Hi all
With 3 vortex filters of +- 300 liters each tolal +-900 liters and pond 16,000 liters what would be the min/max flow rate through the vortex filters ?

Out of personal experience i would say dont exceed 13 000l/h otherwise the solids dont settleout and they overflow from one vortex to the next. With a hihger flowrate you stand the chance that your BD cant provide the pump and filters with water fast enough so your last vortex could start to suck air. (Water rising and falling in a vortex does not help with mechanical filtration)

Keep the first vortex empty, you will be suprised that an empty vortex can filter solids out....trust me.

For each BD i would put a settlement vortex (empty), followed by another vortex with mechanical filtration like brushes, matting or stattic K1 and the last i would use for bio filtration.

My advise with vortexes, would be:
BD -> Empty vortex -> Vortex with static K1 in eazy -> Aerated K1 -> Pump -> Pond. (This is a copy of the workings of the nexus )

(If you really want a SF then you can still add it after the pump.)

My own setup currently is.
BD -> Empty vortex -> Vortex with static K1 in eazy -> Manifold -> Pump -> UV -> UV ->Vortex with Aerated K1 -> Vortex with Aerated K1 -> Pond

Skimmer -------------------------------------------------------> Manifold -> Pump -> Sand Filter -> 25L Ultra zap -> 25L Ultra zap -> 25L Ultra zap -> Pond

(The manifold is where all my suction lines are joined and where my ball valves sit it also at this point where the water gets mixed up. I can control how much water i suck from what source and so the water of the BD can be pushed via the sand filter line or it can bypass it.)

Hi Dave,

Vortexes are gravity fed. Therefore the flow rate through a vortex is determined by the pipe diameter of the feed as well as the pipe link between each vortex.

What is the diameter of the pipes to the vortexes and between the vortexes. Give us that and we can give you the maximum flow rate.

Chris

Dave the inlet from BD should be 110mm and between Vortex also 110mm, then if you are using K1 as a meduim a 12000l max 15000l waterfall pump will do the trick. I am currently running my system like this with an 18000lt waterfall pump and it is not running the Vortex dry, but at the first opportunity I am going to change my pump down to enable the Ki to be more effective with a slower flow.

To achieve acceptable pond flow rate I will add a second pump via a skimmer or Bakki shower. Again it's only an opinion based on what is practically working for me at this point in time.

A note of interest in support of the above.

A real life situtation.

110mm bd to settlement and 110mm skimmer to same settlement.

110mm out let to 1st vortex another two vortex's (series), all plumbing between them 110mm.
Speck .75kw pump. Pulling from last chamber. to UV and then waterfall.

At full throttle it pulls that last chamber to below the outlet and sucks air, in around 3minutes.

Quote :

With a hihger flowrate you stand the chance that your BD cant provide the pump and filters with water fast enough so your last vortex could start to suck air. (Water rising and falling in a vortex does not help with mechanical filtration)

Quote :

At full throttle it pulls that last chamber to below the outlet and sucks air, in around 3minutes

Hi David, yes the reason for that is because: a 110ml pipe gives you 15 000l/h BUT for every meter of pipe and for every bend on the 110ml pipe the amount of water it can deliver drops.

With 3 vortexes inline - One will have the same problem.. There might be 30 000l/h in theory coming into the settlment from BD and skimmer but there is only 1 x 110ml pipe between each vortex so your limit is max 15 000/h. Thats why i stated 13 000l/h is the optimum on vortexes.

If you look at my setup above you will notice that my skimmer does not feed into the vortex line - its for this exact same reason that i have 2 pumps and 2 diffirent systems.

A 0.75w pump is far, far to strong. One need to look at a 0.45w or more realistic a 0.25w Magic 6 if one is using swimming pool pumps

Somewhere else on this forum today i meantioned to stumble that for every 10 000 - 15 000l of water you need a seperate filtration system when using a gravity system. That is for the same reason as above.

On pressure system one could simple install a bigger pump but on gravity you need more suction lines to feed independant systems.

Flow rates on gravity systems are not calculated with the pump size but rather what the feeding pipes can deliver.

thats right, wayne. I posted that as support for what you nad bobby said.



The .75kw is going next week, and being replaced with a pedrollo.

The vortex's are being realigned and levelled and set in concrete (incorrect initial installation).

All plumbing will be reconfigured, an air pump Boyu acq 3 or 4 is going to be installed and a airmanifold installed in the last Bio filter to create a moving bed.

The anoxic filter was installed and came on line in November already.

(yes i know i owe you an explaination, i will pm u soon)



So by the end of the month

Yeah, i did not read your previouse post correctly. A appologise. Bobby pointed out to be that you where agreeing after i already posted.

No worries man.

The more something like this gets discussed and dissected the more people will realise how important it is to understand the principles behind filtartion and how important it is to design the most efficient, long cost effective and easy to maintain system for your particular situation.

There are many different ways to filter a pond, there is no particular one right way.

One needs to understand how the system works and what the maintenance implications are.

A "right" system can become a fish killer in uninformed hands.

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air pump Boyu acq 3 or 4 is going to be installed and a airmanifold installed in the last Bio filter to create a moving bed.

Not sure what media you going for but if it is K1 then a Boyu ACQ-003 wont do the job. Unless you are not putting much K1 in.

I have almost tried all of them - 003, 005 ,008, 009, 009A
I stick with my boyu's cause i can buy 5 or 6 of them for the price of those linear pumps and to be honest they are not that bad. Just keep them above water level, slightly out of the rain and you will be fine. I replace the diaphrams on mine every year and that is only a few rand like R8 or R9. Mine has been running fine for 3 years now and the 008s run 24/7. When i replace the diaphrams i open them up clean it out nicely and lubricate the piston inside with a little bit of advocado oil.

ACQ-003 - 35w for 50l/minute Its to small i doubt if you will get the required media movement from it.
ACQ-005 - 85w for 60l/minute is the most unstable and noisiest air pump in the whole boyu series. It overheats all the time and bounces around all over the place and if its standing in the sun you will replace diaphrams every 2nd day.
ACQ-008 120w for 110l/minute
ACQ-009 180w for 160l/minute
ACQ-009A 280w for 160l/minute (gives extra pressure for depth )

I would recommend the ACQ-008. It is stable and quiet. It really is the best one in the whole series. I use one 008 to drive 2 X Vortexes with K1. I also use another 008 to drive my bottom drain diffuser. (3m down) I unfortuantly own 2 005's aswell but only use them for short periods to aerate my eazy's K1 or to mix my clay for me.

The ACQ-009A is nice aswell and i used it for a very long time but decided to scale down due to power consumption reasons. The air pumps after the ACQ-008 gets a bit expensive electricity wise compare with the amount of air it puts out. The ACQ-009A gives you 160L/min for 280w compare that with the ACQ-008s 120w for 110l/minute it gets a bit expensive but the 009A did give me a more powerfull diffuser. Note the ACQ-009A uses more power than the normal ACQ-009 for the same amount of air output.

Here is the boyu site. http://www.boyuaquarium.com/En_ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=332 There pump specs are slighly diffirent than our pumps not sure if ours are locally made from diffirent parts.

You can see my air pumps here.