# Best Idea ever.... DIY trickle filter



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_wet_dry.php

I kept staring at these things.. not for organization.. but for some type of fish application.. rofl.

Now i see! What a great idea


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## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

That's a good website, lots good ideas. 

For fish organization I would use the 4 drawer models.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

*finatics uses wet-dry with those plastic bio-balls.*

I was at Finatics, last saturday and I noticed that they used glass tanks, 10g and larger, plus bio-balls and plastic or glass divider sheets that had been siliconed in place inside the tanks. Looks like an experienced-DIY'er (probably the owner himself) made them.

Is there something "magic" or particularly clever about those plastic balls? Why not any old plastic object with a high surface area and lots of interior air?

W


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

I dont know if its true but from what I have read on them bio balls they are not good they can increase your nitrate but I wouldnt take the chance but I could be wrong .Pat


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

LOL, some one actually did a getto sump. I did a very similar setup for the last 2 years. Just threw it out last month and install an XP3 in it's place. But I can tell you that it works better than an ehiem or XP3.
I didn't use use bio-balls though. I used lava rocks instead. Then I jumped to using those plastic scrubber which should be much much more efficient than bio-balls or lava rocks. Unfortunately, I didn't see any significant improvement. If any, it looks like it was a bit worst than lava rocks.
Then my pump broke down and that turned my tank upside down, killing half of the residence and most of my other precious not-zebra plecos and a pair of beautiful altum angles. That just broke my heart.
I over haul the entire setup, taking down my overflow and sump. The main reason is that plastic have a certain life period. And a very short life period at that. After using is for a while, it will leech chemicals into the fish tank. That's why acrylic is used because acrylic does not leech chemicals so easily as plastic. I check the label and every was plastic stuff, including the plastic scrubber was made in China. So in the end, I just threw it out.
Also, just another note on the piece of garbage Hydor pump. They use cheap made in china plastic too. When I find out that it was broken, I notice that one of the plastic cap looks like it was rotting from within. There's all these pock marks all over the cap.
Also, another flaw in this design is that you need an extra wall to stop the debris from being sucked into the pump. This will help save you time from constantly cleaning your pump from clogs.



pat3612 said:


> I dont know if its true but from what I have read on them bio balls they are not good they can increase your nitrate but I wouldnt take the chance but I could be wrong .Pat


Pat the only reason that happens is because of large food or dead fry or poop accumulate in the bioballs. Then they decompose and release ammonia that gets converted into nitrite and then nitrate. Nitrate being the final product get's release back into the tank. To avoid this, you need to have a few layers of sponge to filter out the larger debris and clean the sponge every week. This can happen to any canister filter as well as any hang on filters as well.

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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

The only reason why the bioballs increase your nitrate so fast is because they are too efficient. Bacteria converts ammonia --> nh2 --> nh3 so fast that your nitrate levels tend to increase.

Nitrates are much less harmful than either ammonia or nitrite, and can easily be removed with water changes.


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