A little $$$ pond filtration upgrade

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by mitten Ethan- Kicking up your filtration's efficiency is most easily accomplished by keeping it free of Poop and Glarf. Sorry to throw the jargon around but you might as well hear it from me. To accomplish this level of cleanliness use valves drawing water from all of the places where waste can settle or is trapped. This requires water use and replenishment, thus the discussion about the autofills making your life easier. If you are using media that will trap said Poop and Glarf your maintanence routines will be focused on dumping it daily or at least regularly, otherwise all of the water for your fish runs through The Shit Ball every time it goes through the filter. Tech talk is so exhausting.

I do have a planned microscreen with spraybar that will be located in the settlement chamber. This should prevent the crap from getting into the bio-media in the filter.

[mitten]

OK.

Where does it go? Bottom of the barrel. Do you want it there for two weeks?

4200 through a 55g? Do not count on the poop settling. Gravel, yes. Anything else will be slammed back against the screen, over and over and over until...splurt... into bio and through into pond.

Ancient speak (aquaculture guidelines before the internet) dwell time of 15 minutes would require a 1000g settlement chamber. You may want to drain your 55g every hour at the velocity you'll be pushing. And we know that's not going to happen. You will be trying to add different stuff and things to get a single 55 to work in this way.

Probably it is becoming a bit tiresome for folks to read but again I will remind every DIY guy that Maurice's original static K1 fines filter that the nexus is based on was housed in an extrememly functional fiberglass vortex, was able to handle 1000gph using about 3 cu. ft. of K1, not a generic substitute, and was flushed daily. Many expect good results with rubberband motors on their homemade jet planes also.

[Eugeneg]

Probably it is becoming a bit tiresome for folks to read but again I will remind every DIY guy that Maurice's original static K1 fines filter that the nexus is based on was housed in an extrememly functional fiberglass vortex, was able to handle 1000gph using about 3 cu. ft. of K1, not a generic substitute, and was flushed daily. Many expect good results with rubberband motors on their homemade jet planes also.[/quote]

Very well put . I have built my own house a 800,000 gal mud pond and 2indoor ponds of 8,000 gal each as well as 3 smaller ponds . Would have no trouble in building anything as I spent 40 years working as a tool and die maker . Before even starting a pond I purchased all the books I could find on the subject Koi Kichi I found the most informative , As far as filtration goes you can make your own but they should be 1/3rd the size of your pond and fed by bottom drains . If one considers the cost of building time and space
then the Nexus is the way to go . I do not think that the same can be accomplished even useing a series of 100gal tubs. As far as media goes K1 is a great media providing it is used correctly as in a nexus .
The best filtration for koi I found is large water changes and better still a mud pond . I have built addetive filtration in various forms from baki type shower to to grass filled stream but most home made filters I have seen are not really efective easpecially if one has not carefully reserched and understood what one is doing . Then if that happened you would probebly buy a filter .
Regards
Eugene

[LizardBreath]

As a mother, a person who used to live in Florida and a former life guard, if you have a nine month old baby, make sure you have a way to keep that child out of it.
Watching the baby won't work. You need to secure the pond so the child cannot wander into it due to a mistake, like leaving a door open to answer the phone.
Please be careful.....
LizardBeth

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by LizardBreath As a mother, a person who used to live in Florida and a former life guard, if you have a nine month old baby, make sure you have a way to keep that child out of it. Watching the baby won't work. You need to secure the pond so the child cannot wander into it due to a mistake, like leaving a door open to answer the phone. Please be careful..... LizardBeth

Oh, I know! One of the reasons I have so little money to put into the pond is because we need to invest in a nice fence to surround it with. Shouldn't be too big of a hassle, but our daughter just decided to start walking last week on her 10 month birthday....so we better get busy with the fence once the snow melts!

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by mitten OK. Where does it go? Bottom of the barrel. Do you want it there for two weeks? 4200 through a 55g? Do not count on the poop settling. Gravel, yes. Anything else will be slammed back against the screen, over and over and over until...splurt... into bio and through into pond. Ancient speak (aquaculture guidelines before the internet) dwell time of 15 minutes would require a 1000g settlement chamber. You may want to drain your 55g every hour at the velocity you'll be pushing. And we know that's not going to happen. You will be trying to add different stuff and things to get a single 55 to work in this way. Probably it is becoming a bit tiresome for folks to read but again I will remind every DIY guy that Maurice's original static K1 fines filter that the nexus is based on was housed in an extrememly functional fiberglass vortex, was able to handle 1000gph using about 3 cu. ft. of K1, not a generic substitute, and was flushed daily. Many expect good results with rubberband motors on their homemade jet planes also.

What would happen if I split my flow before the chamber, and ran 2,000 gph though it with the spraybar and microscreen? Would that help?

Ethan

[mitten]

Splitting the flow? Like half the bottom drain's flow goes around the filters? Naw.

Splitting the flow like you add a line from skimmer to pump so that only part of the draw for the pump comes from the bottom drain? Yeh.

Are you trying one of the micro screens with foam around the top? I think Carolina's sunk. Are you paying $900 for one?? Naw. You doing that bucket thing from a couple years ago? Or did you find Bil's idea? Oooo, good one.

Knowing that you hit more than one board I feel like I am fighting upstream. Your pump is too big. Your settlement barrel is too small.

What would I do? 4" retro to barrel full of brushes to 1200g mag drive to laguna. Put anything you want in the Laguna. Once a week clean the brushes, drain the barrel, flush the bottom drain, flush the laguna. Second circuit, skimmer to 4200 to milk crate tower full of lava rock somehow flowing into pond or waterfall.

If the library has a cafe, or a school attached to it with a cafeteria, the milk crates are free and you won't have to rob the library to get rich and buy a Nexus or Bacteria House.

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by mitten Splitting the flow? Like half the bottom drain's flow goes around the filters? Naw. Splitting the flow like you add a line from skimmer to pump so that only part of the draw for the pump comes from the bottom drain? Yeh. Are you trying one of the micro screens with foam around the top? I think Carolina's sunk. Are you paying $900 for one?? Naw. You doing that bucket thing from a couple years ago? Or did you find Bil's idea? Oooo, good one. Knowing that you hit more than one board I feel like I am fighting upstream. Your pump is too big. Your settlement barrel is too small. What would I do? 4" retro to barrel full of brushes to 1200g mag drive to laguna. Put anything you want in the Laguna. Once a week clean the brushes, drain the barrel, flush the bottom drain, flush the laguna. Second circuit, skimmer to 4200 to milk crate tower full of lava rock somehow flowing into pond or waterfall. If the library has a cafe, or a school attached to it with a cafeteria, the milk crates are free and you won't have to rob the library to get rich and buy a Nexus or Bacteria House.

Thanks for the ideas Mitten. I really appreciate them. I'll have to rethink what I am doing here.

Ethan

[Ethan25]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ethan25 Thanks for the ideas Mitten. I really appreciate them. I'll have to rethink what I am doing here. Ethan

So, I re-thought! Here was the pond before the re-do.



I had some help from people on this and other boards. I was given a 4 inch ball-valve for the cost of shipping ($35.00).
I had already purchased the 4200 Sequence pump. I had at my disposal as many 55 gallon barrels as I wanted from the local pepsi bottling plant. A member gave me plenty of pvc shavings, but I instead purchased a mile + roll of plastic strapping material. Another member gave me a bottom drain, complete with an air diffuser. I made an aerated bottom drain with this.

Here’s what I did:
I bought a 1200 gallon intex pool. I put my fish in it in the garage while I did the upgrade. I made a 55 gallon upflow type filter to house them in for the time being. My submersible pump would pump water to the bottom of the unit, where the water would begin to circulate clockwise at 2,000 gph. I had a layer of matting and bio balls, held down by pieces of PVC shavings and another layer of matting. This trapped fines well, and I backwashed each night or every other. Water parameters were wonderful throughout the entire month+ fish were in there. I fed quite a bit as well, and one fish went from 9 to 13 inches while being in this setup.





I removed liner and started to round out my hole. Since I had extra liner everywhere, I decided to go as deep as possible. I got to 47 inches deep at the bottom drain, with the sides being 40 inches, sloping to the bottom drain. I got rid of the shelf. A neighbor had a 120 gallon perform we put to the right of the pond for all our plants my wife likes. Works well. I began to dig an area for a small filter pit to house my pump, Settlement chamber, microscreen, and air pump.





I believe I am now at over 3,200 gallons. 9x13x3.7 avg depth. I decided on a settlement chamber using a 55 gallon barrel. I know that many of you said that I could not get settlement from it, but my yard is very small, and I really did not have space to do anything else. Whether I clean a microscreen or clean a static K1 unit, I did not care. Anyhow, I got a free Do it yourself microscreen from another member that was upgrading to a WLIM unit. Made nicely with heavy gage steel support on the inside.



After digging out the pond, I set my bottom drain in concrete, running the line through the wall to my now dug filter pit.





The pit ended up being 4x6, as big as the area I had would let me have. I used a bit that digs holes for bulbs to dig through the 3 feet of earth between my filter pit and the pond, for my 4” bottom drain line to go through.






So, I built up my filter pit using narrower blocks. They are 4x8x16 rather than the usual 8x8x16. I know I know, harder to keep straight and not as sturdy, but it held well with rebar and a footing. I needed to maximize the amount of room inside of the filter pit. This saved me 8 inches each direction.

Here is my line coming from my bottom drain into my 55 gallon barrel, with a 4” ball valve before it, allowing me to shut off the feed from the bottom drain.



I did not have room in the area for a sump area. What I do to clean it is once a week I shut off the 4” valve, drain the 55 gallon barrel to bottom, vacuum out the muck, and put microscreen back in and let barrel re-fill. Takes all of about 7-8 minutes, and worth the hassle. Like I said, absolutely no room to do otherwise. I had the sumppump already, so it has it’s use in the barrel.

I was having an issue keeping my Microscreen spinning, so I added another 90 degree elbow to the incoming line from the bottom drain to get it to spin. Before and after pics:





Pipework coming out of 55 gallon barrel to the pump


As you can see, I had two lines coming off my pump. One that goes to the Laguna filter falls, and one that will go to a spraybar.




Filled up pond and shut valve to see if bottom drain and everything held water. All good.


Microscreen spinning, spraybar working, water flowing.


Pipework….water flowing to the spraybar and the laguna filter falls. As you can see, I have ball valves to control the flow to each.


And the completed work


All not ideal, but all I could do with the little money we had to get it done. Lots of help from other koi enthusiasts, which helped so much. For me, it works. I don’t have show fish…all are pondgrade….but I do know a lot more about plumbing, water chemistry, bio, etc….from doing this project. And I know what I will do when I am older and will have a larger pond at another house (I’m only 26 now).

Any thoughts are fine…positive and negative.

Ethan

[Ethan25]

anyone? I would love to know where I can improve if anywhere? Not a lot of money to work with; just trying to do what I can with what I have....

Ethan