Hi Guys,

i am busy trying to get my head around the filtration requirements for a Koi pond and i have a whole bunch of questions.....

firstly the pump..... it seems a case of bigger is better with the throughpup of the filtration from what i have read so far ...... is this really the case? to run a pool spek pump on a 9000L pond seems a bit on the mad side??

Protein skimmers, are they used extensively in Koi ponds?

the filtration chambers seem rather large, what is the reason for this? i read guys using a 800L settlement sump for a 10 000L pond .... my gut response is i would prefer a 10700L pond and a 100L sump?..... i thought maybe this was to ensure detritus settlement, but then i thought if the pump were reduced and the sump throughput were less, then the settlement chamber could be small and still do its job?

it confuses me that one has a huge settlement chamber and then only uses a 25L drum size for the biological foltration ..?

the bilogical chamber is basically a chamber of bioballs or similar which is agitated with airstones..... is there more to this than that ? if so what ?

if i have a series of powerheads installed in the walls of a square-ish pond and they create a gentle wirlpool type effect ..... moving the detritus towards the bottom drain would this work instead of having a morse pool pump sucking from the base?

in summary if i had the wirlpool effect, the bottom drain leading to a settlement chamber (with a protein skimmer here) of say 75L gravity feeding to a highly aerated bioball chamber, grevity feeding to a pump chamber, with a 4000L per hour low wattage pump pumping to a 120L planted tank which overflows back into the main pond, would this work?????

Hi Neil

No means a expert but i can clear a few thing up for you.

Bottom Drains:

You definitely want the bottom drains to help clear out all debris, fish waste etc and such that falls to the floor, unless you going to get that out manually pich is really pita.

There is two way to use these
Suck up via pump or
Gravity fed to a settlement chamber and pulled through the chamber back to the pond.

Skimmer:

People dont generally use protein skimmers on koi ponds should be necessary one can
One does how ever use surface skimmer to take all floating debris off the surface.

Ist not necessary to aerate the biomedia unless you using an active bed such as K1 Kladness etc

the bigger chambers you can accommodate the better as they add to your overall volume of the pond.

Have a look here http://www.happykoi.co.za/how_to_build_a_koi_pond/how_to_build_a_koi_pond_part_1_introduction.htm

Id say go have a look at a few systems up and running and make a call from there as there many different ways sandfilters, chambers, bead filters, airlifts, high pressure, low pressure etc.

Cheers
Lee

thanks for the info Lee,

I will definately be going for the a bottom drain, no question!

any other opinions out there ??

Hi, Some answers and suggestions –

Firstly there are many way to design a filtration system – don’t be fooled by merciless advertising. There is no such thing as only one way to do something in koi keeping.

The pump – if you are going this way then if you have 9000 or 10000 liters you need as a general guide to turn over the pond volume through the filters in under two hours. So you calculation lower down in your posting of a 4000 L per hour pump are correct.

The reasons for this are simply (and this applies to all systems) you need to replenish the oxygen used in the pond - the fish, the bacteria in the filter and the decomposition of organic matter all remove oxygen. By turning over the pond volume through the filter in under two hours you will remove the ammonia excreted by the fish and you will add oxygen into the fresh water returned to the pond.

The only way you can add oxygen into pond water is through contact with the atmosphere. This can be achieved with different methods. Firstly you must remove the water from the bottom of the pond as this is the point further most from the atmosphere. You can do this through a bottom drain or you can suck directly to the pump. Alternatively you can place many airstone in the pond and raise the bottom water to the surface. Because of the agitation you may never see you koi again with this method is something to consider.

Then you move the water through the filter system. If you are using a pump you can utilise a waterfall and stream to return the water to the pond. A water fall is one of the most dramatic features of a koi pond other than the koi themselves.

When it comes to pumps you can get small speck pumps as an example. I use a Magic 8 which is ,6kW as one of the pumps. That would work really well on you 9000 litre pond.

It is true that the bigger the filtration system the better also true that the faster the turnover rate through the filter system the better.

Protein skimmers are not usually used unless you have really heavy stocking densities. Spend you money on something else for the pond or a koi.

Large filter chambers are good for koi ponds. Your filter system has to mechanically remove the algae and solids. Algae is a major source of pollution in the pond and much under estimated. Then after it is trapped it must be removed from the system as it biodegrades. When algae and other organic matter biodegrades it removes oxygen and adds ammonia into the water. Old organic matter can degrade and produce other pollutants which are then pumped back into the pond.

A small settlement chamber or sump is largely a waste of money and time. If you do install one it must be able to be isolated from the pond and drained completely from time to time to flush away the settled organics.

Rather increase the size of the pond.

The biological filtration part of a koi pond is the easy part. Naturally occurring bacteria from biofilms on all surfaces and these bacteria chemically change the ammonia fish excrete to less toxic nitrite and the less toxic nitrate. All surfaces include the inside of the pipes and the walls of the pond.

On koi ponds huge settlement chambers are a waste of money and space.

Using so called bioballs (a plastic media of a certain shape and high expense) is but one media that can be used. Keep in mind the bacteria grow on all surfaces including plastic, stone, gravel, ceramic etc etc. There are many options. I have even seen brick chips – off casts from a brick factory - very successfully used as a filter media.

Next thing to keep in mind the nitrifying bacteria that remove the ammonia occupy only a small area of the media – you have other types of bacteria, fungi etc taking up more space.

Then agitating the filter with air is one option and certainly not the only one. If you have a fast turnover rate and a water fall you will add enough oxygen to the whole system to sustain the bacteria and the fish. Its simple you put back more oxygen than is taken out.

Another advantage of using a pump is that you can raise the water higher than a few millimetres that air stones do and you can get height and pump the water up to a trickle filter. These are really good bioconverters.

Circulation within the pond is a sadly neglected part of water keeping. If you generate a circular flow the organics and solids will settle towards the middle. However there is a factor to take into account – your koi. They will disturb any settlement anywhere in the pond.

I have a rectangular pond with a flat bottom on no bottom drain. I have only vacuumed the bottom twice in 9 years. I am going to try a novel vacuum this week and will let you know how it works.

It does not matter if you have a massive swimming pool pump sucking from the floor or from the settlement chamber you need a pump (which-ever way you choose to go) with a certain capacity to move the water. If you are using a low wattage pump it does not have much punch – i.e. lift. Therefore your design is limited to the filter chambers being more or less on ground level and being gravity fed. If you want things like waterfalls/streams as part of the feature you need to lift the water with the minimum head loss. Low wattage pumps cannot give you much lift.

To quote your posting -
“in summary if i had the wirlpool effect, the bottom drain leading to a settlement chamber (with a protein skimmer here) of say 75L gravity feeding to a highly aerated bioball chamber, grevity feeding to a pump chamber, with a 4000L per hour low wattage pump pumping to a 120L planted tank which overflows back into the main pond, would this work?????”

In answer to your final question – no – actually it will work to a point. But there is much more to it than this.

I would definetly go with Lee's suggestion and get out there and look at different options. Ask koi keepers what they would do again if they had the chance. See what is working. There are many options - find the one or a combination of different ones that will work for you.

Regards,
Chris

Billiant answer Chris

Thank you so much for that answer Chris, much appreciated.

I think i will pop into a few places and have a look at some ponds, then rethink the filtration and come and ask a million Q's again !

Quote :

Large filter chambers are good for koi ponds.

Quote :

A small settlement chamber or sump is largely a waste of money and time.

Quote :

On koi ponds huge settlement chambers are a waste of money and space.

So which one is it now.

I want to touch on technology and filtration....the modern age of koi pond building.

In todays time bottom drains and UVs are expected to be in koi ponds. 15 years ago these items where experimental but now they are defacto items for a koi pond.

As chris says, there are lots of ways to filter water but i wish to add that somethings and items have been standardised on because it makes our life easier in the long run.

If i can draw on a a few paralel examples:

80 years ago everyone that had motorcars started them by cranking them, then we started using keys and the cars had batteries and starter motors build in, todays cars use a card and button to start the car.

20 years ago microwave ovens and mobile phones did not exist or very few people had them but today everyone has them.

Why have these things changed? You can live without them....its because they make your life easier in the long run and lifts the quality of your life. So why would you want to use bricks or stones or even brushes in your koi pond when easier and better things exists?

in 2005 Johan Jacobs wrote an article in KoiSA about filtration where he took on those that where using shade netting in their filter. He suggested to them that shade netting should rather be used to shade their ponds. I thought he was being arrogant cause i and a few others where using shade netting in our filters and it worked very well as a media for bio conversion, as i upgraded in the following years i started to understand what Johan was trying to say. Just because it works is not a reason to use it...better and easier things exist out there. Shadenetting is a pain to clean...take it from me.

Some may disagree with me but the rule of 1/3 filter and 2/3 pond are gone. To use a primitive example - look at what people are using these days - a Sand filter for mechanical and plastic balls...it a small system and it works. Its all about the technology and media these days. If you use static media for mechanical that are just suspended in the water....well then you are back to the 1/3 rule. Please go and read my post about filter size here.

Having to vaccum a pond floor should not be neccesary in todays time unless the pond is old or the pond was build deliberately build without modern koi pond building techniques or the knewledge on how to build a koi pond. A bottom drain is R500 - its expensive for a single simple looking bucket type device but think of the amount of time that it would save in the long run. What is scary is that their are koi pond building companies out there that will build you a 30 000 liter koi pond without a single bottom drain!

Aeration, My pond is 2.9m deep at its deepest spot, i have a aerated dome on my bottom drain. The air lifts the water above the bottom drain and helps to clean the pond by puliing the solids closer to the bottom drain. As i said, mine is 3m deep and i dont have a clarity problem at all. I run my air dome on a timer that switches on and off at certain times. I also use it to excercise the koi. I would advise any new koi pond builders that plan to take the hobby serious to build them in from the start. Yes you can live without them but after you have had them you would not want too.

Protein skimmers are usually used by the people at the hi-end of the hobby. The people that want that extra bit of water quality. Protein skimmers dont only work if you have hi stocking rates, they also work if you feed alot. Most koi keepers that show their koi tend to overfeed their koi and protein skimmers help with the water quality to remove the organics in the water. A protein skimmer is by no means a defacto opperatus in a koi pond but i do know quiet a few that do own them.

When planning the filtration of your pond you also have to decide what you want to achieve with your pond. Is it just a nice feature to fill a gap in the garden or are you wanting to stock some hi-end koi that cost a arm a leg and a kidney. The quality of show koi have become so high lately that a sub standard pond will quickly spoil the qulity of the koi as they seem even more fragile.

I have personally found that it all comes down to amount of time that you want spent maintaining the koi pond and the type of "lifestyle" that you want to give your koi. ...any filter will work - thats nature.....but some devices will make your life easier down the road. That is what technology does.

Hi Wayne,

I must watch my grammar it is getting really bad these last few posts. Sorry about that. Soon you will not be able to distinguish between Pieter’s posts and mine!

Your quotes
"Quote:
Large filter chambers are good for koi ponds.

Quote:
A small settlement chamber or sump is largely a waste of money and time.

Quote:
On koi ponds huge settlement chambers are a waste of money and space.


So which one is it now."

There is a difference between a filter chamber and a discharge box or settlement chamber. Large filter chambers are good. Large or small discharge boxes are mostly a waste of money and space. This is especially so if the discharge boxes do not have any way of being isolated from the pond and being completely drained. A discharge box or settlement chamber is not a must have on a pond.

With regards bottom drains – commercialism has distorted the basic principle – water must be brought into contact with the atmosphere to get oxygen into it. So you suddenly have “bottom drains” as a must. Not so – you can draw the water from the bottom via bottom drains or a pipe lying on the floor. You can reverse the flow if the design calls for it by pumping water directly into the bottom of the pond and letting the water overflow to a chamber or another pond or catchment area. All these different ways bring the water into contact with the atmosphere. And all work.

UV lights – mmmmm ..... one of the first guys to experiment with and use UV lights in the country did so by hanging them in the piping that was gravity feeding between his chambers. Then, being very clever and good at building things he made the first locally made uv lights inside a 100mm pipe. He sold them successfully for a number of years. When I visited him one day he mentioned in a joke that his UV lights were off (actually broken) for many months and his water remained crystal clear. He did not want to say too much as he began to believe that you do not have to have UV lights to clear pond water but he was abuilder of UV lights. A mature pond with a good growth of algae on the walls was a far better solution to green water. I also subscribe to this. I have not had UV lights on my pond for 10 years.

If UV lights are expected it is from a commercial point of view and not from a hobbyists must have list.

Another quote –“ As chris says, there are lots of ways to filter water but i wish to add that somethings and items have been standardised on because it makes our life easier in the long run.”

It only makes life easier from a commercial point of view. What a dealer can sell you and you can load in your car. What makes life easier for the hobbyist is knowledge plus a broad view of the options available to him or her then the most important thing – an understanding of how his particular filter works and what is necessary to maintain it.

With reference to your parallels – yes why not use bricks and stone? We can also say why not use a plastic liner for that matter – that’s modern, cost effective and very easy to use – yet koi keepers shy away from them. They would spend ten times more on concrete (very old fashioned) and not use a plastic liner.

The problem with “modern” so called better things that should be used in place of so called old fashioned ideas is on the design side. Two wonderful examples are the vortex tank and the answer filter used a few years ago. Great marketing made everyone believe that this was the – answer (no pun intended). Yet once out there in operation for a few years the answer did not work. (We can go into this in detail if you like). Vortexes have a fundamental flaw – they cannot be drained completely to be cleaned. The simple opening of the valve on the side which allows some water and some solids to be flushed away that have settled on the floor just cannot clean a vortex properly Over time the fines build up and pollute the system.

The so called older things vs modern things is interesting. Both fail if not set up correctly and if the builder does not have an idea what he is doing you have filter failure a few years down the line. A classic example of this is the 2,000,000 liter koi pond at Voda World in Midrand. This used a sophisticated underground filter system which worked on part air lift and part pump. What might be elementary to you or I was not apparent to a professional company that specialised in water – and here I am talking about water in purification systems of a gigantic scale. After a number of years the filters system failed and all 400 koi died.

Your reference to Johan Jacobs article in KOISA on shade cloth is interesting. Again it how it’s used that counts. So you found it a pain to clean? Sure so are sponges in filters. How about highly sophisticated filters standing 1.5m with – custom made plastic media. Custom made in different densities so that after a back wash the different size plastic media with different weight would settle back into layers. Sounds good. It’s very expensive. One draw-back the designer believing that the biological part of the filtration system should be disturbed as little as possible never built in a flush/backwash facility. (If you want pictures I have).

When you up-graded from shade cloth netting I hope you up-graded to an easy to clean sand filter?

With regards filter size – we tend to forget that in the biological part the nitrifying bacteria take up a part of the surface area – no matter how many plastic thingies you have. The MAJORITY of the surface area is taken up by heterotrophic bacteria and other things. So its great to have a small filter but why is your water not clear? And then why do you need a UV light?

Another quote – “look at what people are using these days - a Sand filter for mechanical and plastic balls...it a small system and it works.” –

Yes and because of commercial interests years ago they are not using sand filters correctly. Read my essay on the Use and Abuse of Sand Filters I wrote 15 years ago.

I will reply to your post on filter size.

With regards vacuuming the floor – yes its scary what some people do when building ponds and charge a fortune. You do not mind paying good money for a correctly designed pond an filter system.

Ahem .... I have a 45,000 litre pond without a bottom drain ....

With regards aeration – why not have a water fall instead of an air dome? Have you thought of the pressure the air is forced into the pond water at this depth? Yes air domes encourage movement towards the drain but have you been in your pond with goggles and a snorkel and listened to the high pitched scream the air domes make. (unless they have re-designed them).

I agree with the following quote:
“When planning the filtration of your pond you also have to decide what you want to achieve with your pond. Is it just a nice feature to fill a gap in the garden or are you wanting to stock some hi-end koi that cost a arm a leg and a kidney. The quality of show koi have become so high lately that a sub standard pond will quickly spoil the qulity of the koi as they seem even more fragile.”

You can grow show quality koi in anything - its genetics more than anything else. Also don’t forget many show koi are grown in grotty mud dams and not pristine ponds.

Yes is does come down to the maintenance aspect of the pond – all ponds. When I did a pond survey a few years ago it became obvious that the greatest cause of problems in koi ponds was a lack of maintenance – irrespective of the cost, complexity or simplicity of the system.

Interesting points you raised Wayne. Good to debate these things. And good to have different ideas.

Regards,
Chris

sheeze guys I am really enjoying this debate !!!

such a welth on information out there !!

Hi Chris

Please excuse my grammer and spelling, this is my 2nd language so i wont even know if i am using the language badly.

One thing i wont disagree with you is that anything can be used...that is true, its the basic priciple of filtration, gas exchange and all those things that matter....But let me play my technology card again.

Why would you want to NOT have thngs that make it easier? UV lights...what is easier switching a light on when the water turn green or going to find someone that sell barly straw everytime your water turns green....both work but which is the easiest and most confinient? If UV lights did not work we would all have a barly straw chambers. lol



You are right there comes a point where filtration controls the nitrate enough so that no algea forms but every now and again you get a algea bloom. UV lights use germicidal lamps which does another job than just killing algea. Germicidal lamps also help to kill free moving bacteria in the pond...which i think is an added bonus to control water quality.

In the same example i can use brushes, bricks, stones, pebbles, matting, shade netting, pieces of plastic ect....Why would you want to use these if they are not simplifying your life...What is easier than the system bobby descibed here . Now compare that to this method of sand filter cleaning. Which looks the easiest? Both filter are mechanical filters but one really makes it easy for you to maintain it. Yes we cant all afford a nexus but we can all implement the principle.

Sand filter. ....nope i have unfortunatly not implemented another way or easier way of of cleaning it. I have installed an vortex with an pirate version of the eazy infront of it to work as a prefilter....the sandfiler is the only antiquated filter in my setup that requires real labour....but with the sky rocketing electrical costs i dont expect it to be part of my system for much longer in the future. I have been forced to scale down in pump size. Where i use to run 2 x 0.45kw pumps i now only have 1 x 0.45kw and 1 x 0.25kw.

A friend of mine use japanese brushes to mechanicly filtrate his pond. He has 280 brushes in his system. He cleans his system only twice a year because of the sheer amount of work required. It takes him one full day to clean it plus you can think what size of a filter chamber he has. Its 5m x 1.5m.

With the way the world is going big yards are a thing of the past and so is big filtration systems. If you buy a house these days you bearly have space for your garden furniture nevermind a huge filtration system 1/3 of your pond size.

I always viewed a settlement chamber as part of mechanical filtration...cause thats is where some solids are "settled out" and other mechanical filtration usually follows it. A discharge box is usually not part of the filtration as its an exit point where the water from all the diffirent filtration systems collect from where it flows away or gets pumped away. Bobby has a good example of a discharge box. a discharge box usually does not have a line feeding another chamber but i guessa settlement chamber could be a viewed as a discharge box of some sort.

Plastic liners, i think the reason most people dont use them is because of the possibility that the sides can collaps in and everyones greatest fear - leaks. Plasticly liners are a cheaper way of building a koi pond - yes its made of a more modern material than concrete but it does not even come close to the same standards as concrete when it comes to strength and life time. So i dont view plastic liners or even prefab as a replacement for concrete.

Aeration, no air domes dont make any screaming sounds anymore - not mine in any case. I go scuba diving in my pond every now and again...intresting way to view your kois. I also use the following to aerate my pond. waterfall, venturi and surface jet. For me its not an eaither or question....they all work and have specific tasks that make each better a specific job - So again i use technology to achieve goals.

Air dome - an air dome lifts the water from bottom of the pond - so you have circulation of water that would otherwise be low on oxygen. An air dome does not put oxygen into th water it asists with oxygenting the pond by aggitating the surface. It also helps with cleaning the pond and creating a vertical current for the koi to excerise against.

Venturi (submerged) - well this device has its bad rep, it can cause gas bubble disease...but it also does a excellent job at airating the water...and it seems to have a calming effect on my koi as they swim through it.

Waterfall - a waterfall is propably the cheapest way to oxygenate your pond. Where a venturi requires a bit of pressure you can use a simple low wattage pump to simple drop the water back into the pond.

Surface jet - this is actually a venturi that has been lifted out of the water. I use it to aerate the water and to clean the water surface where my koi pellets get dropped....I dont want any leaves or debris in this location.

My ref to the article about JJ was to show my change in perspective in the hobby. I started out with shade netting and hair curlers and upgraded to something that was easier to clean. Where is use to spent atleast an hour hosing the crap off the shade netting it takes me 20min to clean my complete system now.....that is technology that does that.

I clean my system once a week and it takes me about 20min - that includes the old sand filter. Heres a look at my pond 2 years ago...its roughly the same except i have now done away with the brushes and protein skimmer.

One thing that i also have to mention is that filters and ease of maintenance does depend on the size of your budget....On a tiny budget you will have a system that works (Anything works) but you are going to work hard to maintain it.

I am a person that is technology minded, i let technology make my life easier...Just like computers. Here i am talking to a group of people from the confort of my own home, miles away. Yes we could all write emails or even snail mail letter back and forth to achieve the same goal but using a forum is much better equiped for the task...the same is true about pond devices and filtration.

Yes there are lots of gadgets out there that dont really work....but i am sorry bottom drain and UV is a standard item nowa days. Even contemplating to build a pond without it is irresponsible.

Wayne,
you say you have not found an alternative to the sand filter, what are your thoughts on the floating bead filters? same concept as the sand filter but floating and using air jets to clean them? they seem very easy to use, clean etc and seem to be the latest and greatest for pool filtration.?

maybe my aim is crazy but i am after a low maintenence low power use system, and in my head i m getting pretty close to the solution i think (thanks in no small part to this forum)

Hi neil

When i started out i did a bit of research and knew i needed a bottom drain, skimmer, mechanical filter, bio converter and UV. But when i bought my goods i could only afford the Sand filter and bio ball option. So that is where this comes from.

I have found many alternatives to the sand filter, i have just not implemented it yet. Part of the problem for me is that my pumps are above water level and that means i require high wattage swimming pool pumps. I would like to change the pump and sand filter at the same time.

Bubble bead filters work aslong as you get a decent type. I have heard horror stories of the beads breaking apart with time....If you purchase a bead filter make sure that it is a proper bead filter and not something someone retrofitted from a sand filter. I have seen those aswell sold by koi dealers.

If i think bubblebead - i think of these http://www.bubblebeadfilters.co.uk/Components/downloads/BubbleBead_08.pdf

Again, you get many types and makes but some work better than others.

Holy Mac,
(I could have said S@%t............but that would be bad language! )

It is great to realize that I am in the thoughts of one of the distinguished members of this forum!
Best of all.............I was not ever part of this discussion!
Referring to that brave “ Rooinek” Englishman from Randburg, what he will not do for the Koi community of South Africa.................even bought a bakkie with balls to be compliant with his new mental image.
He must really have balls to express criticism of my grammar regarding the English language,me a real Afrikaans speaking South African (not an imported South African one like himself)
I hereby issue a challenge to this brave man..............please write your next post in Afrikaans, I will gladly check the grammar!

Hi Neil
I can only share my experience and my preference is also a low maintenance and low electricity filtration system. I do not know the Bead filter but have heard good things about it and that it can also run with a small pump, no need for a pressure pump.
My simplistic take on a pressure pump (the experts are going to nail me) is that all the muck get liquidised by the impeller of pressure pump installed before the filter, where as a small gravity fed pump is at the last stage of a filter and is only used to transport the clean water back to pond. Believe you me that the waterfall pumps can deliver and has no problem with the flow needed from 8000lt to 28000lt per hour. I use a 12000 lt p/h (160W) on my Nexus 300, it feeds x1 50mm mid-water return and 4 x 32mm overhead pond returns with no problem. The best way is to see things in action and I will post some pictures of the cleaning process of my 10000lt pond.

Shite, sorry fellow posters if this forum is a language, spelling, grammar evaluation class, I will have to remove my butt very quickly and get out.
The alternative would be to follow my posts around and have a really good laugh at my expense.

thanks so much gents !

i have had a look at the commercial bead bed products ..... the ones in SA seem to be converted sand filters. I went to look at some koi ponds in action yesterday, some magnificent koi. Cut a long story short, the ponds i saw look like they are using a DIY low maintenence low electricity system

they used 150L drums with a floating bead bed although the beads were more mini hair curlers than beads, there was one with a static bed and one with a an air agitated drum... same media as thefirst drum ......the first drum is mechanical and the second bacterial.... he showed me the backwash proceedure and it was simple enough!!

as i said a diy version is the way i will be going .... a little plumbing and i am sure it will work well !!!!!!!

Hi neil, i also use DIY filters....i did buy them but they are made by the dealer. I will show you my filtration system later but first i want to show
you the filtration system that i build myself.
All these system worked but i continue to try and make things easier for myself.

I started off with a aerated hair curler filter. Based on the Skippy filter but this filter did not keep my pond clean. So i soon changed it.



Here is an example that i have done away with about 3 years ago. A 4 stage filtration system build with drums.



Here is another example that i made myself a few years ago that mimics the nexus 200 with the sponge. I used this on my QT pond for a while.


As you can see im constatnly upgrading my system to try and make it easier for myself.

This is my current filtration.



The water enters the first vortex that has metala sheets in it, from there the water goes to the next chamber that has an "eazy" ripoff. From there the water goes to my sand filter.

These filters mimic the workings of the nexus both in its filtration method aswell as in the way you clean it. Let me give you a better look at the individual section that mimics the "nexus".

1. The eazy.

2. The aerated moving bed.


As you can see you can make your own - its the mechanics on how it works that matters. One thing that have remained constant with me is - i believe one should add air into a bio filter. I believe it enhances the performance of the filter.

thanks for the pics Wayne.....

they are extremely helpfull.....

that media you use is the media I saw for sale, is R750 for 50L is that cheap, expensive or par for the course???

Hi neil,

You get diffirent sizes and makes of the kaldness type of media. 50% of my media is K1 from EA they are smaller and work better than the rest when it comes to the static mechanical side of the filtration, so i use that exclusivly in the eazy. The real K1 from EA is about R 1000 for 50L. The other media is a copy of the K3 and i bought that from happy koi via cape koi aquarium. The media is bigger but slightly cheaper at about R 750 for 40L.

Hi / goeie dag,

"I hereby issue a challenge to this brave man..............please write your next post in Afrikaans, I will gladly check the grammar!"

Ja nou, wat kan ek se –

n Baie goeie vriend van my met n Englese en n Afrikaansse naam, nog al – Herman Charles Bosman - het dit so mooi in die suiwerste Afrikaans gestel in Mafeking Road .....

“When you meet a leopard in the veld, unexpectedly, you seldom trouble to count his spots to find out what kind he belongs to. That is unnecessary. Because whatever kind of leopard it is that you come across in this way, you do only one kind of running. And that is the fastest kind.”

Groete
Chris

N.S. ek verwys na my undercarriage – staal boet, staal ...... (Afrikaans vertaling .......)

Dagse Chris, ( of miskien Hoezit)

Sien jy nou dis toe nie so maklik nie,ne?

Kom ons merk die oefening:

Quote :

n ('n)Baie goeie vriend van my(,) met n ('n) Englese en n ('n) Afrikaansse ( net 1 s) naam, ( Engelse naam en Afrikaanse van) nog al – Herman Charles Bosman - het dit so mooi in die suiwerste Afrikaans gestel in Mafeking Road .....

Regstellings tussen hakkies.

Quote :

“When you meet a leopard in the veld, unexpectedly, you seldom trouble to count his spots to find out what kind he belongs to. That is unnecessary. Because whatever kind of leopard it is that you come across in this way, you do only one kind of running. And that is the fastest kind.”

Hell, ek sou graag bovermelde vertaling in Afrikaans wou sien!

Quote :

N.S. ek verwys na my undercarriage – staal boet, staal ...... (Afrikaans vertaling .......)

Undercarriage = onderstel

Moet se nie sleg vir 'n "Rooinek" Engelsman nie! (Sou seker die 2009 matriek vraestelle kon baas raak)

Hi Neil

Another option to consider for filtration or to include in your system would be a Bakki shower. Have a look at Paul Viljoen's post on a system he has put together. Excellent reading!

Just an idea but worth looking into.

Cheers
Ed

Bakki showers are great but you need to use ceramic media to really get the full benefit of the bakkie shower then. There have been huge discussion about this topic on koi bito. Another thing to keep in mind is that bakkie showers require very high turn over rates. So you need to cycle your water 3 or 4 times per hour with a bakkie shower....Some crazy people suggested to push that up to even 10 times per hour....A bakki shower also helps with oxygenating the water.

1. Plastic media does work in a bakki shower but once the power goes off and the water stops flowing the bacteria are exposed and the plastic retains no water where ceramic rings absorbs the water and gives the bacteria "some" suvival time.

2. A test was done by a forum user where he took 2 virgin ponds of the same size and amount of fish. The one was running a bakki with plastic media and the other with cermics. After 3 weeks the pond running ceremics was giving better water quality results than the once with plastic media. It seemed as if the pond with ceramics was able to mature faster.

3. Ceramics are very pourious and allows for the both anerobic and Aerobic bacteria to grow on it. As was explained anerobic bacteria are the first too arrive and they thrive in the inside of the media. anerobic bacteria also process alot of solids. Some posters on koi bito went as far as to say that one did not need a mechanical filter...just dump the solids straight onto the media - the media will turn black due to all the waste and after 3 weeks the media will suddenly turn white as it matures.

All the things mentioned above can be found on the koi bito forum....i just repeated some of the intresting points that i read about it.

Do some searches for bakki shower and ceramics or "bakki house media".

Good points, you have to think carefully what type of system makes sense from the beginning....

From what I have read, you choose a Bakki system as an 'all in one' thing, no need for sand filters, Nexus, venturi's, settlement chambers etc etc...

It would be really interesting to know the cost of a bakki versus the ideal current filtration setup?

Will a high flow rate pump through a bakki cost less than the system we are recommending for Neil?

interesting concept this Bakkie tower ...... named after a rugby player??

i suspect if it needs 3 to 4 times turnover then the power consumption would be massive (proportionally)

right now i have found a 5000L pump which is about 150watts ........ a lot less power than a pool pump esp one that turns over 40 000L an hour

One of the reasons for going low power is that i am looking at making my marine tank run on solar power .... would be awesome if i could run the pump off this as well !