2012 Annual Ponds & Water Garden Magazine

[baeya]

I bought the 2012 Annual Ponds & Water Garden Magazine and there is a small article in it about the Skippy Filters.
It says:

Quote:

David Routh is a Phoenix-based koi enthusiast who saves abused and neglected koi through his Phoenix Koi Rescue (phoeniexkoirescue.com) volunteer group. As a result, David has seen a lot of dysfunctional koi ponds, and he has grown to despise the myths of "skippy filters."

The "skippy filter" is a 100-gallon stock tank filled with pot scrubbers. The myth says you can run it forever and never clean it. David say, "There are two problems with this myth: first, new young bacteria are far more efficient at bioconversion than old bacteria, so stirring your media to slough off the old colonies makes your filter more efficient. Second, if you don't clean your filter for a long time, then anaerobic areas develop, storing toxins. So if you do clean the filter while it is hooked up to the pond, those toxins get released into the pond and kill the fish." David says he has spoken to people who cleaned their pond and filter, and the next day all their fish were dead.

End Quote


Wow! That is scary.... I just built a Skippy filter because of all the positive comments on the forum about it. I don't have it up and running yet as I'm still puchasing the bio media. So I guess the article means that you should stir the media once in awhile to slough off the old colonies...

After reading a lot more after puchasing the stuff needed to build a Skippy filter, I'm kind of wishing I went with a new bog instead....maybe I will build one of them next year. I do know for sure that my waterfall filter is not big enough for my pond, so I don't think the Skippy filter will be a waste of money....now I just need to get the media in it and crank it up.

 

[baeya]

They misspelled the web site in the magazine.....the correct site is www.www.phoenixkoirescue.com

 

[koiguy1969]

You just need to clean (backflush) your filter regularly, as we do. we all have backflush valves on ours...the original "skippys" dont .. its that easy. a shower drain and a ball valve at the bottom of the stocktank or barrel is all thats needed. and rinse your media out in the fall when you close down the pond for the winter if you like!! as a filter they perform fantastic.... i dont think anyone here believes you SHOULD run a filter forever without cleaning it.

 

[baeya]

Thanks Koiguy! BTW, what would you recommend I use for the bio media???

 

[sissy]

I don't understand that article, common sense tells you if you clean your filter why would you leave it going back into your pond any way .I have cleaned mine and would never think of letting the gunk from it go back into my pond when that is the stuff I want out of the pond .The article makes no common sense ,what person reading that would say whats wrong with what he wrote .

 

[koiguy1969]

i use a mix of scrubby pads and "cut to fit" furnace filters and some polyethelene rope cut into about 1' strips. one thing about the closet flange that the skippy folks suggest is its size makes it have to be located to low on the filter and wastes alot of potential filter volume. my weirs let the water level come up to about 3-4" inches from the top...the water starts exiting at the bottom of the flange everything above that point is wasted space. especially in the new style tank. as the pic shows.and living in New York you shut down your filters in the winter, wash out your media then. i would myself except i transfer the filter media to my basement pond filter. so it gets used 24 / 7 / 365. i dont really clean it but merely a light swish around in a baby pool with some pond water. it remains clean and efficient. my 70 gal stocktank and my 55 gal barrel hold the same amount of media. my 70 gallon just has a larger settlement area on the bottom. looks to me by the pic that half the volume is lost by using the closet flange.
heres my build.... http://www.gardenpon...y-style-filter/
and heres a pic of a weir installed...notice how close to the top it is....

compaed to....this

 

[sissy]

I use my favorite lava rock and buffer pads and furnace filter pads

 

[baeya]

I spoke with the owner of Skippys today, I placed an order for their bio media. I just don't have time to run around and get all that other stuff...
I read her the article in the magazine and she will be calling the magazine as a lot of the article is incorrect to their theory. They don't use pot scrubbers, they use commercial floor scrubber material.

Personally I don't like when a magazine only publishes one side of a theory. And the guy they quoted has a web site that favors the 55 gal. drum method....
I'm going with the Skippy Filter and using their media, period.

I would like to do a bog next year as they sound beautiful...

 

[baeya]

Sissy;
I agree, who in their right mind would empty that gunk back into their pond. I didn't like that article at all...it just sounds like he is advertising his rescue site. I wasn't impressed with his site at all. I'm going to send the magazine an e-mail and give them a piece of my mind.
If anyone, especially some of you that are much more well spoken on pond filtration, would like to send an e-mail, their address is:

(e-mail address removed)

 

[koiguy1969]

baeya...Did you speak with Glen?....the Laskeys are real nice folks. anyways like ive said before . i dont know if i would trust never cleaning my filter, but the flush valve makes water changes easy as well as cleaning the filter at the same time....my only gripe is that big toilet flange outlet...

 

[sissy]

I guess some one needs to make tanks that are all flat up to the lip as all the ones I see are either tapered on the side or don't have a completely flat side to put an adapter on or there to round for the adapter to fit right .Even some of the barrels are to tapered or to round for a bigger adapter .I just flushed my filters out and was amazed at the gunk ,my flowers sure do love that water .

 

[baeya]

Koiguy; I spoke with a lady....she was very nice and appreciated me telling her about the article. I thought about the water level with that closet flange as well. I guess when you're trying to build something to save a ton of money using what you can find for materials, that's what they ended up with. I'm looking forward to receiving my weir, LOL.........can't believe I did that with the e-mail address... I was able to cancel the other payment.