skippy filter media

[Jerry In Maine]

i'm picking up a 70 gal stock tank to use for my skippy style filter. the media: the skippy website sells the cut-up buff pad media. for the 70 gal filter it'll take 3 bags which is $75 worth. i'm fine with buying this - but just wanted to check if there was a less expensive choice.

their 70 gal kit, which includes pvc pipe and other hard-ware store style tubes (which i likely have laying the garage), the filter media and bottles of enzymes and bacteria goes for $145 plus s/h.

any advice? again, i'm fine with buying what i really need, but seems invariably i buy something that i'm familiar with just to have someone tell me i could have used something else much less expensive.

...just trying to hold on to as much of my monthly coast guard retirees pension as i can while still getting what i need. rofile:

 

[ididntdoit99]

I have heard furnace filters scouring pads, buffing pads,(make sure they have no chemicals or deordorizers added) check out the local hdw store and see what you can find and if you think it would be cheaper than what they sell. Anything with lots of surface area.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

took a look at home depot and didn't really see anything...there was a nice style of furnace filter that looked like a giant scrubber pad, but turns out it was biodegradable so i figured it would fall apart over time.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

think i'll give this stuff a try. it's pretty cheap....much like me!


http://www.amazon.com/Pond-Filter-M...N2J6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1336772401&sr=8-3

 

[brandonsdad02]

I went to a commercial cleaning supply wholesale house and bought the floor scrubber pads for my 100 gal skippy. I just cut them into different shapes and threw them in. While you are making your filter, you might want to think about adding a flush valve. A lot of us on here have them on our skippy filters. I know the skippy site doesn't mention a flush valve but it helps with cleaning the gunk out of the bottom of your filter.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

I went to a commercial cleaning supply wholesale house and bought the floor scrubber pads for my 100 gal skippy. I just cut them into different shapes and threw them in. While you are making your filter, you might want to think about adding a flush valve. A lot of us on here have them on our skippy filters. I know the skippy site doesn't mention a flush valve but it helps with cleaning the gunk out of the bottom of your filter.

how many pads did it take for the 100 gal unit, and what diameter were they?
thanks for the advice on the flush valve...i'll add one to mine.

 

[brandonsdad02]

I bought 2 boxes of 18" pads and 1 box of 14" pads and I think it was right around $70 for all 3 boxes. There were 6 pads in each box. The pads are at least 1" thick.

 

[brandonsdad02]

Also the pads had a 3" hole in the center of them that you just had to remove if it were going on a actual machine, so that was used as well. It was already punched out, just not removed.

 

[brandonsdad02]

There is a thread some where on this site about the flush valve. I did a quick search, but wasn't able to find it, but I've looked at it before.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

I went to a commercial cleaning supply wholesale house and bought the floor scrubber pads for my 100 gal skippy. I just cut them into different shapes and threw them in. While you are making your filter, you might want to think about adding a flush valve. A lot of us on here have them on our skippy filters. I know the skippy site doesn't mention a flush valve but it helps with cleaning the gunk out of the bottom of your filter.

forgot to ask...what color pad? i think the color indicates the "coarseness"

 

[sissy]

some also have activated charcoal in them .I use bags full in my filters along with crushed oyster shells and zeolite .But then I use a lava rock filter ,not a favorite because it is heavy but it works for me .

 

[brandonsdad02]

I got the green colored ones. I almost had too many filter pads to put in there all at once.

 

[mrsclem]

Has anybody tried astroturf? I'm thinking it's got a lot of surface area and would not break down. I know Lowes sells it in large rolls buy the foot but there are smaller sections available.

 

[ididntdoit99]

If you do order that stuff from amazon, i'd be interested to see how well it works... it seems to fine to me... i don't know if that makes sense or not. But reading the couple of reviews on it, people seem to be using it more for aquariums. Seems more like something similar to quilt batting you would throw in for a couple of days to filter out some really fine stuff, but not something i would imagine would work well for a bio filter. I may be wrong though.

 

[icewaterdon]

Anyone ever try those plastic practice golf balls with all the holes? You can get 15 for 1.97 at Walmart.