3D Printed Bio Balls?

PeterAmos

PeterAmos

Who's your Daddy?
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Hi all. I'm not sure where to post this, hopefully this is the right place.
So I just got a 3D printer and instead of using it for work I seem to be making tons of marine stuff lol. So far I've done the following, modified impellors, covers, nice push on venture, levers etc. out of ABS hard wearing and durable. However I made bio balls from a PLA (corn based) filament. I wondered about that an thought I would ask here. PLA is a biodegradable material, I am told that if I make a fake corral from it the fish might peck on it and try eat it :m01: So if I make bio balls from it and put them in a reactor and tumble them would they do the same thing as the retail bio balls, that is provide the fuel to help remove nitrates and phosphates?
Just thought I would ask.

By the way if any of you are in the PMB area and need "parts" that can be printed give me a shout. We are also doing a demo with a light breakfast on the 3rd Nov that I would be happy to offer to a couple of you, no strings attached.
 
wow, at what expense are you printing bioballs? Beginning of the year I could pick them up for 20c each.
 
zippy said:
wow, at what expense are you printing bioballs? Beginning of the year I could pick them up for 20c each.
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So I am not talking of the bio balls that you are referring to no doubt. The bio balls for a reactor are way more expensive. (Bio pellets) Mine look like the standard bio ball, (small ones about 2cm diameter) but hopefully can be used in a reactor in the same manner as the expensive ones.
 
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Sweet.
Was always fascinated by 3D printers,

Tooo expensive to get my hands on one.

Do you have the scanner as well?
Or design from scratch?
 
bio pellets work because of what they are made from if i m not mistaken? It provides a carbon source so must be some bacterial food of sort? LOL i bought deniballs, R20 each:eek:
 
NO3 said:
bio pellets work because of what they are made from if i m not mistaken? It provides a carbon source so must be some bacterial food of sort? LOL i bought deniballs, R20 each:eek:
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Correct, the bio pellets are "food" if you like for the beneficial bacteria. PLA is bio degradable made from a corn base. Hence the thought, would my printed balls provide the same food if placed in a reactor. :biggrin:
 
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459b said:
If you have access to PLA, then why go through the effort of printing it into a fancy shape?
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umm, because I can.:m12: no PLA comes in 1.75 mm diameter for me, a bit small, if I do the 2cm bio ball there is a much larger surface area and it looks lekker.
 
zippy said:
@PeterAmos, please post a few pics of the impeller you printed
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sorry impellor is assembled and working. too much effort to disassemble out the tank, however here is an the idea I used and modified a bit.
HAAKE W45 Circulating Bath Impellor. by PrintTo3D - Thingiverse
the trick when you modify the impellor to this curved shape is making sure that it always spins in the correct direction when starting. Just for interest check these out.
water pump by TanyaAkinora - Thingiverse
Protein Skimmer (ver. 1) by the_mad_scientist - Thingiverse
Venturi Injector by sgraber - Thingiverse (made a couple of these)
Pump Filter Customizer by jetpad - Thingiverse
 
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zippy said:
what would you charge to print an impeller?
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So Zippy

To print it out of ABS for an average size impeller would be about 30 buc's. However you need to have the design. You can sketch one up using free software like Autodesk 123design and mail it to me. Its the design that takes time, the printing is actually cheap.
 
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