bakki towers

[Andrew]

Yeah, come on Mike! :lol:

Joking apart, when will the new info. be on your site? Be sure to let us know.

[dick benbow]

Andrew,

I think the best article I ever read in my life was the one mike wrote on water hardness.

[dick benbow]

Looks like our distributor for the USA is getting the media in next month.
So I Imagine alot of us will be giving reports this spring as to how it's working. It will be interesting to see what the reports say. I had some koi kichi's over yesterday to look at my system,water and koi. they were very complimentary ie( why do you need to do anything more to your water, you can't get it any better!) So I'm looking forward to the next step and the improvements the shower will make.
I must warn you ahead of time ,You'll want to be sitting down when you get the word on what it cost. ( that way you won't fall down and hurt yourself!)
But I must say here for the benefit of all, in 25 years of koi keeping I've never regretted putting the money into a better system over buying another koi. you can always buy the best fish and watch it go down hill in a so so pond or you can invest in the sytem and watch with amazement the improvement to the koi you presently have. especially if you've had them around for a while and have seen them over the years. that is always an eye opener. ie I've been tweaking my present system with twice the air as before and my iggy showa that has not changed one bit in two years is beginning to show black where it never was before!
oh, while I'm thinking about it, anyone ever used that splinter glass media from germany. what did you think of it? I got into quite a discussing yesterday with my visitors over coffee about why bakki works, what bacteria it attracts etc etc. ( most believe that you could get the same results from lava rock ) I'm hopeful that SMG will give us the definitive answer when she is done with her testing!

[Bob Hart]

Dick,
I agree a lot with what you're saying here and Koi Keepng is the sort of hobby which never stays still.
I've aquired a 3-tier Bakki now, which I will pick up next week. Intend to run this 'as well' my existing filters and will pump direct from bottom drains. It will be interesting to see if I can improve the water further and get some better growth.
Been wondering how to add additional filtration for a while now and am limited by my original concrete block filters and throughput. Hindsight being a wonderful thing, I'd have had 2 or perhaps even 3 seperate filter systems instead of the large single filter I built. Still now I can add a Bakki and see what improvements that will bring.
I'll rig it up on a temporary basis initially and post some pictures once I've done so.

[dick benbow]

Bob<
that's great! I'll be looking forward to what you think. I probably won't be getting my media for another 4 weeks or so , so you may have an idea with a few weeks of that time what your seeing as I hear it takes 6-8 weeks for it to "kick-in".
when i look back on all the years I struggled by myself to make changers to the filtration....this modern day access to the world and the excperiences of others is wonderful! Cheers!!

[markgardner]

Dick

A couple of pics....

Mark

[dick benbow]

Mark!
thank-you!
i've seen several bottom trays now that all feed differently. interesting to
see what can be done. was curious to get you feed back on the clear plastic temps. my experience has been i get better "bugs" to grow on my filters when I screen out UV. care to comment? I mention this because the cost for the trays is expensive and I know from conversations most of our readers will try a temp fix first...thanks again VERY MUCH!

[markgardner]

Dick

Honest answer is i don't know.

There was significant and rapid 'colouring up' of the media in the tower which was out of any direct sunlight although plenty of natural light.

There is so much surface area on the media that cannot get light on it i don't perceive it as a major issue.

Mark

[Lee]

Hi!

There has been a lot of interesting conversation on this site, however, one of the two original questions does not appear to have been fully answered...

Query? How much BH media is required for the (only sized Mototaro Shower shelf that I know of...being offered by Okayama Momotaro?

I believe the shelf size is (60 cm x 200 cm x 27 cm). The quantity required, I believe is 324 litrers of BH.

And, (secondly) - is it recommended to use three or four shelf shower units?

Momotaro apparently uses both 'three' and 'four' shelves...thus, will three shelves work and if so, on what (US gallon) sized pond is this most compatible with?

And, if one would use 'four' shelves then what gallon pond would that best serve?

I've also been told that ithe cost per shelf is Y80,000 and that it is Y18,000 per 35 litres of BH in Japan to purchase the media... which, without plumbing or installation, and transit, not to mention import duties, is a significant investment for a 'non-mechanical' filtration system, is it not?

I find that if the system does "exhibit wonderful results" I am anxious to know of someone's actual use of both the combined shelf system with the BH media...and, I am particularly interested in learning how the 'clean' (flush out the dead sluffed off bacteria from out of the boxed contained shower shelf without distrubing the media, a there appears to be no sludge drains or bottom drain connections shown in any of the photographs that I've seen of the Momotaro stainless shelves.)

If there is a sludge drain, where is it? And, if not...how do you then remove the 'sludge' that regardless of how efficient the BH media is, will still form and will cerainly litter the interior of the 'shelf'.

All of this is pretty exciting, I agree, however, is it a major step forward in filtration or are we all simply eagerly marching like Lemmings over the same mountain edge?

Most anxious to read your reply

All the best,

Lee
Grand Cayman

[MikeM]

Lee: I believe MikeS can best answer your question about recommended volume of BH media per gallon, although he may give in UK gallons or per ton. :? As to drains on the shower units, none are needed. The bottom of each tray has multiple openings allowing a virtual free-fall of the water, which is pumped through in torrential volume. Debris is not going to stay around very long in that environment, unless it is composed of leaves, string algae and the like which will catch in any medium.

The more I read and ponder the subject, the more I become convinced that in the typical outdoor situation there needs to be mechanical filtration first to catch the leaves, algae glarf and the like. Maeda developed and uses this system indoors. Outdoors there will be exposure to air temps (not bad in the Caymans! But, not so good in the winter in cold climes.); and perhaps greater exposure to sunlight. I know how heavy a growth of algae I get on the rocks around my little waterfall, especially in the heaviest flow zone. In Florida and other warm areas, I am sure the media (any media) would become a mat of algae in a few months time and remain that way permanently. So, I think heavy shading would be essential, particularly in warm climates. That said, I believe a major source of benefits of the Bakki Showers is in the torrential showers themselves. It appears to me to be an incredibly compact design for re-creating the effect of of a gigantic waterfall. The degassing effect has to be tremendous, and I believe virtually any open media (even lava rock) will serve the purpose of breaking up the water flows. The real questions remain: whether the BH media is truly superior in this torrential environment over other media, and what happens to the solids that are pulverized in the showers?

If you did not catch it, some time back we had a brief discussion on the old K-B forum about the additive Maeda uses: a molasses-like brew derived from lactose consuming bacteria in the same general grouping as some of the sludge-buster bacteria. It may be that Maeda can operate the Bakki Showers without mechanical filtration because the only debris in his indoor operation is fish waste and he is using a bacterial additive that may be eliminating much of that waste once it is pulverized through the showers. I know in my pond the dry weight of leaves and such removed weekly is far greater than the dry weight of feed introduced to the system. (This week the pecan is shedding the last of its leaves and the laurel oaks are starting to drop their leaves to make way for the new leaves when our Spring arrives in about 6 weeks.) If I only had fish waste to deal with, my challenges would be reduced very substantially. But, I guess in the Caymans you just worry over palm fruits? Keep the coconut palms from overhanging the B. Showers! (Bet that would wake you in the middle of the night!) :lol: