Generation one trash master.

[fishin4cars]

LOL, They are GOOOD this time of the year!
Ok, been running for a few days now. This is the new update, I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

The fry in the shots was in a water depth of about 10" I have no clue what the fry is, I only have baby Koi in this pond, The largest fish is the white and black Butterfly Koi, named nurse, She is about a two year old koi and is very small for her age. I have two more koi that were bought at the same time and same place and they are well over 14" long each. I don't know why she doesn't grow as she appears very healthy. I had to remove her from the main pond to treat for a injury and she has been kept in the 300 gallon since I restarted this pond this spring. LOL I say "she" but actually think it may be a male. Anyway, she is the largest at about 7" long and is a runt, the rest are all under 6" and I just got them as babies this year. I found three so far, all appear brown and about 1/4" long.

I have to say the filter is working even better than I ever expected!

 

[addy1]

Looking good fishin! real clear water.

 

[fishin4cars]

Addy, I'm extemely happy with how it has done so far. Went from being able to see the fish down to about the one foot mark to being able to see the fry swimming on the bottom in 30" of water, NO JOKE! The one drawback is, I have to take it apart and move it all to the 55 gallon drum now. Thankfully, the original filters are still working in the pond so I know they can handle it while I do the swap over which may take a day or two, considering I'll have to re-silicon the fittings. Other than that, I'm tickled to death. The water is crystal clear, all water parameters are staying stable and the fish even seem to be happier as they are now coming up and feeding as soon as I walk out there. The PH, ended up settling a little lower than what I was hoping on, It's 7.2 but I added oyster shells and barley bales and Kitty litter to the system on Friday, Haven't been out to do water testing yet this morning but all the small particle aglae have cleared, the string algae may be 1/4 of what it was prior to starting the filter up, and the Ph and temp have gotten far better at staying stable.

 

[addy1]

Well with taking it apart and moving it you will have even more firmly in your brain how to build it.............practice practice practice lol

It shows in your pictures the clarity......very very nice.

 

[j.w]

Good news fishin and looks like you have all the stuff in there to get that pond clear and pure as could be and keep it that way. I'm still waiting for the rain to stop so I can put my oyster shells and kitty litter in mine. Got to travel aways to buy the compacted barley bales but hopefully that will fit into my hubby's schedule soon. I do have my falls running into the bucket of pillow stuffing so it does look better :lol:

 

[DrDave]

It is the depth of the filter along with the physics that make it work so well. Good job!

 

[fishin4cars]

Well I'm starting Generation II Trash Master now, Originally I was going to go to a 55 gallon but I went back and the car wash had two 35 gallon ones. Grabbed two 55 gallon ( I now have 6-55 Gallon ones and two 35 gallon. I got home and did some measuring, looks like the grating and the matala will work in the 35 gallon so going to still stay with that size. I cut the lid rinsed them really good, then filled them and let them sit in the sun for about three hours, dumped them and filled again. I will rinse for sure one or two more times before hooking it all up. Any other ideas on how to make sure everything is out? I did get lucky and the products are bio-degradable. lol.. for what that is worth. This pond is only a holding tank and really this filter is plenty for the pond, Plus saves the 55 gallon ones for getting ready for the bigger pond.
Anyway, got the hole cut and the new bottom drain installed and letting the sealant dry before continueing. Hopefully I can get this done with minimal disturbance on the media. but if I lose it all It's not a biggy in my situation. Oh, and I'm raising the out port two inches and adding about 30-50 more cut up scrubbies to the filter, I should be able to get at least that much more in with out any issues.
One more question for those that have built these filters. Where can I locate those curved bulkheads for the side? I can get by without it on this one I think by heating but I sure would like to get my hands on about a half dozen 2"-3" fittings Like Vertigo posted a week or two ago but from here in the US. If not maybe he'll point me in the direction to order them from overv there. Anyway, that's where the project stands. I'll post pics once I can start having something to show.

 

[fishin4cars]

Generation II trashmaster is now up and running, When empting out the water I discovered two things, First, The backflush needed a complete dump to get most of the bottom stuff out, It ran clear until the last five or six gallons then it started looking pretty funky. Second when taking the media down I found what could have been a problem if left for a longer period of time. Someone suggested moving the PVC above the Cut up scrubbies, Well this got swapped around and put as the first layer this time. Being in the middle quite a bit of settling was taking palce in the cut up PVC tubes. Apparantly the backflushing wasn't allowing the water to rush thru the pipe cleaning them during a backflush. Plus the PVC pipe was pushing down one the scrubbie pads packing them pretty tightly and I really wanted them to be more loosly packed in the middle of the filter for better flow through the pads. So, I now have 8" of cut up PVC, 10" of Cut up scrubbie pads, and 1" of matala matting. I raised the bottom grating 1" So now my elbows at the bottom are 5" off the bottom instead of 4", and I raised the output back to the pond by four inches allowing me to add another 2" of Cut up PVC pipes and another 2" of Scrubbie pads. minor adjustments from the first try but hopefully this will improve the filter for more long term use. glad I was able to get this done, when I took the generation one down and disassembled it the swelling from the water in the trash can allowed for more room between the grating and the side walls and I feel like it was only a mayyer of time before pieces of pvc of scrubbies would have ended up in the bottom during a back flush.

 

[jupiter1]

One more question for those that have built these filters. Where can I locate those curved bulkheads for the side? QUOTE]

Have looked into using uniseals ?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/2-uniseal-bulkhead-alternative.html

 

[fishin4cars]

I looked and looked, nothing local at all. I had to use the one from the first build and recut new gaskets. I heated the side of the barrel with a hair dryer and was able to get it flat enough that I made the bulkhead up with the sealant already on everything and kept it warm while tightening, being no real pressure on it It looks like I got a good seal. But I would like to fine those as well. Being my set-up may be two or three chambers and installing one lower will be a lot harder to get flat.

 

[fishin4cars]

One more question for those that have built these filters. Where can I locate those curved bulkheads for the side? QUOTE]

Have looked into using uniseals ?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/2-uniseal-bulkhead-alternative.html

Answered before I read and checked out the link. Looks cool I wouldn't be afraid to use it for the top connection, the bottom one, Hmmm I have to say I would be worried about changing temps outside and with 55 gallons of water pressure behind it what would it do after a year or two? Thanks for the link, Heck at $5 I could try one and see how they do, alot neater than all the silicone goop that had to dry for 24 hours.

 

[addy1]

Fishin what is the the black thing in the output to the pond? looks like a black grid in the pipe sticking above the outflow. I have not really followed any filter build till now....lol...
So explain to us that don't know why the pipe sticking up with the black thing in the outflow. I assume the pipe sticking up above the filter is to release pressure from the inflow of the water i.e. air etc.

 

[fishin4cars]

Addy that is simply to allow aeration through the pipe, I forget what they call it but it breaks the syphon and allows air in the pipe. Someone will chime in and remind me what it's called. The black thing is a fountain pump screen for a pump that burnt up and I had laying around, primarily it's a frog screen. LOL I ended up with two tree frogs in the pipe last week and that just happened to fit and helps keep things out. Oh and that high of a piece of pipe is not needed, a 2" piece would work fine I just had it there and used it. The only reason I need a piece of pipe there is that the screen fits perfect in the pipe and its to loose in the tee connection by itself.
Now in the middle where the water comes in the top the vent pipe is needed as water splashes about that far up, I installed the 90 on top of it to keep anything from falling in and put a screen over the end to keep those pesky frogs form getting up in there too.
Also installed a valve in the in-line this time in case i need to regulate the flow down, Which I really don't think I do.

 

[addy1]

Neat, I was pondering it over to figure out the need lol. Sounds like a type of venturi.

Rather than have the pipe up in the middle, the one sticking up, could it be a closed pipe? or is it to release pressure? Release pressure sounds logical to me.

 

[fishin4cars]

It's by far not needed, however it does make the water more turbulant coming out the end of the pipe and since I don't have a airstone at all in this pond any extra areation I could get for free I welcomed.
Keep in mind, I'm just working on getting all my ideas and how things work for a bigger build. This one is preforming great and I may or may not hide it all, If I do decide to hide it that would be removed more than likely. I have to say, for the money spent, I'm pretty darn pleased with it compared to filters I have bought in the past for the same amount of money that were for the most part junk.