Generation one trash master.

[fishin4cars]

Thanks! My mind was not cooperating today with numbers, got to much pond info swirling around. I had ask about the airstomes in another post. You said you have it right off the bottom, that doesn't re-suspend the sludge that your trying to trap at the bottom. (Edit, never mind reread your post! great idea!!! ) I was thinking about putting in a couple of small airstones but suspending them in the scrubbie pads. Looking at what I'm seeing I'm not even sure if I need to do that. So far so good. running smooth. 3 time turn over rate. Little strong but it doesn't look like it is, I'm betting it will slow some as the filter matures.

 

[maniac]

1. air bubbles are comming from open T connector on top of can
2. 817.8 gph

 

[koiguy1969]

look at my original build thread...i mounted 2 stones in my swirl pipe mounting base...somehow i broke them..so i just dropped one stone down the down pipe. it hangs a couple inches above the T inside the pipe.

 

[fishin4cars]

Here it is up and running, took a few pics of the water to see how it looks after it has been running a while.

Whoops, grabbed the wrong picture, that was my supper last night! LOL Boy was it yummy though, Chesapeake crab cakes and crawfish bisque. MMM MMM Good! sorry can't figure out how to delete it......

 

[DrDave]

If you really want it gone, what number is it?

 

[vertigo72]

usually you want to go from coarse to fine. There is a reason every filter does it that way.
In your case, the most coarse would be the PVC pipes, put those at the bottom. Surprisingly, they trap a lot of heavy crud (my second barrel is full of cut PVC pipes, and it traps more debris than my 2 others). Putting scrubbies first will just result in them clogging and being filled with crud, making them far less effective as biofilter. Putting them after the PVC pipes will result in less thick crud in the scrubbies, also means less need for them to be flushed when cleaning. Reversing those priorities makes little sense to me.

my 2 cents.

 

[fishin4cars]

If you really want it gone, what number is it?

No biggy, It's there now. thanks though

 

[koiguy1969]

vertigo...i think outside the box...i have my scrubbies on the bottom and polyethylene rope unraveled mixed with some cut tubing in my filter...my water is absolutely pristine in both ponds and the funny thing is my scrubbies havent had to be cleaned in 3 years, you take some out and they look pretty darn good...my media gets used 24/7/365...for all my backwards thinking i sure do keep a pristine,trouble free and low maintainence pond...

 

[fishin4cars]

Well here is the update. Working great, already seeing some improvement. generation 2 trash master will be made from a 55 gallon drum. I do not recommend the use of a trash can. This one will work for now until I can find a drum and make a generation 2 but I wouldn't trust it through a freeze. For precaution I moved the primary pump up to the center of the pond level, This way if something happens I will still have water left in the pond, I lowered the in-pond box filters down to the bottom. This will move some water from the bottom but still operate if the filter splits.
As you can see in the pics the bottom third on the can is swollen out and at the top the lid doesn't sit flat anymore. I removed the riser from the 90 in the filter to lower the water level some. Overall pretty pleased as it is working great and most will be able to be transferred over to generation two when I finally can locate a 55 gallon drum.

 

[koiguy1969]

55 gal plastic drums..car washes sell them cheap..thats where i got mine, $5.00 another gives them away told me to call back in 2 weeks.i.never did. i see them on craigslist all the time.$15.00 - $20.00

 

[fishin4cars]

Car wash is a great idea, I know of three I can check with. I checked craigslist and the want ads in the paper and no luck yet. I would pay $20 for one no problem, would love to find a few as I am seeing I want to make a multi chambered one for a bigger application. Thanks! for the suggestion and for the post on your build, without the DYI section in the forum I wouldn't have gotten this far.

 

[koiguy1969]

your welcome my freind.

 

[fishin4cars]

55 gal plastic drums..car washes sell them cheap..thats where i got mine, $5.00 another gives them away told me to call back in 2 weeks.i.never did. i see them on craigslist all the time.$15.00 - $20.00

Went and checked the car wash, first one I went to the guy ask me how many I wanted. I said would love to get three or four. The guy ask me if I wanted anymore than that. I told him I didn't think I could haul more than four. He loaded me up and told me to come back before next Monday and I could have as many as I could haul off. After Monday they get picked up by some disposal company. I think I'm going to go back and get 4 more to have put back just in case. They had a few slightly smaller ones, thinking about getting a couple of those and see if my set-up will fit in it better. If not modifying shouldn't be that big of a deal. Thanks for the heads up. That worked out great! Gotta Love freebies!!

 

[addy1]

Cut in half they make great lotus pots! Enough water you can grow the lotus out of the pond. Either buried in the ground or just sitting there with a few small goldies to eat the wigglers.

 

[Olee]

Now I'm hungry for some mudbugs...