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#1
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#2
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#3
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#4
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#5
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#6
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Water flow within filters?
"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. |
#7
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#8
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
#9
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Water flow within filters?
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 |
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