njin9
Koi Lover
Dec 29, 2007, 4:34 PM
Post #13 of 30
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Re: [qqmeng] pump fed filter system problem?
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Don't worry too much about up/down. Your second chamber will do it.***Sediments should stay at the bottom of 1 & 2 before the cleaner water enters 3. You need to slow down the water though. Otherwise the sediments will get lifted up and into 3. You might have to make a diverter connection, where half the water does into the filter, and half does to the waterfall and back into the pond, unfiltered. But that's ok. Otherwise, get a smaller pump. See if anyone around you has a pump they are not using that you can borrow.
No fine cotton. Bad choice, especially for the mechanical filter. If you really want to use fine cotton, use it in the last chamber as a bio-filter. Cleaning out cotton is a lot of work. Throwing it out and putting new cotton every week for a mechanical filter will become expensive.
My recommendation:
Chamber 2, use filter brushes. Black Knight is a widely used brand with stainless steel core and different diameters and lengths. These brushes obstruct fine suspended particles that WILL get lifted up. (Some crap has the same density as water, therefore semi-buoyant and won't settle. The brushes block the majority of fine crap from moving on to chamber 3. Some particles will get through, but that's ok. There's no significant channeling with brushes. To clean brushes, you have to turn off the pump, SHAKE the brush, and put it in a pail until you are ready to assemble the filter again. There's a diagram on the link showing how to assemble and overlap the brushes. I think the pics and diagrams can explain much more then I can. It's important the water isn't very fast otherwise the brushes won't be able to do their job. All the crap will get blown (pushed) through the bristles and into chamber 3.
Chamber 1. Do you don't have a bulkhead fitting on the first chamber? If you don't and it's just an unattached hose, then I recommend a simple strainer type of filter above the water line. It's a simple mechanical filtering process. It's a plastic strainer (salad and vegetable colander). http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh111/njin9/
In my pics, the colander you see is at the end of my filtration system. That's the water return to my fish tank. (I just bought 4" kois and decided to grow them indoors for the winter and release in the pond next spring. I have very cold weather now.) The 'stuff' you see in the colander is bits of pvc, abs and polypropylene shavings from some of my DIY projects. (It's makes a good cheap bio-filter that's easy to clean. It hasn't gotten really dirty yet.) If I were to put it at the beginning of my filter system, I would use a media that is more coarse, or just use a stainless steel mesh colander. A SS colander would be real easy to clean. Just brush it and swoosh it in water and voila, clean. But this has to be daily. Mesh tends to clog with bio-film easily. As long as the overflow goes back into the pond of overspills into the chambers 1 or 2, you're good to go. You see overflow, it's time to clean the SS strainer. Otherwise get a bigger strainer.
In your area, you might want to consider an empty plastic beer bottle case. I think they are common around your location. It's bigger and you can have it bare(if the holes are small enough, or filled with stuff. I recommend plastic pot scrubbers or shower puffs. Both should be cheap. It helps strain out larger crap such as leaves, algae, fish food and fish crap that hasn't been broken down. This set-up should be ABOVE water level. That's why I asked if your hose was attached. Being above water level helps oxygenate the water as it comes down. When bacteria does form on these scrubbers, the air around it will help it cycle faster.
Chamber 3 + 4. Don't use bio-balls. Bioballs are best in a trickle tower set up where it's aurface area can be maximized with lots of air for bacteria colonizing. It's not as effective in water. Plus cleaning it out would be a pain in the ass because its not buoyant. That means all the crud and sludge will accumulate at the bottom. This is where some bio-balls will be. The bacteria colony on the floor might turn into anaerobic bacteria. If you're new, I wouldn't recommend playing with anaerobic bacteria. Aerobic bacteria safer to colonise and use.
Better choices are K1 or similar media for moving bed. Other DIY media is soaker hose as discussed by Goldminer. I use pop bottle caps. k1 is expensive over in North America. Moving bed is a bio-filter that is self-cleaning. It's makes cleaning easier.
The three important factors are 1) FLOAT(buoyant, semi buoyant) 2)Durable 3)NON-TOXIC. (read the thread ' DIY KI and/or Shower Bacteria House Media' in the soaker hose link.
You don't have to entirely fill Chamber 3 & 4 with moving bed media. max 3/4 deep. But I recommend 1/2 deep or around 10 cm. It needs to be heavily aerated. Lots of air. This will move the media, that's why it's a moving bed. Air will also feed the aerobic bacteria colony on the media. The new bacteria will shed the old bacteria and its byproducts to the bottom. All you have to do is stick your vacuum in and suck it out. Easy? The hard part is getting the media.
My wallet won't let me buy K1 or soaker hose. That's why I'm getting plastic pop bottles. It's bigger then K1, but hopefully this works. I'll post some more stuff on my photobucket if you want to see stuff. Just ask and be specific.
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