New Bong Idea using balls

FireMogle · Mar 5, 2002

Those of you who are fimillar with fish tanks may have seen those little blue balls used for filtration. Does anyone think it would work to fill a bong cooler with those to slow water fall, and Increase serface area within the tower? Would this dive better performance? These things are cheep, and have good airflow through them.

Dissolved · Mar 5, 2002

altho i dont have a "water tower" or never messed with one, i do have watercooling.
im not sure what your talking about as far as ever useing these round filters, but they sound very good. theres probly a million and one ways to block buildup in a water tower, but it all depeneds on you the person that uses it. id just get one of those pure filters or something.. or a uv filter the pong pumps use. maybe even a lil beach if you duct the water mist outside.

mustangman · Mar 5, 2002

If your looking to build surface area I think that these would be great. The blue balls that you are refering to are used for bacterial growth in salt water aquariams and work because they increase the surface area of the water quite a bit which should make them great for a bong also. I never thought of using these before; I think I might try it. I just have to dig into my old salt water tank parts to find mine. I always new that those aquarium parts would have some future use along with all my old car parts!
I just realized my ex wife was right I'm a pack rat.

Wolfe · Mar 10, 2002

I heard someone talk about a bong filled with marbles, and he seemed to imply it worked well. Those filter balls would just be one step better (and most likely cheaper). i'd give it a shot

starscream33 · Mar 14, 2002

OK, this reply is a bit late, but I have a thought for ya.

Have you seen those plant/rock garden fountains they sell a the nature stores? They have one that runs water down something similar to an old washboard. If you ran your water down a washboard, that would give you a lot of surface area.

It will probably be a large system, but a true Techno-Weenie wouldn't mind. And the sound the water makes will be soothing.

RoadWarrior · Mar 14, 2002

I suggested marbles a while back. Somebody in the threads down there is using ping pong balls.

Road Warrior

Pepsi · Mar 14, 2002

Same here Ping Pong Balls are great. I think that the thread said they were about 20 bucks a gross. Once I used ear plugs (the little foam ones) It took a whole box. I got them for nothing, but they worked great they were light enough when wet the fans would still move them around.
Stay Cool
Pepsi

FeralCom · Mar 14, 2002

I just ordered a 5-gal bucket of Bio Balls for a new Tower Cooler I am building. Looking around, I can’t think of anything that would work better.

Bio Balls have more surface area than Ping-Pong balls but are way more expensive. They would also be less restrictive on the airflow. My theory is that any type of media like this would also make it easier to choose a spray head for the tower. You don’t have to worry as much about the streams of water because it is going to coat evenly around the media.

Another choice would be to use Bio-Bale. This stuff looks like noodles and is a lot cheaper than Bio Balls.
Whatever you use, my belief is that it would be better than free falling water and I know from experience that it is a whole lot more quiet.

I have many years experience in aquariums. Many things I see people use for over clocking, I have done the same to cool an aquarium (like running things through a freezer). I always try to find ways to bring ideas from one hobby to the other (unfortunately Bongs would never work for an aquarium).

FireMogle · Mar 14, 2002

I havent got my watercooling system up yet but still plan on trying the bio-balls. I got them for .20 a piece, so its not to bad a deal. Hopefully this system will work by tomarrow. This was just an abstract idea but if other people are using it then I guess it could be good? Thanks for the info.

FeralCom · Mar 14, 2002

Let me know if you get to yours up first.

I’m on hold for clear PVC. I haven’t been able to find any locally, but there is a manufacture that I have emailed to see if they would sell a few pieces. I want to get clear because I want to be able to see the water flow and how well using media performs against free falling water. It will also let me see how different spry heads work inside the PVC.

Things I will try.
1. Shower Head from Home Depot
2. Sprinkler Attachment from Home Depot (they have so many to choose from)
3. Spray Bar – Again, something from the aquarium hobby. Basically its 2 pieces of PVC attached to a t connection that has a ball bearing joint. Small holes are drilled on each side so the water pressure makes it spin. This gives the media below it an even coat.

FireMogle · Mar 15, 2002

OK, i got some leaks i need to fix, working on that now. Then the bong needs some hieght adjustment and I should be done. eta tomarrow night.

Silver · Mar 15, 2002

FireMogle said:
I havent got my watercooling system up yet but still plan on trying the bio-balls. I got them for .20 a piece, so its not to bad a deal. Hopefully this system will work by tomarrow. This was just an abstract idea but if other people are using it then I guess it could be good? Thanks for the info.

Might consider why they use these for fish. I believe that they promote the proper biological growth of something that is advatageous to the fish. May also assist in the removal of ammonia. If you have one of those filters that spin when the water hit they accomplish some of the same. Use one for my fish. Just a thought. Of course the use of some antibacterial would cure this I would think. The ping pong balls and possibly the marbles may have some validity.

FeralCom · Mar 15, 2002

Yes, they use them because the bacteria grow more quickly in an oxygen rich environment. In an aquarium, it is on everything even the glass but they grow more slowly. So even if you’re not using a media, you will still have biological growth. Antibiotics would help control the growth (and even some algae), but I would think that would get expensive in a Water Tower. The trick is to find something that won’t degrade the materials, get all over the place, and perform biological growth control. I don’t know what that would be yet, but I will experiment when I get running.

Until that is found, I guess it is a trade off. You will get better cooling because the water is moving down the tower slower and spread over more area (plus you lose much of the peeing sound). The down side is that you will have to clean it more often.

I saw something else tonight that may perform somewhere in-between Bio-Balls and Pin-Pong balls. I was at Wall-Mart and they had a bag of practice golf balls for about $4. They are hollow plastic that have holes drilled all over.

Silver · Mar 15, 2002

Now that migh be kind of fun to play with. The practise golf balls that is. Good air flow, substantially increased surface area. Yes, might be fun to play with.

starscream33 · Mar 15, 2002

If you are worried about bacteria growth, what about alcohol? Wouldn't that stop bacteria growth? Or at least make them very happy.

A bottle pint of PGA is about $4, and rubbing alcohol is cheaper, but evaporates quicker and might be too dry for the pump.

Sounds odd, but that's what we're into I guess.

FeralCom · Mar 15, 2002

Might work, but might also make your house smell like a bar.

I am thinking about using Lysol (one of the pleasant smelling forms). The stuff seems pretty safe for surfaces and is supposed to be a good germ killer.

Silver · Mar 15, 2002

Straight up water, just water...tap even...won't hurt you....

FireMogle · Apr 5, 2002

OK, got the thing up and running. Right now its my opinion that poor airflow is causing high temps, its ideling 44-45. Im gonna drill more holes for ventalation in the tower and post some more temps. The tower is 3" PVC about 2 feet tall, but completly silent except for the pump.

AntmanMike · Apr 5, 2002

Off the subject a bit, but those balls arent ONLY for salt water setups. They are also used in Tropical Freshwater setups too for Nitrogen Fixation.

PigGuy · Apr 6, 2002

FeralCom said:
I’m on hold for clear PVC. I haven’t been able to find any locally, but there is a manufacture that I have emailed to see if they would sell a few pieces. I want to get clear because I want to be able to see the water flow and how well using media performs against free falling water. It will also let me see how different spry heads work inside the PVC.

I dont think clear PVC even exists. Something tells me that contractors building houses dont think "Hey lets make the pipes clear so we can see the poo".

But if you do find something like that, that's cheap. I would like to know.

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