Filter Material Question

[koinut]

Quote: Originally Posted by xiaohuang7 I'm pond building, and wanted to get some suggestions on filter materials. Pond is not finished (~4,500 US gals), but the attached filter is. Option 1: j-mat in first two, gravel in last two Option 2: springflo in all I was designing for Option 1, but hate cleaning gravel (even if air-assisted) and j-mat would be like $2.5K to fill just one chamber! Springflo's a lot cheaper and very tempting... Water is hard, located in Southern California. Don't trust the drip system yet. Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks. And Koinut, you'd better answer, Jason and I lugged a s***load of cement and blocks up for that d*** filter!

Hey John,

I'm flattered that you think that highly of me, but you give me too much credit. I think there has been some very good discussion on the subject and are very sound advice. I know that Steve Childers has very good ideas on filtration and pond design, and should be acknowledged.
The way I look at filtration is, the ease of cleaning. Do you want to be a koi hobbyist or a pond maintenance man? Very good subject by the way, not only for you, but many others wanting to build a proper "KOI" pond the first time. JMHO

[MikeM]

Yep, when it comes to pond design, SteveC is the man in the know.... and he will be lecturing on that very subject at the Central Florida Koi Show ...I think Saturday March 11 is the date of his talk.


... I know, I'm shameless at letting folks know what a great show it will be!

[xiaohuang7]

Got things running and wanted to thank everyone for their input on our filter. Without everyone's input we'd prolly have 1000lbs of gravel in these... which is unthinkable now! All the filter media is elevated ~30 inches from the bottom to facilitate settlement (that was Ben Polinski's nice suggestion). The Matala is 19.5" deep... Matala doesn't come in white anymore, it's "grey" but looks more black. So we used black and blue in chamber 3, "grey" and blue in chamber 4.

I didn't ever, never, want to go chasing itsy-bitsy pieces of K1 around (during a major cleaning), so we didn't go what that.

We were really thinking about showering the last chamber, but that was when we thru our hands up and sighed 'forget that!' Here's some pics.

I just hope none of us fall off while cleaning...

John

[luke frisbee]

I do not know about all the colors but my blue matala became fragile ...I think it was because of the sunshine....do you cover that filter?
You better.

[xiaohuang7]

Thanks Luke, we're planning to, but if I build a cover then I'll have no where to stand to clean it.... so maybe I'll just throw some bamboo rolls over it, what do you think?

John

[luke frisbee]

Quote: Originally Posted by xiaohuang7 Thanks Luke, we're planning to, but if I build a cover then I'll have no where to stand to clean it.... so maybe I'll just throw some bamboo rolls over it, what do you think? John

make it as solid as possible. I've even hear dthat the beneficial bacteria don't grow in sunlight.

[Steve Nguyen]

just saw someone using that today but didn't get a chance to ask him about it. glad to hear poly straps work. save money to purchase the koi.

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by Birdman I have had good luck with poly strapping. it is 1/2 inch wide and comes in 9,000 foot rolls for under $40. Just wad it up and cram it in.