bakki towers

[James P]

Praise the lord! THAT's what I'm talk'en about! JR

[Griff]

I have had my left hand in a cast for 5 weeks now - so I have not been able to do much in the way of normal pond maintance - I am running a 8 crate Steve Castel filter on my male pond - 4 crates lava rock 5 cu ft - 4 crates of bio-balls 5 cu ft - flow 3000 gph -
ORP values are still in the mid 300s - I hate to see what this pond would look like after 5 weeks no maintance if it were not for the crates --- my other filter componets are running much cleaner - filter is placed over my settlement chamber !!!
Griff

[Mike T]

JR:

I received an email from one of the readers of this board explaining that he purchased a real Bakki Shower set up and followed Maeda san's protocol to a "T"...no prefilter, bottom drain directly into the BS...(how appropriate)...After 2-3 weeks the top 2 bins got clogged and overflowed into the ones below...

He cleaned everything out and started again...got the same results, finally gave up and put a BF in front of the BS as a mechanical filter...He didn't sound like a happy camper...

I don't know the parameters of his pond or fish load, but it would be interesting if he would add a post here to explain exactly what went on...

So Mr. S, if you'd post the details, I'm sure a lot of members would be very interested to hear what you have to say...

Aloha! Mike

[James P]

Mike T, that is kinda what we all expected to happen. But Mike Snaden earlier in this thread insisted his customers were running pure systems in the 'maeda philosophy'. IT is those that intrigue me.
Maurice is about the most honest and tuned in guy we are going to be able to converse with on this subject.
But I really am interested in seeing if :
1) you can run the maeda philosophy with our stocking levels
2) in a four season pond
3) with only normal water changes associated with a closed system.
4) and of course with never cleaning the media

I honestly think the bakki shower/BH concept is only a component of an overall philosophy of keeping koi and the maintenance style and use of fresh water is a necessary extension of that philosophy. Otherwise we are looking at a good, but 'only human' wet/dry filter system. And in that case we will need prefiltration just like in any other biofilter. JR
JR

[swordfish]

Mike T,thank u for your advises. Guess I'll just have to wait for about
4 weeks to see if my DIY TT works. If my TT is effective then I might
DIY a BS for my main pond.

[Maurice]

Mike, I would be interested in finding out the flow rate through your friend’s bakki shower, which blocked and over flowed. Turnover/volume of water through the shower is very important.

It has been advised that the pond volume should turnover 150% per hour to run without settlement, numbers less than this should use prefiltration.

I run direct from bottom drain (no prefiltration) at 150%. Huge stocking rate, as you are all aware. I have not touched the media since it’s set-up last November and there has NEVER been any notable build-up of waste matter.

Mike Snaden has two new ponds running this summer which I Fibre Glassed for him (photo below). They are now built into a fish house. They both have Bakki Shower filtration only, pulling direct from the bottom drains.
Mike and I collected a shipment of jumbo tosai from Heathrow airport while the ponds were still filling.
Mike will put me right with the numbers, but I think over a hundred koi went into each pond. They looked s*it for a couple of week, they were possibly chilled as the heating was not on then (needed treating for white spot), plus two totally new pond syndromes. I was surprised how quick these ponds came on song, with in a few weeks these koi were buzzing and they still are too this day. Rarely have I seen a pond stabilise so quick, even with a standard stocking level.

Mike wanted me to try a Bakki Shower to rid my scepticism, he was confident I would be impressed. He also knew I would post my true thoughts and was prepared for any negatives, though not expecting anything major.
I am still happy.

I think you should try one Jim, on the indoor system perhaps?
Did you note I posted I have an improved algae type in the bakki shower pond, compared to the trickle tower pond?

I think he was trying to fill one up at the time, but he could not reach over the wall!!
Maurice.

[Maurice]

I am running far less new water into this pond now, as the big outdoor pond is taking most of the RO water.
About 50 gallons a day into the showered 2,000 pond. Water quality still as good as ever. NO foam, NO foam factionation, no skimmer.
If you want a photo of how the water look now, just shout and I'll snap one. I'll even get the current days newspaper in the shot to show no fixes?
Maurice.

[Mike T]

Maurice:

I don't know what the volume of water was, however he did say that he followed Maead san's directions...

Since he's in the US, I would think that he purchased the unit from Keirin Koi...I don't know the individual personally but will drop him an email to ask if he'll either post on the thread or email the information to me so that I can post them anonymously...

Aloha! Mike

[Mike T]

Maurice:

Until we or I hear from this individual with the Bakki problems, I thought I'd add this:

I actually found the original emails on this board's private message center and he mentioned that by adding a BF it cut down on his flow through with should be 2-3 time/hr...So it sound like he followed Maeda san's instructions to a "T" as was mentioned earlier...

I would not be surprized if his Bakki was actually installed by Keirin personnel...

Sent email to him asking him to answer your questions as well as letting us know some of the other pertinent facts ie: pond size and fish load...

By the way, thanks to your and Dick Benbow's postings I have one BS running from a Savio filter and have the equipment to install a second system on a new pond which is under construction...The new system will be bottom drain to BF to BS...because of comments posted by Mike M after conversations with Keirin personnel...

Aloha! Mike

[Mike Snaden]

Hi Mike,

An interesting problem! Momotaro had a set of Bakki Showers that blocked last year, overflowing just as you have described. This was caused by the holes in the bottom of each tray being drilled/circular, of about 8 to 10mm in diameter. It's not the media blocking, but the mesh. This is the reason that the mesh on my trays are square, and punched out of the same piece of metal that is bent to form the sides. The holes in this case are about 20mm square, with a 'wire' width of about 2mm left behind, so that no debris can become trapped.

Goodnight for now (still jetlagged from last week).

Mike.