DIY Fluidized Bed filter for K1 media

[R100RS]

I'm looking for ideas from anybody that has constructed a filter using the K1 media. I plan on using 55 gallon plastic drums with a vertical pipe to supply the water into the barrel. The water outlet will be a U shaped pvc manifold with a Tee fitting connecting it to a bulkhead directing water out of the barrel. The water outlet will be located toward the top of the barrel. Air will be introduced with venturis and an air pump if needed. The flow through the barrel will be up from the bottom to enhance the boiling effect.

Any constructive ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

[Mike Mazur]

If you read the other thread I am sure you saw comments on use of kaldnes... particular attention to the part about sending mechanically clean water to the kaldnes chamber. This media can be used as filter in a presure system where backwashing with jaqquzzi style air injection helps break apart the media. Also note in other thread the use of a foam fractitioner/ protein skimmer at the outlet. Easy to set up basically a u shaped pipe down and then back up with an airstone in the down flow section and an open top for the scum to bubble out. http://home.netcom.com/~larry_l/foam...o get there...

[R100RS]

Mike,

I read the other post, but I'm looking at the construction portion of the filter. I will be utilizing fine mechanical filtration downstream of the K1 media filter as my protein skimmer is primarily used for removing DOCs, not as a mechanical filter. This will be a supplemental filter. My present filtration consists of brushes, submerged mats, TTs, and a protein skimmer. I have a sump/reservoir which allows me to independently tie in new "experimental" filtration by adding a pump which is dedicated to the new filter and operates fully independent of the main pond circulating system.

Jim

[Mike Mazur]

Ok. as far as a mechanical setup if I am to get this correct you have a current filtration setup. In my opinion I would take all of the water that exits the current filtration and place this into the inputside using no less than 3" pipe. Flex or ridgid no dif your choice. Do a neat install, use bulkhead fittings into and out of the 55 gal barrel. use a hole saw if you can find one you will have to bring a bulkhead fitting w/ you to hardware store to check to see which hole saw fits best. I come into the chamber on my set on the bottomwith a straight fitting and let the circulation instilled by the air do the job of mixing. My outlet fitting is at the top of the chamber on opposite side with a 90 pointing straight down. On this 90 I have a length of 3" ridgid pipe with length wise slits made w/ a circular saw. Be carefull cutting a round pipe on flat surface is tough also do not runn the slits all the way up and down as this can really weaken the structure. space them wider than the kerf and stagger the overlap zone. Cap the end and put a few holes in that to. Heck I even put slits in the 90 fitting. Out of the chamber through the fitting I enter into a T straight down into a 4 foot length of pipe to this is attatched 2 more 90s to make a 180 back up to a final 90 and into flow to falls. The top of earlier T is where th foam stack is. Start with a long stack and cut slowly shorter to see optimal height for foam to boil over yet retain the majority of the water. In the chamber the location of the air stone is important. I have it near the exit pickup to stir the whole batch bottom to top and back causing a horizontal uplift to the path of the water. if this is not what you have in mind fo rthe kaldness I will direct you to try to convert a swimming pool sand filter to use the Kaldnes as a presure back wash is needed. Or try to look at the guts of a pool filt and build the inside into the drum and retain the lid as a sealable feature for opening and servicing when there are problems. Kaldnes is best suited as a final treat for mech clean water. It is in the massive surface area where it shines and is able to cary out a lot of biological activity 800 m2 per m3 or so they say.

[R100RS]

I do a lot of filter experimenting so I have a well stocked arsenal of hole saws and modifying tooling. =)

I was planning on injecting the water into the barrels through the top center of the barrel down a pvc pipe to approx. six inches from the bottom. I plan on starting with a couple of the mazzei venturi injectors to introduce air into the filter. If this doesn't supply enough air I will go with a submerged air manifold to supply it 360 degrees around the bottom. I'm planning on flowing a minimum of 1,200 gph through each barrel filter.

How much are you flowing through your filters?

I like the idea of the slotted vertical outlet pipe. I was thinking of a U shaped horizontal water outlet manifold. which would tie into a bulkhead.
How much trouble was it to get the 3" inch bulkhead fittings tight on the curved surface of the barrel? I've installed 2" bulkheads on barrels before but 3" seemed a bit large for the curvature of the barrels.

Do you think a horizontal outlet manifold would interfere with the boiling of the media?

For the water outlet I was planning on drilling multiple holes in the pvc and covering it with large mesh nylon screening. It would be large enough to prevent the media from escaping and too large to clog up with the bacterial sludge. My sliding compound miter saw is a bit too powerfull to tempt fate by cutting slots in pvc pipe. It could result in my being a poster adult for what not to use your saw for.

All of my filters return to my sump/reservoir. From there the water is returned to the pond. The water return from the K1 barrel filters would be returned to the reservoir via a fine filtration filter.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions.
Jim

[Mike Mazur]

# inch to curved plastic equation... fire up the litlle propane torch and warm the palstic. Apply bulkhead quickly to the warmed not melted hole, too hot it will warp out of round faster than ya can say oh shat. you may find nylon mesh too fine after filter matures and meterial is sluffing of the outside. through the lid w pipe is ok but makes service tough and no venturi will draw in enough air. The venturi will also cut drastically the throughput of the system. I push my sequence 6000gph pump through my setup. it is an open system whereas the echanical stage feeds through via gravity and then to the bio chamber. good luck keeping off posters for slot machines.