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Nee wat, laat ek maar my sand filter abuse. Ek sal maar aan gaan soos ek nog die heel tyd aangaan en net die sand twee keer per week draai per hand.

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What about Wayne, who stated that he will rather abuse his sand filter before cleaning it properly?

I guess i was asking for it. fair enough.

If me trying to clean it twice a weak is abuse...then the filter in is not the right filter for the application....which is exactly what i am trying to say.

And guess what, i do a much better job than the majority of keepers out there....that do absolutly nothing and my sand filter is not even my main mechanical filtration of my pond. It is last inline after 2 vortexes and a pomp mantjie.

So in the end a sand filter is not the best filter for the normal person that wants to keep kois cause its to difficult to maintain regardless of how cheap it is.

Wayne,

Cleaning a sand filter is easy: five minutes back wash per week and one hour once a month!

Hey Pieter...... Not so easy to backwash so often now with the water restriction in EC. I'm enjoying my SF setup though, works well for me.

what an interesting read, so interesting that this is the 3rd time i have re-read the thread, would have been infinately more informative it mud slinging had been left out of it maar nou ja....

I wonder what the sand filter guys say when one compares Capex to Opex in both time and hard cash. As an outsider and as yet undecided as to which way to go on the filter it really is not rocket science to see which filter system wins in the short term and which one wins in the long term ..... the OPEX of the new fandangle technology used by them yanks n all wins hands down IMHO

Hi Stumble, You started this to ask about a bubble bead filter, I assume you have by now installed a bubble bead, Happy with it

bobby wrote:

Hi Stumble, You started this to ask about a bubble bead filter, I assume you have by now installed a bubble bead, Happy with it

Yes, I did install one. My system is still quite new, but so far I am happy with it and my water is nice and clear except for a bit of foam. Just wish that would go away. I find when I replace my salt with water changes, my foam increases. I keep the level at around .1 % sometimes a little more but not quite .2

stumble wrote:

bobby wrote:

Hi Stumble, You started this to ask about a bubble bead filter, I assume you have by now installed a bubble bead, Happy with it

Yes, I did install one. My system is still quite new, but so far I am happy with it and my water is nice and clear except for a bit of foam. Just wish that would go away. I find when I replace my salt with water changes, my foam increases. I keep the level at around .1 % sometimes a little more but not quite .2

which system did you buy?

Perhaps a pic of the filtration?

stumble wrote:

Yes, I did install one. My system is still quite new, but so far I am happy with it and my water is nice and clear except for a bit of foam. Just wish that would go away. I find when I replace my salt with water changes, my foam increases. I keep the level at around .1 % sometimes a little more but not quite .2

Hi Stumble, In my experience new system tends to do that and the salt although low is also adding to the foam.

Send us a pic of you bead installation, I am planning to add one as well for additional water flow.

I will have to take a pic as soon as I get a chance.
I got this from ultra Zap.

Ultra Zap Bubble bead filter

The Ultra Zap bubble bead filter looks very similar to a sand filter with the exception of an air blower attached to the bottom (We’ll come to the blower later). The internals of the filter work completely opposite to a regular sand filter in that instead of the fingers sitting at the bottom they are on top. This is because the plastic media floats to the top and thus the filter draws clean water through this floating media. There are several benefits to this floating media. Firstly most of your solid waste which gets trapped in the media will automatically fall to the bottom of the filter thus reducing clogging. Secondly the plastic media will also give you better polishing of the water than sand with the added benefit of boosting your existing biological filtration.

Backwashing and maintaining the bubble bead is where the best benefit comes in. The air blower mentioned before is the replacement for manual labor.

As you will know, sand filters constantly need to be opened and stirred so as to agitate the sand before backwashing so that the majority of the debris caught in the sand can be expelled form the system. too often this has little effect.

With the Bubble bead filter you shut off the water pump, turn to backwash open and close a two ball valves and switch on the air blower. The air blower violently agitates the beads and churns the filter media inside out thus making sure that the filter media has been completely broken up. The air blower does the initial backwash and is then followed by the normal backwash like a sand filter. This backwash method will expel more waste from the filter and use less water as the bead bed is easier to shake up than sand.

Stumble what is the cost for this system? Bead filter + blower?

what size pump is used to run this system?

Mine was worked into my pond build price, but I know they sell them here for R6900.00.
I use a .75

Hi Stumble
I am impressed with you feedback as always, its time that you blow your cover to be an inspirations to others, you have truly made your mark around the BULL supporters.

neil h wrote:

what size pump is used to run this system?

You can use a 15000l p/h or higher waterfall or similar low energy pump, no need for pressurise pump.

Bobby !!

BTW Karl is bringing the big guys today.

bobby wrote:

neil h wrote:

what size pump is used to run this system?

You can use a 15000l p/h or higher waterfall or similar low energy pump, no need for pressurise pump.

thought so, thanks for the feedback Bobby

I know the UV is in the wrong place. The agreement was to put it AFTER the bio not before it, but I only noticed it when everything was finished.
Oh well, my water is clear.

Ha Ha Ha

What a load of Bull.

Thanks Stumble

Its now roughly a year and a half later sincew we had the sand filter or bubble bead discussion and i have replaced my sand filter with a bubble bead this week. That is 5 years of sand filter usage. So i should be able to give a very accurate and honest comparison between the two. Lets see what happens.

I cleaned my complete filter system this week and where i normally use between 4000-6000l of water per weekend to clean the vortexes and the sand filter i barely used 2000l.

The BB was so easy, i let it bubble and then drained the water. I then rinsed it until the looking glass had clean water in it. Was amazing and quick plus i did not have to get my hands dirty or wet.

Well that is all i can report for now. Whether my water clarity is going to take a dive i dont know, will have to run it atleast a few weeks before i can comment on it.

Thanks for the feedback Wayne. Something I would like to know is how effective a submersible pump of say 18 000 liter capacity will work on the bubble bead filter.

As we know, you can not effectively run an old fashoin sandfilter with submersibles unless you have at least a backup pump with high pressure to do the backwashes.

In other words, more or less how much resistance does the bubble bead filter create in comparison with a sand filter.