I think i found the media i want (with link)

[PS3]

I was on ebay and i found this bio cube stuff it looks like floor pads
its a lot cheaper then the baci twist i wanted.. iam runing out of money on my build lol
iam runing out of money

so tell me what u guys think

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390067832630&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT






and now iam haveing trouble trying to get the bottom drain to seal
its leaking a little bit if i knew all this i would have never put a drain
on the bottom and here

 

[stroppy]

it might help you to know your not the only one with bottom drain leaking ..im going to empty mine for the second time and fit some kind of washer and re seal !

 

[koidaddy]

Bummer on the bottom drain. I was just mentioning this in another thread and was told the opposite. Guess I wasn't all wrong. Make sure the ground is solid so the liner can't move at all.

That is pretty expensive for the media. I bought a large sheet of that same stuff at my local pond and paid a premium price. 5' X 3' X 2" for @ $60.00. I could easily fill 5 bags when cut up and have enough left over for 5 more bags. I cut it into layers for my mechanical filter chamber in my dual 55 gallon barrell setup. What I did for my bio media beside about 500 pvc 1/2" x 1" tubes was to pick up a couple rolls af the black bird netting used to keep birds from you garden. It runs @ $5 a roll. I unrolled it and opened it up and then gathered it all up unto a ball and shoved it into the bio chamber. Water can flow through it and it will never get clogged. But there is alot of area for bacteria to grab on to. The cubes you are thinking of will need to be rinsed at some point. Not a bad choice, I just think the price is too high.

Hope this helps.

 

[koikeepr]

If you're not going with bacti-twist (which is darned expensive, you are right!), I would go with this 1/2 inch poly strapping: http://cgi.ebay.com/12-Rolls-1-2-x-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3c9d4f7c49

It's a great substitute for bacti-twist and way cheaper. You just uncoil it and stuff it in a mesh laundry bag or directly in the filter. What you need to ask the vendor is to make sure it is the embossed (textured) poly tape and not the smooth one. You want something textured so that the bacteria has something to hang onto.

You'll get more bang for your buck with the strapping tape since you get much more quantity.

 

[koikeepr]

With regard to the bottom drain, where is it leaking? There are products available that you can seal a leak under water without having to drain the pond.

Here is one such product: http://www.leaktools.com/leakmaster_repair/service.php

I keep a tube of this for just-in-case. I called the company before I bought it to ensure it was fish safe and it is.

Here is another great item: http://www.thepondguy.com/product/1795/44. It also seals underwater and you can just slather it around wherever your BD meets the liner.

 

[DoDad]

I don't know what brand of BD your trying to install but it should be easy to fix.
Go to Lowe's and buy a tube of PL Polyurethane Roofing and Flashing sealant.
Your liner should be sandwiched between the bottom drain ad the top ring. If you have all ready tightened the screws loosen them so you can get the tip of the PL on the liner. Lift your liner a bit and put a bead of PL around the top of the BD, push the liner down so you can get a bead of PL on the liner next to the ring.
Tighten the screws but not so tight that you strip them.
Fill your pond and enjoy.

 

[PS3]

i ment the bootom drain on my skippy filter lol i screwed the drain on tight and
put tons of silcions and it still leaked so a friend on here told me not to use
the gasktes so today i will try it

 

[koidaddy]

i ment the bootom drain on my skippy filter lol i screwed the drain on tight and
put tons of silcions and it still leaked so a friend on here told me not to use
the gasktes so today i will try it

See what I started! LOL

How big did you drill the hole? A little late for that but I try to drill slighty smaller and then thread my bulkhead fittings through. Then I just use teflon tape to seal the threads.

I use pieces of 45 mil pdm liner as inside gaskets.

 

[bsr8129]

let me know if that solves your leak issue. also make sure that you put the silcion on the surface that touches the barrel, on a previous filter that i had a small leak i was able to seal it just by slatering it on the outside edge, but i think i got lucky with that one.

 

[bsr8129]

i know eveyone here has there own way of doing things, right, wrong or just plain nutty(lol).

Koidady did it work for you using the liner as a gasket? i tried that once before and couldnt get it to work for some reason,

 

[bsr8129]

If you're not going with bacti-twist (which is darned expensive, you are right!), I would go with this 1/2 inch poly strapping: http://cgi.ebay.com/12-Rolls-1-2-x-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3c9d4f7c49

It's a great substitute for bacti-twist and way cheaper. You just uncoil it and stuff it in a mesh laundry bag or directly in the filter. What you need to ask the vendor is to make sure it is the embossed (textured) poly tape and not the smooth one. You want something textured so that the bacteria has something to hang onto.

You'll get more bang for your buck with the strapping tape since you get much more quantity.

Thst stuff looks like it has adhesive on it can it still be used? at that price its a killer deal

 

[koikeepr]

no no there is no adhesive. It's just the same strapping tape that is used when a big box is sealed and you snip it off. It's very commonly used by ponders in filters. I was gonna do the bacti-twist too since I already have a bunch of it, but with my new filter, I'm gonna need a heap more and it would have cost over 150 bucks, so I just bought $40 worth of strapping instead.

Again, just check with the vendor that it is the embossed tape and that it isn't wider than 1/2". The important thing is to ask the vendor if it's embossed, as I said. You want it to have the little textured divits.

Then, you go to Home Depot and buy one of those plastic bird netting square sheets, and you put all your strapping on it and tie it up together on top to form a bag and you're set. Will last for years since it's all plastic.

 

[koidaddy]

i know eveyone here has there own way of doing things, right, wrong or just plain nutty(lol).

Koidady did it work for you using the liner as a gasket? i tried that once before and couldnt get it to work for some reason,

It did work for me. Even when I drilled the hole to big once. That was 3/4" though and not 2" like on my filter. Which are threaded into the barrels pretty good.

 

[jason081180]

If you're not going with bacti-twist (which is darned expensive, you are right!), I would go with this 1/2 inch poly strapping: http://cgi.ebay.com/12-Rolls-1-2-x-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3c9d4f7c49

It's a great substitute for bacti-twist and way cheaper. You just uncoil it and stuff it in a mesh laundry bag or directly in the filter. What you need to ask the vendor is to make sure it is the embossed (textured) poly tape and not the smooth one. You want something textured so that the bacteria has something to hang onto.

You'll get more bang for your buck with the strapping tape since you get much more quantity.

how much of this strapping should i get to fill a 150GL stock tank?

 

[koikeepr]

I bought 9000 feet for my 150 gal tank. I spent $40 plus free shipping. I hope it's enough! I'll be able to tell you next week. I pick up my stock tank on Saturday, and I should get my strapping tape by mid-week next week.