Hi
I wish to make a skippy filter from a 150 Gal Rubbermaid stock tank.

I have spent some time on google and searching this forum, but can't find any suppliers for the Rubbermaids in the UK.

I see from reading this forum that many of you are using this tank and was wondering if you could tell me where you got them from.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

BG

bannrikae wrote:
Hi
I wish to make a skippy filter from a 150 Gal Rubbermaid stock tank.

I have spent some time on google and searching this forum, but can't
find any suppliers for the Rubbermaids in the UK.

I see from reading this forum that many of you are using this tank and
was wondering if you could tell me where you got them from.

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm using a Skippy style filter here in the UK. I had a quick search
around for rubbermaid tanks, but can't remember finding anywhere
helpful. I just used the tank from our Oase filter instead.

I can't see why it needs a rubbermaid tank rather than any other kind.
If I remember correctly they describe using a plastic barrel, and that
not working so well. Perhaps it was too high and made the pump work too
hard. Our tank is about a 2' cube and works well.

One improvement that I made recently was to use greenhouse screening to
contain all of the filter media. It's a kind of green woven material
with big gaps. I lay that into the tank and pack the media on top of it,
then put another layer over the media to hold it in place.

Good luck with yours,

DavidM

any kind of stock tank will work. Ingrid

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:59:46 EDT, bannrikae
wrote:


Hi
I wish to make a skippy filter from a 150 Gal Rubbermaid stock tank.

I have spent some time on google and searching this forum, but can't
find any suppliers for the Rubbermaids in the UK.

I see from reading this forum that many of you are using this tank and
was wondering if you could tell me where you got them from.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

BG

The makers of the Skippy seem to think that square tanks don't work as well as the skippy as there are dead spots in the corners, and you don't get the same swirl/vortex effect.

What media are you using Davidm. Do you clean yours as skipy recommend never to clean their filter, which sounds good to me!

BG

bannrikae wrote:
The makers of the Skippy seem to think that square tanks don't work as
well as the skippy as there are dead spots in the corners, and you
don't get the same swirl/vortex effect.

What media are you using Davidm. Do you clean yours as skipy recommend
never to clean their filter, which sounds good to me!

I'm using the rotary floor scrubbing mats that they describe. There are
a few online cleaning suppliers that sell them. I cut them up into 1"
squares with scissors, it's tough going. Probably best to try and get
hold of an electric tool that can do it faster, perhaps a rotary saw or
reciprocating blade.

Our filter gets cleaned before and after the summer season. It
accumulates about 2" of silt in the bottom. My plumbing is not as
complex as Skippy describes, so the swirl thing is not going on. That
probably limits the final digestion of the waste due to static areas of
sediment.

Also mine cannot be flushed out completely without removing the media.
If the media is bagged or retained by some kind of net it's pretty easy
to remove during the clean. Our previous Oase filter required cleaning
once a week during summer, so the Skippy was a very welcome change.

The basic idea is upflow filtration through heavy matting with aeration.
It's a component step of most large commercial koi filters. However you
choose to interpret the Skippy design, I'm sure you will find it
successful and effective at keeping your pond clean.
DavidM

Hi Davidm

Sorry to hassel you with more questions.

You say "The basic idea is upflow filtration through heavy matting with aeration", Skippy dosen't seem to mention anything about extra aeration in their build,(I may have missed it) have you got any air being pumped into your filter?

How big is your pond and what size filter are you using, how many and what size fish?

Thanks for your help so far, I'm pretty sure this is the type of filter that i'm going to build, just need to decide on the right size.

My pond is about 2800 Gals and I will be keeping 12 Koi in there so I'm thinking a skippy of around 100 - 150 gals should do it.
I think that my pump may be to large though, I have an oase aquamax 8000,(8000 litres/hour) but at the moment, with my current filter the flow is so fast, the water is only spending about 1 minuet in the filter.
How does this compare to your setup?

BG

bannrikae wrote:
Hi Davidm

Sorry to hassel you with more questions.

You say "The basic idea is upflow filtration through heavy matting with
aeration", Skippy dosen't seem to mention anything about extra aeration
in their build,(I may have missed it) have you got any air being
pumped into your filter?

I thought they used to say that, can't find any mention of it on their
website though. Anyway, I found my fish gasping at the surface after the
Skippy filter got going. The very large surface area encourages much
more bacterial growth than previously, and the good aerobic bacteria
have a pretty high demand for oxygen. After adding an air stone to the
filter and to the pond it was all OK. We don't have a waterfall or any
other source of oxygenation.



How big is your pond and what size filter are you using, how many and
what size fish?

Our pond is pretty small, under 1000 gallons. We have 5 koi in there
ranging from 12" up to about 20"


Thanks for your help so far, I'm pretty sure this is the type of filter
that i'm going to build, just need to decide on the right size.

My pond is about 2800 Gals and I will be keeping 12 Koi in there so I'm
thinking a skippy of around 100 - 150 gals should do it.
I think that my pump may be to large though, I have an oase aquamax
8000,(8000 litres/hour) but at the moment, with my current filter the
flow is so fast, the water is only spending about 1 minuet in the
filter.

How does this compare to your setup?

More than double the pond size and number of fish.

Our skippy filter is made using an old Oase filter tank, probably 30
gallons?. We also use an Aquamax pump, but one of the smallest that they
do. Our tank fills to the top in about one minute as well, but I don't
think time in filter is as important as turnover rate for the entire pond.

Sounds like an good filter that you have planned. Good luck cutting up
all of the scrubbing matting, you'll need lots. In my opinion it would
be well worth following the Skippy plans for plumbing and layout. Mine
would work better if the water had more swirl and movement. With that
volume of filtration, you can't really go wrong though. Hope it all
works out.
David

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:41:02 EDT, DavidM
wrote:

I'm using the rotary floor scrubbing mats that they describe. There are
a few online cleaning suppliers that sell them. I cut them up into 1"
squares with scissors, it's tough going. Probably best to try and get
hold of an electric tool that can do it faster, perhaps a rotary saw or
reciprocating blade.

Not sure if it will work on scrubbers, but electric kitchen knives (for
carving turkey and such) does a great job on poly fiber matting.
~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us