bakki towers

[MikeM]

Yesterday I was able to check out BH that has been in an operating BS for about 2 months. The surface areas exposed to light were black, except along the edges of the trays (where some direct sun can get in??) where a few pieces were covered in bright green algae. The undersides of the surface media (and all of the media below the surface layer) remained whitish ... actually slightly discolored, but only slightly. Watching the flow, it was pretty clear that most of the water flows over the surface of the media, not through it. I am sure some does flow through, especially the media not on the surface. I expect the greater the volume, the more water that would be forced through the media crevices.

The pond being filtered was in full sun, lightly stocked and the water was clear & looked good. (Fish are healthy etc etc)

I am not ready to buy into the far infra-red rays, but I am becoming more convinced that the BH can provide effects similar to live rock in a reef aquarium. And, the recommendation that the entire pond volume go through the BS every 30 minutes to get best results emphasizes to me that it is the degassing effect that accomplishes much of the benefit.

[James P]

Morning Mike, got your message , I'll take care of that.

I can confirm that the media will absorb 185% its weight in water. I don't know how long this will happen as general fauna and flora utilize teh surface. I can tell you that someone who is using it in a submerged chamber still reports it floating after two months. Best, JR

[MikeM]

Hmmmm. 185% of the weight of a feather is ...? :lol:

Just having fun. Never had a bioball absorb water.

I'm surprised the media would be floating in a submerged application for very long, much less that long. That would indicate that there are air pockets without openings for water to enter. I had understood the ceramic was riddled with fissures. Guess not all pieces in all places.

[James P]

Hi Mike, specific gravity of the BH is .45 JR

[MikeM]

The grit that breaks off in shipping sinks.

[wtansk]

I read somewhere that for a ton of water, it require 100kg of BH. Every 10Kg is 35 litre as stated in koi bito Momotaro advertisement. So 100kg will be 350litre. Using 350litre for 1000litre of water. That is 35%.

As I have space limitation, I am looking for media that can reduce the filter size significantly yet function well.

(I modified the original post to highlight my objective)

Regards

[dick benbow]

As in all things, time will tell. If I were you I'd hold off till alot of those trying the stuff have a concrete report. it's incredibly easy to summize thru theory or what seems like practical thinking to access something
only to find out later that actual use paints a different picture.
I think in my experience with boards is lots of people contribute with honest intentions what they find to be true in thier situation. but different locations, water treatments, pond stocking loads, feeding etc affect differnt outcomes. however if all report positive than you may want to get more serious. to dismiss something as expensive degassing may be doing yourself a dis-service.
I have 3 weeks running under my belt and the water clarity is still the same,
all the tests have not budged up or down and if anything the koi seem to have increased appetites. I can't imagine extra oxygen as I have three air pumps in my three j-mat filter chanbers and the water is saturated fully already. But I have to admit I enjoy the challenge and knowledge of understanding new ideas in filtration. I have a great deal of repect for the inventor as well as some of my UK buddies who swear by this system
not to find out for myself. I hasten to add that skeptics are good for the
community and provide a challenge and service to all those who wish to
consider thier challenges. I hope you get some answers soon. I think what SMG is doing with two similar systems for comparison with nothing else running ( like my pressent system that i was perfectly sastisfied with)
will offer maybe a better test result. ( gosh, who'd of thunk that when I posted my first comment about this system a few weeks back, it'd still be
going this strong ( and long!) If there's one think I'm grateful for is that I have been reading all this right along. can you imagine someone just starting? having to read thru all those posts! Yipes!

[JasonS]

Quote: Originally Posted by wtansk I read somewhere that for a ton of water, it require 100kg of BH. Every 10Kg is 35 litre as stated in koi bito Momotaro advertisement. So 100kg will be 350litre. Using 350litre for 1000litre of water. That is 35%. With that space, it is possible to build a decent and good filter out of normal filter media. So the advantage of shower system will be the degassing at high cost. So am I given the correct information on BH? Regards

Here is the info from the momotaro web site: http://www.momotaro-koi.org/english/syawa/index.htm

Here is the info from Keirin Koi, the US distributor: http://www.keirinkoi.com/bakkishower/index.html

Momotaro: Each shelf contains approx. 100 kg of Bacteria House. We use one Bakki Shower set with 300 kg of Bacteria House for our 10 ton ponds. For a 100 ton pond, we use 4 sets of Bakki Showers with 1.2 tons of Bacteria House media.

Keirin:
Single Wide (4 trays high) --- 80 kg -- 4000 gal
Double Wide (4 trays high) - 150 kg -- 8000 gal

Bottom line: the Momotaro estimate for a 10 ton pond well exceeds the Keirin estimate for a 15-20 ton pond. AND the estimates for how much media per shelf is wildly different; Momotaro: 100kg, Keirin: 20kg.

More may be better, but I suspect the Momotaro estimates are very high.

[wtansk]

Deleted.

[sundan]

I wrote to Daisuke Maeda, Momotaro farm in regards of concern of water clarity was poor with first use of BS, here is his response,

Do you use UV light?
How many fish do you keep in your pond?
If you keep too many then you feed a lot that the water will be very
difficult to be clear.
We have same problem for the pond which we have to keep so many koi because
we are seller so sometimes that we have to keep too many koi for some pond.
But we don't have any problem with the water which not clear enough.
But I do understand that hobbyist need clear water for see koi for enjoy.
We have many customer who are using only Bakki Shower system that they have really clear pond with doing nothing. Because they don't keep too many kois.
So, here I advice to you that if you need the clear pond that please don't
keep too many kois in your pond and if you don't keep too many koi that you can have clear water and your koi can grow.
Or other way that if you keep many koi with clear water that you need more media.
We are using about 300kg of bacteria house for 10 ton pond.
And one more important thing is how much water running per hour?
Water have to run 2 or 3 times per hour for the bakki Shower.

Anyway I reply you very late so if your pond already better or any news,
please tell me about pond now.

Once more again I'm very sorry for the very very late reply.

I hope your pond already better if not the advice what I gave you here will
be helping you.

Best regards,

Daisuke Maeda
Momotaro-koi farm