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29-08-2016, 09:41 PM #1
Long awaited upgrade in filtration
So I have small pond - just 4x2x1 (avg depth, bit 1.2m at the deepest), that we inherited with the house. Originally it had a Titan 3000 and Bioforce 4500 canister system that exhausted into an upper veggie filter before flowing over the water fall. The original owners filled it with fish.. koi and ghost koi to be exact.
After a year or so, on returning from vacation, the veggie filter had over flowed - killing a number of larger koi and we spent time cleaning out the pond etc and saving the remainder of the fish. The pond was replanted and the veggie filter re-established. (veggie + koi ... )
The pump failed, it was replaced with an aqua force 2500. The UVC ballast failed after a few bulbs, added a new 15W UVC inline after the canister, then the impeller ground itself to pieces - add a new impeller and housing. I've been swearing for the last two years that the system is under pumped and under filtered. A period of redundancy resulted in doing what I could.. the fish grew.
Yesterday morning.. the plants this year have been doing very well.. tested the water and as expected the ammonia & nitrite levels were slowly increasing.. Nitrates 0ppm. Quick water change.. note the flow rate that has been reducing over time even with the new impeller and clean filter....
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We popped down to the local water centre.. just to kill a couple of hours today. And we finally decided to change the filtration. I've been cleaning the filter out every other day in peak pooping season!
Old 2500 and new 6000 pump..
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Old 4500 and new 9000 canister ...
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Just fits into the pit where the old canister + external UVC stat. I looked at Ezpod/clover leaf before but they're too large to fit into this little area.
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And the new flow rate...
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So although the pond is about 8000l, the pump is 6000 with very little head increase above water level and the filter slightly over sized 9000 lph (koi) and 18000 lph non-fish.
It's not a clover leaf, or anything too pro - however for the two koi, two ghost koi and two small black koi (I assume) it should really help their environment.
Now the fish have just started to get used to me again.. feeding - they're not particularly trusting but this year they have been better than last year...
The koi do eat the algae, they also eat/de-algae the oxygenating weed, dug up/over-turned the pots, but now the plants and the fish have reached an equilibrium..
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Fish? Yeah... getting a photo of them is far far harder! I will have a try once they've been given time to relax..
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31-08-2016, 12:54 PM #2
Nice.
In the first photo your pond looks a lot smaller than 4 metres long. Good job on making it look subtle.
Can you turn the handle on the Biofoce? It looks like it will snag the wall of the manhole. Can the device move to the top-left to give you enough room?
The handle was the snag for me when installign my Bioforce in a manhole:
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How long do you spend at the pond side each day? If you wait while the fish eat the food, and throw it in piece by piece, the fish will learn to trust you more quickly.
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31-08-2016, 07:06 PM #3
I can turn the handle, although it requires me to lift the thing for a full rotate. The corners make it looks smaller (and reduce the volume a little). I suspect it's closer to 7,000l but I've never flow counted it. The veggie filter is not massively deep - deep enough to get pots into. I did think that it would be good to have a fine material vortex...
The issue with the veggie filter is down to the liner level and leak through - when using the 2500 the amount of water added to the box was less than the problematic level until the veg built up (roots/sediment). With the 6000 pushing twice the amount through the water level is higher and it leaks a bit somewhere - so this weekend I will resolve/reline it. I need to pick it apart to re-lay the new pipework.
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08-09-2016, 10:49 AM #4
I decided to deepen the veggie filter and reline, thread here: https://www.koiforum.uk/pond-constru...tml#post220909
However I've been running the new bioforce for almost two weeks, the veggie filter now relined is just bedding in the underlay before securing the liner fully.. however since sunday the fines have started to settle into the veggie filter already - as it's now deeper it can cope with the additional flow rate nicely:
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You can see the amount of fines..
And the result in the main pond is getter better too - this is from the other side of the pond, and the two pictures are ISO800 hence some graininess of image.
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So I think the bioforce, as expected, is a reasonable large-medium solids filter but requires a secondary for finer matter to get clearer water.
edit - just to add experience of first filter cleaning without bumping in the forum..
Oh my.. how little poop splatter. How fast. And only once every couple of weeks.. (not every other night!)
1. turn off pump - agitate with handle (just to save water)
2. turn exit valve to waste (my waste is perms-plumbed to a pipe into the garden borders
3. turn on pump and continue agitating with handle until the output looks clear (you can see this through the white plastic host adaptor)
4. switch exit valve to pond return.
5. As it does a partial water exchange - top up with new water + declorinator.
I'm a convert.Last edited by NickK-UK; 08-09-2016 at 06:16 PM. Reason: added first filter clean experience
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