Pariculars on the Bio FIlter

[leeannecastro]

OK, so as spring gets closer, I am gathering all of the items needed for my bio filter.
55 gallon barrel - check
3000 GPH pump (no oil this time) - check
misc plastic items for filter media - working on it, thats a lot of volume.
I know that I need a plastic ball valve at the bottom to backflush the system. Is this hard to install on a curved barrel? any particular tricks to getting this done? ie. heating up the side of the barrel, etc.
Also does the water HAVE to run in from the top and flow down or can I pump the water directly into the bottom of the barrel from the side?
I am going to have the barrel start my waterfall so any tips for attaching the liner in such a way that there are no additional holes/leaks?
Thanks in advance!

 

[koiguy1969]

the trick is... it goes on the bottom.tah dah..LOL put it dead center on the bottom,use 2inch shower drain,pipe, valve and elbow.elevate the barrel on a couple milk crates, cinder blocks, or whatever. the wateer should flow from the top, down the center,of the barrel. if your using the tee,and two elbows at the bottom.they should end about 4" from the bottom so there is room for the debris to settle. dollar stores carry scrubby pads and the work great...i got 50, '5 packs' of 4"x6" but i used a 70 gallon stock tank.

 

[DrDave]

Here are some progress shots of mine. I filled mine with 7000 cut pieces of black plastic tubing 1/2" diameter 1.5" long made from irrigation tubing.

 

[mister2driver]

Nice list. I'm going to use this as a guide.
I'm picking up some lava rocks for free so I can use that for my bio filter.

 

[lovinglife]

We plumed ours in about a foot from the bottom for the inflow. Backflush was as low as possible and we did get it to seal on the round barrel. I think our design was a little different but the same concept and it worked great until we made our pond bigger, now its too small for the volume we have.