Doc biofilter questions

[Catfishnut]

i just heated (warmed) the HDPE, and used aquarium silicone on all my 'thru the filter wall' plumbing, including the waterfall weirs...not 1 problem. but i used shower drains...much sturdier mounting than a bulk head type fitting.

Koiguy,

I used 2" shower drains on the bottom of my filter tanks. They do secure very well, but I had a tough time getting the threads started and tightened all by myself. It's really tough to hold one fitting inside at the bottom of a 55 gallon barrel that is three feet deep and also attach and thread on the external portion! I made a handy tool that could be inserted in the throat of the inside-of-the-barrel portion of the shower drain (with the screen grate removed) and with a long handle. It looks like a small hand-auger with a mini spade blade on one end and a T handle on the other. The spade blade end fits inside the throat and catches on the little cutouts or the buttressed sections where the screen grate screws screw into. Worked great. I could hold the T handle with one hand and reach under the barrel with the other to start the threads.

Gordy

 

[koiguy1969]

catfish... i had no problem doing it myself.. i'm 6'10" with a long reach,so can easily reach to the bottom of my barrel...i would gladly give you 8" of height if you need it! lol .... i actually dremeled (beveled) the edge on the hole so it threaded into the barrel as well as the other half of the fixture.

 

[Catfishnut]

catfish... i had no problem doing it myself.. i'm 6'10" with a long reach,so can easily reach to the bottom of my barrel...i would gladly give you 8" of height if you need it! lol .... i actually dremeled (beveled) the edge on the hole so it threaded into the barrel as well as the other half of the fixture.

Koiguy,

I sure could have used those extra 8" at the time! Ha ha! I am only 5'7" and I couldn't reach both pieces. My hole saw was just slightly oversized, so the hole in the barrel was too large to allow me to thread it, but that would have helped a lot, too.

Gordy

 

[Waterbug]

I only used the shower drain fittings on liner. For 55 gal drums I used 2" and under and for those I made taps. A threaded male steel pipe fitting. File vertical grooves to act as cutters. File down the first threads to get a taper to make starting easier. So it looks just like a tap, just not hardened, but fine for plastic. Once tapped the male fitting screws in tight with no need for a female on the other side.

A bit of work up front but then you can crank out filters.

 

[sissy]

I just used silicone and so far so good but wonder if it will hold up over time and I guess time will tell .I have learned that there are so many kinds of sealers out there since I used this and just happen to have a tube here and said what the heck try it

 

[Catfishnut]

I only used the shower drain fittings on liner. For 55 gal drums I used 2" and under and for those I made taps. A threaded male steel pipe fitting. File vertical grooves to act as cutters. File down the first threads to get a taper to make starting easier. So it looks just like a tap, just not hardened, but fine for plastic. Once tapped the male fitting screws in tight with no need for a female on the other side.

A bit of work up front but then you can crank out filters.

Waterbug,

I like your idea about semi-tapping the entry point for the fitting in the filter vessel. There isn't always that much "meat" to work with here (thickness of the plastic wall), but even a slight threading would help. When I assembled my tanks, I used the closest sized hole saw cutter that I had. It was probably the perfect diameter, but the sawblade teeth were meant for wood and I ended up with an orifice that was just a hair too large to attempt threading it. It would have been too loose or too large.

Oh well. I did learn something here for future construction concerns. I might be building more of these systems for friends and neighbors here at my riverfront community. They have expressed an interest in my design for their own use, but of course, they want me to build it for them.

This pond hobby does require some "get down and do it" attitude. You learn a lot from trial and error, but I always try to learn from other's successes and mistakes just the same. I figure that I am pretty good at improvisation and ingenuity, but it always helps to read what other's have done and are doing. There are lots of tricks and tips out there, in here, that can save you a lot of time and expense and labor.

I have to admit, this hobby and this forum are a LOT of FUN! Very interesting, informative and rewarding! Not failing to mention, good company, too!

Gordy

 

[sissy]

The thing is still that what works for some does not work for all and this sight gives a lot of info on different things and you never know what you might learn .I guess live and learn and never stop learning .I'm still amazed by all the things I have learned here that saved me lots of money .

 

[Catfishnut]

I just used silicone and so far so good but wonder if it will hold up over time and I guess time will tell .I have learned that there are so many kinds of sealers out there since I used this and just happen to have a tube here and said what the heck try it

Sissy,

The silicone sealant you used will probably never give you troubles. Everything sticks a little and you have some mechanical force on the joints to make it sturdy. If you ever have to do it over again, I would recommend the electrical conduit fittings with O-rings or flat rubber or neoprene gaskets. Ensure to place the O-Rings or gaskets on the water side of the fitting, they won't leak if you have a good mechanical fastener (threaded fitting), I assure you. Besides that, O-rings and gasket seals are so much quicker and cleaner to install and no waiting for cure time.

Waterbug responded to some of my posts about using sealant and he was very much pro O-Rings and gaskets. I do agree with him, but I still had to test the other options (sealants) and report on them.

One thing about O-rings and gaskets, they are not permanent, but they seal 100%. You can remove your fittings when needed or desired. With the sealant I ended up using, it is considered permanent. You can still remove it from the HDPE plastic barrel with a bit of work, but it won't easily come off the other fittins and parts.

If you can obtain the O-rings, I would personally recommed that. They are so much smpler to install and they seal just as well if not better in most cases.

I am a fond advocate of using what is at hand and making it work, so it really doesn't matter what you do, as long as you understand how to make it work (oh, and make it last).

Gordy

 

[sissy]

I did use the gaskets too but thought the silicone would seal the tank adapter even more .Figured one was good two must be better .They were rubber and came with the tank adapters .I did take the tank adapter off my old filter tank and used the sealant and used some nail polish remover to get the sealant off .The tank split on the side ,don't know why it split but it did .

 

[Waterbug]

Gordy, I kind of got into building filters and other pond stuff awhile back for other people. It was fun and you meet a lot of interesting people. It did force me to find better and faster methods which was interesting.

Sissy, I sure agree with the learning thing and how it can improve a person's life. I think I'm a better software engineer for the lessons I learned keeping pond. I just watched a Woodwright's Shop episode on the Sloyd school and how it thought learning to build things creates character and expertise in other areas. Totally agree.

Now days you can buy a perfectly good bulkhead fitting for drums that's $7 and a breeze to install. DIY often give saving money as the reason, but I think we do it for more important reasons.

I think for most hobbies people go through phases. At first I was very excited, couldn't sleep at night because I was designing filters in my head. Then a couple of years of building and trying all kinds. You toss the ones that don't work out. After awhile you whittle it down to what you actually need, which isn't much, and find you kind of wasted a lot of time and money. But it isn't a waste, you learned a lot. A lot more than sitting on the couch watching football.

And now for the ultimate tip for bulkhead fittings...position the filter over a piece of liner so if there's a leak it drains back into the pond.

 

[sissy]

well the tank adapters I have came from a whole house sale and it was a huge box and was marked pond supplies no body bid so I got it for 25 dollars and it had a big 45 mil thick pond liner in it also and tons of other fittings adapters waterfall weir and skimmer ,The pond liner was 20x25 .I think that was one heck of a deal and hope to run into another one on November 5th as this guy had ponds too .