow would just pin the filter media to the outlet side of the sump and prevent any of the "moving bed"

A few helpful tips for any looking to build their own MBBR style filter:

Aim for 0.15CFM of air flow per cubic foot of media. You could go higher, but anything extreme (0.75CFM/cu ft ++) would be working against you by sheering off the bacteria from the media at a faster than normal rate.

To achieve ideal mixing rates of the media within the chamber (via aeration), fill the reactor chamber no greater than 50%. Yes, I have done higher (60-70%), but certain conditions must exist, and is generally not necessary to go over a 50% fill rate in small systems like ours.

As for pinning the media to the outlet of the chamber, that all boils down the good system design. Lots of different ways to do it. Some more effective than others. Just depends on your system demands.

Also, how much media you require is directly dependent upon the operating conditions (and requirements) of the system. How much food is fed per day, the protein content, temperature, salinity, tolerable TAN levels, etc, etc, etc.

-Ryan

[Darrell Ward]

So your drain pipe just dumps on top of the horizontial foam at the top, drops into the kaldnes, then flows out through the foam on the side to the pump to be returned to the tank?

Yep. Two 1 1/2" drains actually.