Generation one trash master.

[fishin4cars]

First off I would like to thank some of the members here with any and most ideas I have put into this DYI set-up. I have used some of my own thoughts and at this time it is 100% in the experimental stage. I hope this thread may help someone else in their DYI project and I will keep a progress report on this as the project goes into operation.

Please feel free to comment.

 

[fishin4cars]

step by step as it went together.

 

[fishin4cars]

This is where I stand on day one of the build, Or should I say day three but the first two were finding some needed supplies. The drain is glued in and had to end up siliconing the gasket. The over flow bulk head I decided to silicone also. Got most of the media in and ready to rinse but decided to wait and let the silicone set before doing that. Wanted enough time to post progress and those darn skeeters started coming out. The over flow tube is not correct, I just put that there for a pic so I could let everyone see what the concept is.

 

[Olee]

I would get rid of the shower grate on the bottom. You probably want the big pieces of gunk to go out that when you backflush, rather than have them stay in there?

 

[koiguy1969]

i think it will work...put in more media tho...
**just a thought...i would have the scrubbies on the bottom and the pipe peices on top of them. when you flush the filter, the pipe peices will allow a faster down flow (less resistance) and all that water above the scrubbies will let them flush cleaner. and they will of course, trap more on the incoming flow as well.

 

[fishin4cars]

I would get rid of the shower grate on the bottom. You probably want the big pieces of gunk to go out that when you backflush, rather than have them stay in there?

Won't be any big trash pieces, the pump has two large pre-filters on them that I clean about once a week, they are already on the pump running the filter I have now.

 

[fishin4cars]

i think it will work...put in more media tho...
**just a thought...i would have the scrubbies on the bottom and the pipe pieces on top of them. when you flush the filter, the pipe pieces will allow a faster down flow (less resistance) and all that water above the scrubbies will let them flush cleaner. and they will of course, trap more on the incoming flow as well.

LOL, cutting more scrubbies up now, It was getting late and I was going to fill it all the way up with cut up scrubbies until the matala is against the the outflow pipe. I debated and debated on the placement of each layer. I knew this might come up, here is my thinking. The pipes will flush faster, but break up the suspended particles. Also it keeps the small scrubbies from getting into the bottom. It would suck if one got to the shower drain grating. I used that drain because it is the flushest mount drain I could find that was all plastic. The grating for the media layers has two spots where a scrubbie COULD possibly get sideways and go between the can and the grating. If you notice I used some scrap grating as a second layer before the pipe. I'll be just rinsing everything and leak testing tomorrow. It wouldn't be hard to swap the layers if you still think it would be better the other way. Most filters go coarse med, fine. That was I guess my final decision thought......lol

 

[addy1]

Sounds like it should work good luck with your leak test.

 

[koiguy1969]

LOL, cutting more scrubbies up now, ..... I used that drain because it is the flushest mount drain I could find that was all plastic. The grating for the media layers has two spots where a scrubbie COULD possibly get sideways and go between the can and the grating.

you could get one of these furnace filters and cut it to fit on top of your bottom grate to ensure no media gets into the sump area..Lowes and Home Depot carry them
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2235&d=1270244354
i use them they are a bit corser than the scrubbies

 

[fishin4cars]

LOL, cutting more scrubbies up now, ..... I used that drain because it is the flushest mount drain I could find that was all plastic. The grating for the media layers has two spots where a scrubbie COULD possibly get sideways and go between the can and the grating.

you could get one of these furnace filters and cut it to fit on top of your bottom grate to ensure no media gets into the sump area..Lowes and Home Depot carry them
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2235&d=1270244354
i use them they are a bit corser than the scrubbies

So your suggesting use a furnace filter, then scrubbies, then the cut pipe and last the japanese matting? In that order from bottom to top?

 

[koiguy1969]

basically yes...the scrubbies on the bottom would just get a better riinse with more open water above them allowing a faster flush.thru them. and allow less crud up into the upper medias... IMHO

 

[fishin4cars]

basically yes...the scrubbies on the bottom would just get a better riinse with more open water above them allowing a faster flush.thru them. and allow less crud up into the upper medias... IMHO

Would you leave the scrubbies kind of loosely packed in or pack them tight? I'm almost full loosely packed and could probably cut up another 20 to tightly pack them. So far over 100 cut up in there now.

 

[koiguy1969]

well you could start loose and always add more if needed ..loose would allow a better flush i think.

 

[fishin4cars]

OK, here is the noon update, did a four hour leak test, Only leak found was outside the filter going back to the pond, Had to remove a screw in connection and add more teflon, Quick fix. Drain and filled the whole system four times, total water capacity ended up being just shy of 30 gallons. (perfect, 30 gallon capacity-300 gallon pond, dump it and instant 10% water change!) It empties in 20 seconds flat! So I timed the pump and I'm getting a complete fill for the filter every 2 minutes and 12 seconds. For the life of me I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong trying to figure out my GPH through the filter. I'm shooting for a # close to 600 gph, My pump I'm using is rated for 1250 gallons per hour but there are some restrictions and length of hose to run through so I wanted to see what the actual true rate is.
I swapped the scrubbies to the bottom, actually I added a second full piece of grating since I decided I didn't need it for the top, So here is bottom to top now. Two layers of egg crate, 110 scrubbies cut up to 1"x1" aprox 16" deep, 3-4 inches of 1/2" pvc cut 3/4"-1-1/2" long, 1 inch of matala/japanese matting.
Had to raise the vent tube for the in port side to stop the splash over, and installed a sweep Tee in the out line to return to the pond.
Questions,
1-Is it normal for the swirlier to produce air bubbles coming up through the media/ Mine is bubbling pretty good and I can't see any reason I wouldn't want it to do that.
2-can someone try and help me figure out my flow rate?
3-Should I expect a ammonia peak once this has been running for a while if I leave the other filters running and don't add anymore fish? My thinking is it will just take over but I have never added a filter with this large of a media capacity in ratio to the pond before. Kind of like adding a canister filter and under gravel filter to a fish bowl. lol

 

[koiguy1969]

both of mine bubble as well...more oxygen..but i took it one step further, i actually have a air pump with a 1" stone inside my down pipe right above the bottom "T" on my basement filter...just a little hagen 1.75 watter
30gals in 2 mins would be 900gph turn over