Filter Material Question

[dick benbow]

I like mike's answer.. short to the point. Doesn't eliminate the other options

I'm tempted to go into my
quality is like buying oats...but for those who have endured it over the years I''ll spare you. k-i in the first chamber static, and in chamber two as rolling airated
is a good consideration.

the secret with biological filtration is lots of air and nothing to trap debris/waste.

often times a good filter is made possible by good prefilters/mechanical filters
to allow these to deal with physical wastes. These must be kept clean and not allowed to trap for days on end, waste that needs to be daily expelled.Most keepers I know clean them on weekends. I figure if you pay all that $$$$$ to trap it, why not get rid of it immediately so it can't do it's damage.

For me, If i can't see into a filter chamber to see what's going on ( no settlement/fowling etc) then I'm not interested. and while I use all of the methods and media that's ever come out with so i can use them in my seminars as knowledge from personal use , I have yet to settle on just one type of filter media to trust with my koi. Sometimes each works a little different. Presently I'm using Japanese mat and bakki shower. The first is covered in the dark, the second is open to sunlight. I wouldn't hesitate to use k-i in place of the Japanese mat.

sorry, I got a little winded, filtration and tosai selection ( as well as them olde blue fish ) are some of my passionate subjects.....

[MikeM]

But, Dick, most folks don't seem to like short answers.

Reasons not to use gravel: Surface area per cubic foot is small compared to newer media types. It clogs readily. Even with airstones under it, anaerobic areas will develop. It is very labor intensive to clean. (As JR says, if it is difficult to do, it will not get done as frequently/timely as it should.) Experience with gravel in the 1970s and '80s led to development of the wide variety of other media now available... there is a reason so much work went into developing alternatives, and so many people dumped gravel for the alternatives. Do not re-invent the wheel. Use the experience of others. Don't use gravel.

[xiaohuang7]

Great everyone, really appreciate it. Gravel is out... whew. Let me chew over the suggestions a few days.

Window-man, yea I put in three 4" pipes for each section.

[B.Scott]

I think Dick is on the right track Start with static K1 with possibly a sheet of matting to use as a separator and the fluid K1. After that, anything you want as long as it isn't gravel!

B.Scott

[xiaohuang7]

So I've got 15+ large bags of 2" - 4" zeolite rocks, as a benefit from the koi place we were volunteering at (each bag is the size of a large potting soil at Home Depot). We were told zeolite absorbs amonia, but later releases if salt % rises. I did see many breeders in Niigata using this same rock, in mesh bags. More hukus-pokey?

Our store also carried 'baku han stone,' with 'magical healing properties.' It was outrageous, like US$100 for a small 10lb bag. Anyone know the legend behind this stuff? Something related to people bathing in mineral hot springs...

I find koi folklore interesting

[B.Scott]

Zeolite will indeed absorb/bind ammonia. Rinsing it in salted water will cause it to release the ammonia into the water at which point this water is dumped. Personally I don't like it. While id does have the advantage of removing ammonia directly and diminishing formation of the end product of nitrification i.e nitrates, it traps too much gunk and is the devil to clean. The amount of money you will spend on salt would be better spent on water changes.

If you have a well matured filter you needn't worry about removing ammonia as the filter will handle that fine. Looking at the size of your filter I wouldn't worry.

B.Scott

[bekko]

I have always be partial to yellow cosmic rays myself, but.....
http://www.livingenergy.co.uk/BakuhanInfo.html#3

-ste veho

[mitten]

Well seeing as we're chanting the "Cosmic rays can improve your life" mantra in a couple of threads I don't mind going into my tirade about the use of static K1 as a fines seperator. The tirade is based on reading/rereading Mighty Mate Maurice's original usage guidlines on his website. The old one, not the very cool new one that has us in limbo pause at Farm- page 5. And based also on a little bit of experience gained by being lazier than I thought I would be.

K1 as a fines seperator would be used as the last, or pretty much last, filtration before the water reenters the pond. It cannot be used successfully without thorough and or daily maintanence for two big reasons. One, is that trapped waste will become anaerobic and anyone interested in this level of filter performance will be taking all neccessary precautions to avoid these dead spots and their effects on our ponds and fishes. But second is that dirty K1 doesn't float it sinks. Check any static K1 design. It is *floating * K1, not sinking K1.

Fines not solids, cleaned not ignored, floating and healthy not full of stinking sinking crud.

Mickey the windowman

[dick benbow]

Mickey, as indicated in my first thread, I too take exception to those that put off maintenance. My vortexes, settling and filter are drained daily twice a day.
I have been accused of being fanatical about cleanliness. Could be after around 30 years ,may have learned something about why that's important!

I also love the hobby of Bonsai. Mine get special soil mixes for the different kinds and i mix different trace elements and fertilizers for the needs of each individual tree. Attention to detail. It makes the difference in all living things.

Birdman will share about his food mixes and when he sends his male and females out to a race and why. It's all interesting stuff, but shows the importance of healthy happy charges.....to give you the results your aspiring for. As in most things you get out of it what you put in.....

[Arthur]

mitten,

The volume of water that a 4" pipe will transport by gravity depends on the height of the water above the pipe opening. For example, a 4" pipe will move around 5000gph with just 1" of water above the pipe opening. With 1' of water above the pipe opening you would get over 15,000gph by gravity. Any more than 1' has diminishing returns as the water velocity increases and so does the friction loss.

However 3,000gph will do a 4,500 pond very nicely with 1½ hour turnover and better dwell time. A slower flow is better for static K-1. Too fast a pull and static K-1 would not allow water through fast enough to keep the water circulating.

With a settling chamber in front of the filter, static K-1 in the first or last chamber does make very little difference as long as it cleaned/flushed regularly.

Hope this helps,