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Re: wet/dry and a nice hint for making them from smaller tanks



> Tom was telling us all: How to build a cheap sump wet/dry for your plant
> tank
>> The prefilter is a basic Amiricale which run about 40-50$.
>> These take up far less room and make less noise than the built in
> overflows.
>> It'll be covered with plants and hidden anyway.
> 
> OK, where does one get an Amiricle prefilter? I can't seem to find these on
> any of the online stores.

BigAl's & Several other vendors sell them. I could have gotten it  tad
cheaper at another place but I was already ordering from BigAl's, they have
super service and never a problem and they cannot sue a USA citizen unlike
some other companies.
 
> Now, the top "maroon" tub. It contains nothing but a sheet of felt?

You can add carbon, felt, nothing at all, foam, bio balls what ever.

>  If I
> understand correctly, the purpose of this tub is just to rain the water down
> over the bioballs correct?

Yes, a drip plate that has a couple of holes drilled up higher on it in case
the felt ever clogs the water will have an overflow.
It also caps the the top of the trash can bio tower.

> What size holes do you drill (is this even important save to make sure
> they're big enough to prevent an overflow)?

Well depends on the no# of holes etc but I drill mine at about 3/16" or so
about 1" to 1/2" apart.

Regards, 
Tom Barr
 
> James Foley


BTW you can set this system up on top of a hood etc and not need a prefilter
etc but use the felt pad idea or use poly fiber from a fabric store for
mechanical filtration.
The pump will need to be in the tank though.
So if someone wants to make a simple filter that can set on the tank's hood
or close by above the tank, they can have it drain via gravity back into the
tank.
This is a good idea for a smaller tank where it's too costly to consider a
pre made pre filter. For smaller tanks you can use a smaller powerhead like
a maxi jet 1200 etc and small tupperware tubs.
Minus the cost of the pump, a smart chicken could put one together for about
5-10$ or so. It's be super easy to clean, I'd use small urethane 1" cubes
for the bio material, just buy a block of it at the fabric store and get
some fine felt for the basic fine filter and the poly batting for the
courser mechanical filter.
You can find nice very tough hardened nylon fittings at most hardware home
improvement stores next to the smaller brass compression fittings.

It's nice to come along and simply pop off the lid to the tupper ware
container, remove the materials and wash off and place them back into the
filter.
I'd like to use a coffee style disposable super fine filter but you can do
that by placing a coffee filter holder in the drip tray.

That way you could really clean down to a very fine level and toss out the
filter paper into the compost.

Regards, 
Tom Barr