Filter Media

[Busy B]

What's a good media for an upflow filter?

[Brady Brandwood]

Hi BusyBee,

Japanese Matting & Matala (both rigid medias) cut and assembled into honeycomb type cartridges with vertical channels are really good for upflow applications. Also, Poly Ribbon (2000') rolls, spun off the rolls and gathered up and stuffed into nylon netting bags makes a decent inexpensive upflow media for filters. The nylon netting bags are lightweight, and can be lifted out of the filter and moved to another filter for jump-starting new systems, and can easily be shaken to clean them. Also, none of these medias mentioned are prone to channelling or clogging to the point of altering or stopping water flow,... which is a good thing.

Best Wishes,
Brady Brandwood

[Jackie Ramo]

Brady, by poly ribbon do you mean the strapping used to wrap up newspapers and flyers for delivers?

[Busy B]

Thank you Brady.I did a google search yesterday and Matala and Japanese matting seem to be the choice. And altering various grades of the Matala to catch more and clog less.

Think the strapping is like the Springflow Jackie..tho I think it was Graham who uses the strapping you can find in your hardware store.

Found this site where the guy makes his own! If you had the equipment, I could see where the cost would be effective but...don't have a lathe laying round here :grin:
Does have a nice diagram tho and setup for a filter system.
http://www.shooterdog.com/biofiltr.htm

[Jackie Ramo]

Thanks for the link. I think I remember him from his posting on the watergarden site. Haven't been there in over a year myself but I'm sure its the same guy.

Quite a few of the ADI folks use the strapping and seem to like it. I have a big bag of plastic scrubbies I used last year and the year before, so maybe will just stay with that.

[Brady Brandwood]

Hi Jackie,

Yep, the poly ribbon I'm talking about is 1/2" wide with X ridges on it, and is used in industrial packing applications. 2000' yields about 180 sq. ft. of surface area.

Best Wishes,
Brady

[ozzyrockman]

Fruit tree netting packed inside 4" pvc drain pipe works well. Also when packed inside the pvc drain pipe it's much easier to clean, pull the tube, dunk it in a bucket of pond water, swish it around, put it back and your done :-P . Allen

[Jackie Ramo]

Thanks Brady. Strapping seems to do the same job as the springform stuff being solf for ponds but since I've used niether I'll not comment on whether that is true or not. Certainly the strapping is cheaper.

Allen I have the fruit tree/bird netting in the biofalls as part of the biomedia there. Its bagged up and laid flat, does catch some muck but rinses in a flash and seems to do the job judging the water numbers. Mind I took some out are replaced it with bioballs. At the best price free from a friend (thanks George I know you are lurking here) Never thought of putting it in tubes... what kind of set up would you use tubes with?

[ozzyrockman]

I use the bird netting/drain pipe in the bottom of my up flow filters horizontal to support the egg create which supports the blend of Metela and Airhandler filter media in one of the filters. Don't get me wrong I like the Metela for its abilities not to collapse or break down however the $$$$$$ for that stuff !wow! especially if you want two 96g upflows GOOD GOLLY $500 seemed a bit hard to swollow for media in my case.

The Airhandler is a much softer media and will not last as long however you can buy a 2" thick 24" deep 45 foot long roll for about $50 and the media has no added oils or chemicals in it so it’s a good tried and true media and one roll will fill a 55g barrel just perfect.

As it stands I am pretty much done building and experimenting with filters however If a person wanted to build a cheap bio for a 1500g pond with some adult koi I feel the 55g barrel up flows are the best way to go for the price. The way I mentioned above would cost about $125 to build, would work better than any prefab for the price and handled a much higher water flow over any prefab too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/ozzyrockman/Revisedfilter1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/ozzyrockman/DSCF0140.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/ozzyrockman/DSCF0141.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/ozzyrockman/Revisedfilter5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/ozzyrockman/DSCF0042.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/ozzyrockman/DSCF0041.jpg

[Busy B]

I surf so many sites I know I saw that media somewhere..

Where there's a will there's a way :grin:

[ozzyrockman]

Busy, I get it from grainger.

Polyester Roll Filter, Actual Length 45 Feet, Depth 2 Inches, Width 24 Inches
Grainger Item: 6B772
Price (ea) : $47.00
Manufacturer: AIR HANDLER
Mfg. Model#: 165BW24452

PS this stuff has yet to breakdown like others and I have used one roll for 1 1/2 years now and has yet to start lossing fibers in the pond like some other media does.

[Busy B]

For my DIY skimmer, I bought the cheap filter furnace stuff at the ho-de-po...

No grainger up here..another thing that would have to be shipped..