Hello all. What a great resource!!!

I am building my own pond filter (150 gallon) and am not sure about water flow through the chambers.

The filter will be a three chamber style - one to settle out the big stuff and two for
bio-filtration. When the water goes from the settlement chamber to the bio-chambers, does it matter
if the water flows up through the medium, or trickles down from the top?

What are the pros and cons of either method?

Thanks!

- David

David,

As for whether it is best for the water to run upflow or downflow, a well
drained downflow, free to allow air into the media is probably the best and
is known as a trickle tower. If the filter is full and used for plants on
top, then upflow is easier to plumb and maintain a water level. The
bacterial surface area is the same, the difference with trickle tower is the
additional aeration available.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"David Larson" wrote in message
...
Hello all. What a great resource!!!

I am building my own pond filter (150 gallon) and am not sure about water
flow through the chambers.

The filter will be a three chamber style - one to settle out the big stuff
and two for
bio-filtration. When the water goes from the settlement chamber to the
bio-chambers, does it matter
if the water flows up through the medium, or trickles down from the top?

What are the pros and cons of either method?

Thanks!

- David

RichToyBox wrote:

David,

As for whether it is best for the water to run upflow or downflow, a well
drained downflow, free to allow air into the media is probably the best and
is known as a trickle tower. If the filter is full and used for plants on
top, then upflow is easier to plumb and maintain a water level. The
bacterial surface area is the same, the difference with trickle tower is the
additional aeration available.

Thanks for the reply! Your idea of the trickle tower makes sense, seeing how this is the method
used in sewage treatment plants.

My next question is this -

Is there is a formula to figure out the cubic feet (or surface area) of filter media one would need?
Let's say the pond will be 3,000 gallons.

- David

David Larson wrote:
RichToyBox wrote:


David,

As for whether it is best for the water to run upflow or downflow, a well
drained downflow, free to allow air into the media is probably the best and
is known as a trickle tower. If the filter is full and used for plants on
top, then upflow is easier to plumb and maintain a water level. The
bacterial surface area is the same, the difference with trickle tower is the
additional aeration available.


Thanks for the reply! Your idea of the trickle tower makes sense, seeing how this is the method
used in sewage treatment plants.

My next question is this -

Is there is a formula to figure out the cubic feet (or surface area) of filter media one would need?
Let's say the pond will be 3,000 gallons.

- David



--
dont know of a formula for a TT but we have built two the first is about
the size of a large 5 gal bucket made solely of lava rock the second we
used three milk crates and glued the lava romck to the outside

after plumbing we filled both with loose lava rock

pics of both on myu website below




John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

good judgement comes from bad experience, and that comes from bad
judgement

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

David Larson wrote:

RichToyBox wrote:

David,

As for whether it is best for the water to run upflow or downflow, a well
drained downflow, free to allow air into the media is probably the best and
is known as a trickle tower. If the filter is full and used for plants on
top, then upflow is easier to plumb and maintain a water level. The
bacterial surface area is the same, the difference with trickle tower is the
additional aeration available.

Thanks for the reply! Your idea of the trickle tower makes sense, seeing how this is the method
used in sewage treatment plants.

My next question is this -

Is there is a formula to figure out the cubic feet (or surface area) of filter media one would need?
Let's say the pond will be 3,000 gallons.


OK, I just did a google search on this topic, and I am even more confused now! Some people say the
media surface area should be 5% of pond surface, or 10%, or 1/3 or based on weight of all your koi, or,
or, or ......... YIKES!!!

Isn't there a simple tried and true way to figure this out?

- David

"David Larson" wrote in message
...
snip
Isn't there a simple tried and true way to figure this out?
snip

Pick the algorithm that recommends the largest area, make yours a bit
bigger, and go with that. You can never have too much filtration.

BV.

Actually I pretty much stay confused on the subject of
filtration! I have a 10% - 15% of the surface area for a veggie
filter... then I've got a pressurized PF 3000 (supposed to filter
3,000 gallons of water .... HA!). Oh Yes, and thanks to Carolann
and John Rutz I'm
working on a TT. It will be built out of a milk crate. I use lots of BZT
and Koi /Clay and still worry about filtration. My 14 Koi seem fine ...
need to get rid of about a dozen goldfish, though.

You can see that the more filtration you have the more your going
to want... the neverending story of ponding.

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"David Larson" wrote in message
...
David Larson wrote:

RichToyBox wrote:

David,

As for whether it is best for the water to run upflow or downflow, a
well
drained downflow, free to allow air into the media is probably the
best and
is known as a trickle tower. If the filter is full and used for
plants on
top, then upflow is easier to plumb and maintain a water level. The
bacterial surface area is the same, the difference with trickle tower
is the
additional aeration available.

Thanks for the reply! Your idea of the trickle tower makes sense,
seeing how this is the method
used in sewage treatment plants.

My next question is this -

Is there is a formula to figure out the cubic feet (or surface area) of
filter media one would need?
Let's say the pond will be 3,000 gallons.


OK, I just did a google search on this topic, and I am even more confused
now! Some people say the
media surface area should be 5% of pond surface, or 10%, or 1/3 or based
on weight of all your koi, or,
or, or ......... YIKES!!!

Isn't there a simple tried and true way to figure this out?

- David

The work that has been done with bead filters shows that 1 cubic feet of
beads has 400 square feet of surface area and it is rated to support about
50 pounds of fish. But all filters are overrated by at least double. The
tests were done in an aquaculture situation without all of the extra debris,
and with controlled feeding.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"David Larson" wrote in message
...
RichToyBox wrote:

David,

As for whether it is best for the water to run upflow or downflow, a
well
drained downflow, free to allow air into the media is probably the best
and
is known as a trickle tower. If the filter is full and used for plants
on
top, then upflow is easier to plumb and maintain a water level. The
bacterial surface area is the same, the difference with trickle tower is
the
additional aeration available.

Thanks for the reply! Your idea of the trickle tower makes sense, seeing
how this is the method
used in sewage treatment plants.

My next question is this -

Is there is a formula to figure out the cubic feet (or surface area) of
filter media one would need?
Let's say the pond will be 3,000 gallons.

- David

OK, I just did a google search on this topic, and I am even more confused now! Some people say the
media surface area should be 5% of pond surface, or 10%, or 1/3 or based on weight of all your koi, or,
or, or ......... YIKES!!!

Going by the weight of the fish (what they will grow to) is probably the
most accurate, since the amount of filtration will be reflected by fish
numbers & sizes. Back when we did our filter we were told 10% by gallon.
1500 gallon pond = 150 gallon filter (not counting the 55 gallon pump
chamber). This has worked well for us for over 7 years, but with 16 koi
and many of them 7 years old I've pushed the limit this year and have got
to cull the herd, it's either that or not feed them...ever. ( ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website