How to make a Remote trickle filter.

This description is of a cheap remote trickle filter that you can make your self for around $20 In materials, excluding the pump of course.

With this one we selected a dual bucket system, the small one on top is for the dry section and the larger one at the bottom for the wet section.
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Firstly as with all correctly built trickle filters there has to be a dry section, this can be at the start but is better at the time when the water is ready to go back into the tank after denitrification.

This particular one that was built because it is at virtually no cost, moveable so it can be used anywhere at any time and is able to withstand rough treatment.

The dry section gets it name because the biological media, coral-bio cubes- bio balls etc are not suspended in water, the water that runs through this section is based on the same principal as a water fall and that means it is to be cascaded over the media creating a very thin layer of water and bashing the water against something to help release ammonias into the air, plus it enables oxygen absorbs ion better than anywhere else in your system and absorb and release balancing room co2.

This well designed area of biological filtration affectively and to a great degree is a fool proof way to fix the most common problem in an aquarium, fresh or salt, breaking the surface tension of the aquariums water and if with saltwater, than if a calcium based product is used in this well built area as well,ph is never an issue!



In the first picture you see the lid of the bucket being converted into a drip tray and two failsafe over flow holes with a slight barrier of silicon around them to ensure the holes on the drip tray are used before it over flows into these larger holes to ensure the tray does not over flow into the room.
Make the holes small and plentiful and test for water cover age and fill some holes or increase them to even dispersal of water over the whole tray as the water goes through the holes and carries out its cascaded function.

Use a fine pointed soldering iron to make the holes as a drill bit can break the plastic than use a large drill bit to just concave the top of the hole by hand.






At this stage you need some centralised holes in the bucket to meet up with the hole in the top of the next bucket that will house the wet section; these can easily be done with a soldering irons thin and thick part of the iron.
The holes should be big enough to allow easy flow of water and small enough to not allow the media you are using to create the cascading affect to fit through.





This hole in the second buckets lid should match up the holed section above, with in reason.
Use a round object to trace around it to allow a neat hole when using soldering iron to cut the hole.




To make this section work in it’s simplest and fool proof way is to get some conduit (plastic pipe)that will carry four times the amount of flow that will be going into the trickle filter over all.

Cut a forty five degree angle on one end of this pipe, the other end sit up against the out side of the bucket at the level you wish the water exit it, approximately 2 inches down from the top of the bucket. Trace a line around the end of this pipe to indicate where the hole will be that will make with a soldering iron for the exit pipe.

Once the hole is cute at the same size as the pipe or smaller you than go around the inside edge of the hole heating and softening the holes edge as you go, once it is soft push the pipe into it and let cool.





















A breather hole is needed here.



Home made plumming
There are two main actions that require heat to cheaply make fittings.
Force some rope into the pipe acheiviing nearly the same internal pipe size.




Heat the pipe evenly all around it at an inch or so wide path,if smaller the pipe will tear when bending,once the nend required has been prepeared,cool under tap water.


This is the end result after pulling out nylon rops and you can acheive most angles for different uses with this.



This how you create a near water tight join in the pipe.