filter media...what do you use and why?

[Werner]

Quote: Originally Posted by kevan it would appear that your surface area chart is way off the mark for the larva material, that your report is biased/wrong. but back to alpha grog, it would appear to actually be very porus baked clay, yes it could clog like larva rock which is why you have a decent pre filter to prevent this. i have used alfa grog for many years and have never experienced it clogging or a reduced efficiancy, and when i am raising fry any efficancy loss would become instantly apparent. i dont have Momotaro bacteria house media but to me as far as i can tell this appears to be along the lines of baked clay/alfa grog, now without a detailed description of the material its hard for me to comment but from what i have seen it would appear that this material would suffer in an identicle way as lava rock or alfa grog regarding blocking, are you saying that this material is not a suitable media also? it seems for some reason your report was biased against larva rock due to the fact that no one would be prepared to use a decent pre filter? which could simply be a few sheets of graded foam after brushes....whats so impossible about that in order to reap the benefit of a cheap and highly efficient media? kevan.

Lava Rock sold in this area are burned coal clinkers, do not pack solidly because of their irregular size, thereby wasting space, have no thru flow since even with the nooks and crannies they are more or less solid. I have no experience with Alfagrog the article does not mention it, but just looking at some pictures from its size (much smaller and same size), indications are it can pack much denser and it's made from a different material. The article does not comment and the jury is still out, in my case, on Bacteria House, never used it.

The chart is what it is, the information is mostly from manufacturers and in the case of scrubbies from independant lab tests.

[junglegeorge12]

I have used the following medias-

Sand

Gravel

PVC shavings

matting

bioballs
several ceramics
a scrubby like material from a air filter

the white fluffy stuff

K1

Lava rock

natural lava rocks

coral from the island

and finally, Bacteria House Media

I found they all worked to a degree, and Bacteria House blew the rest of them out of the water, literally, I took them out when I saw the difference in performance and water quality and the koi. The critics can whine all they want about the FIR, but, any real scientist knows there are materials that do emit it, both natural and man made. Blame it on what you want, it works better than anything else I have used over the last ten years. Also, I never had a problem with the lava rock clogging. That may be because it was in a shower.
Also, Bacteria House is the only media that profoundly affected my algae problem. Here we have instense sun rays and spectrums to fight against that you don't have in the states, and rain that really makes green algae explode. None of the other medias seemed to affect that at all. I can finally stop spending $30 a month on pond block!!!! Woo Hooooo! I figure it will pay for itself in koi lives and pond block within a year or two.

I need to make sure folks know that I sell bacteria House to the Carribean area, so noone comes along later all mad accusing me of anything inappropriate. I do not ship it to the states, so do not bother asking, contact Keirin Ponds for that plz.

[Mike Mazur]

in order of flow from pickup......
skimmer basket - traps leaves and large floating items and a stop point for the few "dumb" fish

open weave material, plastic, 2 inch stack, traps a lot ot large suspended agae

pump leaf basket, get any big items that might have gotten past first two lines of defense

1/2 flow through UV clarifier, 40 wat
t
black matt, poly similar to jap mat, 2 inch layer, double layer 4 inches between the two
the now mechanicaly clean and 1/2 uv clarified water goes to a 55 gallon K! chamber with 2.5 cubic feet of K1,that has 2.5 cu ft a minute of airation to "boil " the media

from here all of the water exits and flows down the waterfall back to the pond picking up more O2 and by design induces a gentle rotation to the pond water with the skimmer on the far side of the loop.
there is also 1 bottom drain plumbed to the skimmer box that draws water to the top of the first set of padsin the skimmer.

this is a home made filtration system that holds about 12% of ponds volume. this is the last stage of tweaking for me as I have had excellent results and very happy fish and clear water.

[Dwight]

Anyone had experience with EA's Eazy. The damn answer is junk but the K1 is still my fav over gravel , lava and various home made attempts. Anyway I'd like to know what someone thinks of K1 as a static medium.

Dwight

[mitten]

Mr. Floyd,

There are quite a few threads which deal with the Eazy, and its predecessors, exclusively. Others may be kind and polite and look them up for you, supplying links.

Maurice has stated that the design and the technique is for those who are fanatical about their routines and will clean and flush daily. Daily. My testimony is that unflushed dirty K1 sinks. It works and then it sinks.

I have no experience with the answer.

Mickey the windowman

[keokoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by dick benbow Joe, How about extra hard akadama? <grin>

No DB, the acadama is like gold.. Never!

Gonna get some BH this winter and start setting up where I want my Bakki..

[Dwight]

Mickey,

I'm running a Nexus 300 and have recently switched over from an Answer to the Eazy. I've never had a problem of any type with the K1 in the bio chamber but wouldn't expect any because it is constantly moving.
The Eazy does need to be cleaned once in a while ( every week or so ) but is very easy to clean. I just clean it twice as opposed to the recomended once and it never clogs. I feel that if it ever starts to clog you'd have a few days warning.

I need to make a general observation here. I've been in this for over 20 yrs and have built too many " filters " to remember. Do you all remember the 50 gal drum filters ? Well no filter I've ever built works as good as this damn Brit contraption. I know a lot of us are still looking for a good homemade filter that we can build cheap and I don't think it can be done as cheap as you can buy one. I'm also into custom cars and have found that buying new parts is way cheaper than scrounging in the junk yard. When we buy a filter if it is well designed it will have a specific media either with it or recomended for it. That media almost always works correctly right out of the box. So our discussion might not really be about media but what works in what type of filter.

Dwight

[luke frisbee]

Floyd..the big difference between car parts and koi filters is the testing that goes into the performance and the need for the car aprts to do what they were designed or get sued.
You can say what you want concerning Koi and the filters...as in "in-far red" Rays...or even what size pond the filter is designed for....eewwww thats a bit that goes against what you think...imagine using 90% of the "designed filters" out there at the gallonage that they claim to be able to handle LOL

[Dwight]

Luke,

I hear you about the false claims and low quality. Believe me any motorhead over the age of fifty has gone through the same thing. The advantage the car hobby has now is age , afterall we started in the fifties whereas Koi keeping is relatively new , especially the commercial side. It think the best answer in any hobby ( they are all full of crooks , more so now with the web ) is to find a dealer you can trust. If that isn't readily feasable ask around. I recomend Mystic Koi in Upland CA and anyone who wants to can talk to Bill and use my name ( Dwight Floyd ) and you will get the straight scoop. He has even been known to approve of stuff he doesn't carry because he thinks it's good stuff. I'll bet that half the folks on this site have similar recomendations. The best way to get rid of unscrulous ( sp ? ) dealers and manufacturers is to expose them and stop doing business with them. I honestly havn't found any cause I found Mystic right when I was ready to chuck the whole thing. In fact the only problem or Issue I have right now other than poor quality koi is pond builders who pass water gardens off as koi ponds.

Dwight

PS Funny but Bill at Mystic is a motorhead also

[MikeM]

jd: I'm curious why you say the Answer is junk. I've seen awesome results. However, I did go with the EAzy rather than the Answer on my two Nexus. The reasons were all cost related. The EAzy is less expensive for the initial expense (the unit is cheaper and no pump/electrical line), virtually cost-free to operate, and I'd have had to install a new electrical run through the house to support two Answers. The EAzy will do better trapping fines, but I use a bead filter anyway, so not much of an issue.

If the cost factors had not been relevant,I would have gone for 2 Answers. First, they work based on what I've seen. Second, maintenance is not time consuming and not messy. In my situation, working in a filter pit in full sun with air temps in the 90sF, the 30 or 45 minutes I spend on backwashing the EAzys each Saturday is any thing but pleasant. And, it takes that much time to backwash both 3 times, relying on sump pumps to dispose of the waste through a very long drain line. So, it's not super easy to maintain the EAzy, but it works very well. I am very pleased with the results. For many folks it is the better choice. I'm not planning to change anything, but if cost had not been a factor, I would have Answers today.