Info on wet dry trickle filter

[shred5]

DLS was a media used in trickle/wet dry filters way back when. DLS (Double Layered Spiral) refers to a type of filter media, often used in trickle filters, that provides a high surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize and perform biological filtration.

Here's an old article by Bob Goemens about these type of filters and metions DLS.

Good ole Bob I wonder what he is doing these days or even if he is alive. He is the one who really opened up the hobby for me. I used to have a long distance bill (when that was a thing way before cell phones) that was in the hundreds talking with him. He then introduced me to fishnet and things really broke free for my knowledge in the hobby. I mean fishnet had every expert, marine biologist, or author in this hobby in one spot. Internet and places like RC came along and destroyed the place.

Poor Bob he got hammered bad by the hobby though. He always had his column in marine fish monthly and never endorsed anything. Then he endorses something and it was that eco stick or whatever and it was garbage. The hobby turned on him bad which really wasn't fair. Such a helpful person. This hobby can be cruel sometime. I mean they did on Eric Borneman too, another guy who cared a ton for this hobby and dedicated his life to it. He is a major loss. Good to see Eric is at least back in some form and doing ok.

This is why I still like RC it reminds me of the past all the time. hobby feels a little stagnate now and more about the buck than helping each other, marine biology, DYI and new discoveries.

Now it feels like YouTube full of company shills oops I mean influencers, who can have most expensive corals packed into a small box, who can spend the most on equipment doesn't matter if actually does anything. There is getting to be too much of it.

Sed filter?? What is that?

I think he meant sand.

 

[wvned]

Sediment filter. The first stage of an RODI filter used in a filter housing. Only a small amount of water needs to go through a sulfur reactor and a tiny stream of 0 nitrate water comes out. It is full of media that is packed so you dont want gunk to go in a plug it up.
You only have to recharge them every1.5 - 2 years.

 

[griss]

Good ole Bob I wonder what he is doing these days or even if he is alive. He is the one who really opened up the hobby for me. I used to have a long distance bill (when that was a thing way before cell phones) that was in the hundreds talking with him. He then introduced me to fishnet and things really broke free for my knowledge in the hobby. I mean fishnet had every expert, marine biologist, or author in this hobby in one spot. Internet and places like RC came along and destroyed the place.

Poor Bob he got hammered bad by the hobby though. He always had his column in marine fish monthly and never endorsed anything. Than he endorses something and it was that eco stick or whatever and it was garbage. The hobby turned on him bad which really wasn't fare. Such a helpful person. This hobby can be cruel sometime. I mean they did on Eric Borneman too, another guy who cared a ton for this hobby and dedicated his life to it. He is a major loss. Good to see Eric is at least back in some form and doing ok.

This is why I still like RC it reminds me of the past all the time. hobby feels a little stagnate now and more about the buck than helping each other, marine biology, DYI and new discoveries.

Now it feels like YouTube full of company shills oops I mean influencers, who can have most expensive corals packed into a small box, who can spend the most on equipment doesn't matter if actually does anything. There is getting to be too much of it.



I think he meant sand.

My first successful reef tank was an old 200 gallon Oceanic with a Goemens/Jaubert/NNR sandbed based on Bob's articles from MFM.

 

[shred5]

My first successful reef tank was an old 200 gallon Oceanic with a Goemens/Jaubert/NNR sandbed based on Bob's articles from MFM.

You know off topic but would make a good thread is how people got into the hobby. Especially here because there are allot of old timers that still come here occasionally.

My first reef started as a saltwater fish tank filled with I think was it tufa rock and it eventually transitioned over to a reef? Had a hang on the back filter.

A LFS started to get this live rock in and I bought a few pieces of Hawahii rock. It was black rock and it had purple coralline but also this green color.
It had some mojo anemones on it. We had no idea at the time and thought they were cool and we would feed them. Never became a issue though. Then I got some real keys rock when it was still available and it had a curleycue anemone. Then I started looking for rock with corals on it and added some plant growlights. I stated with some Caribbean corals after that when you could get them. Later i added triton bulbs (first reef bulb I think) and some Philips TL-03 lamps and it was off to the races. Who remembers them? TL-03 lamp was which allowed this hobby to break out in my opinion. Then it was a DLS Aquatics wet/dry trickle filter.

 

[FOX-FACE fanboy….]

Sediment filter. The first stage of an RODI filter used in a filter housing. Only a small amount of water needs to go through a sulfur reactor and a tiny stream of 0 nitrate water comes out. It is full of media that is packed so you dont want gunk to go in a plug it up.
You only have to recharge them every1.5 - 2

 

[FOX-FACE fanboy….]

Off topic but hydra 32s are terrible I have had Bluetooth fail and they run at 0 par when it happens and it was almost impossible to fix
And I’m at 150par at 100% they are unreliable and weak for the price.

 

[shred5]

Off topic but hydra 32s are crap I have had Bluetooth fail and they run at 0 par when it happens and it was almost impossible to fix.

Yea since BRS got a hold of them and Ecotech they have not been the same. My Radions when I had them the bluetooth failed often and they would stay on. I would have to reset them to get them to work again.

 

[FOX-FACE fanboy….]

I should have gone T5 metal halide. My good deal apex is dead 4 months into operation the Wi-Fi is dead. The trident and DOS are dead right.

 

[alton]

My first successful reef tank was an old 200 gallon Oceanic with a Goemens/Jaubert/NNR sandbed based on Bob's articles from MFM.

My first picture was a 200 gallon Oceanic 7' tank. I sold it after about ten years. Here is a picture when I helped a friend move it for a second time.

Have Tank Will Travel

 

[kharmaguru]

A station wagon is a legit reefer's car

 

[FOX-FACE fanboy….]

Really

 

[wvned]

I got a 180 in a Subaru Impreza. Trunk closed.
I am that tricky.

 

[revclyburn]

I'm from that old school too and never used any dls in my sump, not even when I started. I guess I had read about the problem it caused and stayed away from using it. If I can remember, getting old, all I used was in mines was live rock or base rock. At the time it was about eliminating a lot of things and just being as natural as possible. Hence my love for using water straight for the ocean. I was told how bad it was and how som,e nasty stuff would get in my tank, never did. Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth of knowledge, lol

 

[FOX-FACE fanboy….]

Would a 5 gallon bucket with bio balls and filter floss feed by a 450 gph pump draining back into the dt be enough for a 120 reef tank?

 

[griss]

Would a 5 gallon bucket with bio balls and filter floss feed by a 450 gph pump draining back into the dt be enough for a 120 reef tank?

That should be more than enough. Although, remember, water follows that path of least resistance. How would you disperse the water evenly over the bio balls? Trickle filters either used spray bars or dispersion plates to evenly distribute the water over then bio material be that bio balls or DLS. You don't want the bucket to be full of water, you want it mostly air with the water trickling over the filter media.

8.6.3. Trickle Aquarium Filters - AquaInfo

One type of sump filter is called a trickle filter. In a trickle filter, the water flows into a tray with many small holes in it. The tray spreads the water out over a square foot or so of surface.

aquainfo.org

 

[Paul B]

About ten years after the hobby started we all used wet dry filters. They were cool to look at and build especially if you had that rotating bar over the thing. They were and still are great water conditioners but fell out of favor due to advertising and probably lawyers. (I blame lawyers for just about everything)

People used to call them "Nitrate Factories" because they converted wastes to nitrate very fast which is kind of what we want.
But they took up a lot of room and needed cleaning and other maintenance but people then always looked for zero nitrates and that was also just when corals started to be kept so most of us had fish only systems. Now people want a little nitrates and a Wet Dry will remove them almost instantly.

 

[revclyburn]

I used to use base rock in my wet dry filter.Didn't like bio balls, think about how they we get all gunked up. Hearing now that some people want nitrates in their tanks is new to me. We definitely didn't want any. Allthough I still think there was stilla level on it in mot of out tanks. Iwas and mainly into soft corals and think it's still okay to use a wet dry filter.

 

[FOX-FACE fanboy….]

About ten years after the hobby started we all used wet dry filters. They were cool to look at and build especially if you had that rotating bar over the thing. They were and still are great water conditioners but fell out of favor due to advertising and probably lawyers. (I blame lawyers for just about everything)

People used to call them "Nitrate Factories" because they converted wastes to nitrate very fast which is kind of what we want.
But they took up a lot of room and needed cleaning and other maintenance but people then always looked for zero nitrates and that was also just when corals started to be kept so most of us had fish only systems. Now people want a little nitrates and a Wet Dry will remove them almost instantly.

What rotating bar.

 

[JCOLE]

I have a DIY trickle filter going on the new build. The tank drains into a 55 gallon drum through 3 stacked egg crates. The first egg crate will be for the filtration pads, carbon, etc, the second will be for bio balls; and the last one will be filled with rock. The drum will fill up 1/3 of the way, drain out into a Triton refugium sump, and then return to the tank. What I am looking to achieve with the drum is a high water fall through bio balls to off gas CO₂, nitrification, and also a cryptic zone at the bottom of the barrel, as it will be concealed.

The egg crates should make it simple to remove and clean when needed.

 

[shred5]

About ten years after the hobby started we all used wet dry filters. They were cool to look at and build especially if you had that rotating bar over the thing. They were and still are great water conditioners but fell out of favor due to advertising and probably lawyers. (I blame lawyers for just about everything)

People used to call them "Nitrate Factories" because they converted wastes to nitrate very fast which is kind of what we want.
But they took up a lot of room and needed cleaning and other maintenance but people then always looked for zero nitrates and that was also just when corals started to be kept so most of us had fish only systems. Now people want a little nitrates and a Wet Dry will remove them almost instantly.

Oh yea the rotating bar, those things always got hung up for people. I always had a drip plate instead of rotating bar and would lay a sheet of filter floss over it to keep stuff out of the dls and later bio balls.