I would see, once all is said and done if a mod could stitch the different threads together. Make it one entire subject, kinda like a book with different chapters.
I'll have a number of questions as you go along. I have a few now, but I'll wait till you cover it first.
The bio-ball Q threw me a bit as well, but think it may have to do with floats that you see on some of the RBC rigs holding it up and in place.
I have a bunch of brand new bio-balls here if someone is interested. I think maybe about 6000 of one size and a couple thousand of another size. Had a couple cases of 2" degassing balls that I was going to mix in the smaller balls with for a degassing column, but NOT! Haven't seen them for at least 7 years. Must have grown legs.
O.K. Got it now. Kind of slow at times. Thanks for clearing that up Phil.
I have three RBC's in the garage collecting dust. Even tried to sell them on the Aquaponics Yellow Perch forum with no luck. May use them in my coldwater system for a three staged biofilter.
According to two very knowledgable sources the RBC's are actually superior to the moving bed filters because they have more "usable" surface area. And they the can be gravity fed.
That said, to work well they need to be in their own tank which is a bigger footprint then the moving bed filter in a drum. At the schools I set up, space is at a premium. In my basement too. And mine would get quite a build up of mulm between the plates. I like
that the moving bed filters are self cleaning which keeps down anaerobic zones.
Also it's about $500.00 in materials to build an RBC unless you can find used fiberglass PVC roofing, and they are a lot of work to build. The moving bed filter is cheaper in materials and easier to build.
