GardenBanter.co.uk - Filter media switch

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Filter media switch

The other day I cleaned my pre-filter. When I do this I also lower the
water about half way in the bio-chambers that contain open cell foam. My
foam is now on its 13th year. (Gosh, how time flies!) It now is starting to
fall forward when I lower the water level and the one side would not behave
even when I brought the water level up and turned on the pump. It wanted to
continue to slump. I ended up putting this coarse matala pad I got to try
in behind it to support it.

So now I'm thinking, I need to bite the bullet and buy the fine matala to
replace the open cell, or at least most of the open cell foam. Maybe keep a
pad or two for the middle.

Just wondering if anyone has an opinion regarding this. I was wondering if
I have to have the same 8" filled with media (horizontal flow, current
media is approx. 22" X 30" and then eight 1" pads deep)? Anyone know of a
website that is selling it in rolls at a good price? ~ jan

I have been thinking about this also. I had planned to make a "skippy
filter" using a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. I'm just not sure about
how to configure the pads. Should I lay them flat or stand them up?
San Diego Joe

Hi SD Joe, Is there a pre-filter before the Rubbermaid? If not, standing
them up will let you get to the front and dirtier pad easier to clean it...
unless you have down flow where laying them flat the dirty one would be on
top. Down flow is supposedly the least efficient. We went with horizontal
flow, pads standing up, because we thought the first one would get dirty,
but with the pre-filter, that never happened. Now I clean all the pads
once/year. One chamber is done in the fall, and the other chamber (that ran
all winter) is done mid-summer. ~ jan

------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Filter media switch

~ jan wrote:

The other day I cleaned my pre-filter. When I do this I also lower the
water about half way in the bio-chambers that contain open cell foam. My
foam is now on its 13th year. (Gosh, how time flies!) It now is starting to
fall forward when I lower the water level and the one side would not behave
even when I brought the water level up and turned on the pump. It wanted to
continue to slump. I ended up putting this coarse matala pad I got to try
in behind it to support it.

So now I'm thinking, I need to bite the bullet and buy the fine matala to
replace the open cell, or at least most of the open cell foam. Maybe keep a
pad or two for the middle.

Just wondering if anyone has an opinion regarding this. I was wondering if
I have to have the same 8" filled with media (horizontal flow, current
media is approx. 22" X 30" and then eight 1" pads deep)? Anyone know of a
website that is selling it in rolls at a good price? ~ jan

I have been thinking about this also. I had planned to make a "skippy
filter" using a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. I'm just not sure about
how to configure the pads. Should I lay them flat or stand them up?
San Diego Joe

Hi SD Joe, Is there a pre-filter before the Rubbermaid? If not, standing
them up will let you get to the front and dirtier pad easier to clean it...
unless you have down flow where laying them flat the dirty one would be on
top. Down flow is supposedly the least efficient. We went with horizontal
flow, pads standing up, because we thought the first one would get dirty,
but with the pre-filter, that never happened. Now I clean all the pads
once/year. One chamber is done in the fall, and the other chamber (that ran
all winter) is done mid-summer. ~ jan

------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

I had planned on an up-flow but am not sure about then having to remove all
the pads just to clean the first. There is a prefilter. Maybe I should just
use the horizontal layout.

Have you found a cheap source for matala?

San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

Filter media switch

On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:30:34 EDT, Joe wrote:

I had planned on an up-flow but am not sure about then having to remove all
the pads just to clean the first. There is a prefilter. Maybe I should just
use the horizontal layout.

Have you found a cheap source for matala?
San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

If you have a prefilter, then it probably won't matter so much. My pads
stay pretty clean to last a full year, that it is easier to power wash them
all at the same time. Course I only do 1 chamber at a time so I have the
bio-backup in the other chamber. You could always pull yours out and put
back the upper cleaner layers.

Horizontal flow is a nice idea... that one can pull the first in-line out
to clean, but with open cell foam it wanted to stick to its mates, or the
mates fall forward during the removal. I don't expect the later to happen
with matala, too rigid, but they may stick/latch onto their mate if you
have to trim them causing loose lines that can get a hold of the other pad.
No, haven't done any research as of yet for best price, was hoping someone
else had. ;-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us