Matala Biosteps II Filter

[brokensword]

Yeah... I'm sure I could build myself one. But honestly for 200 bucks it was way too appealing to just purchase the ready to go set up. We also had $35 in "points" from the online seller, so it was even less than that. Throw in an inexpensive pump and a few feet of hose and you should be up and running in minutes... not hours, or worse, days. Last year I rigged up a janky homemade filter - drilled holes near the bottom of a medium sized trash can, stuffed it with quilt batting and pumped water into the top. Worked great. I was trying to demonstrate to my husband that we could clean the fines without emptying the pond. At this point, I'm ready to get a pump and pump the whole thing down. But that means rent a sump pump, get a pool for the fish, get them safely out, spend a day pumping, hosing and pumping and hosing and pumping, refill the pond (with $$$$ water) and hope I don't end up with a green pond. Or we could pay the local pond outfit $1700 to do it for us... that $200 filter looks way too good to this frugal girl! Way better ways to spend a couple grand!

Ugh. I just wish someone had a product that was comparable. Oase makes a very similar filter, but it has foam filter pads and the online reviews that I've read complain about - you guessed it - the plumbing. One guy detailed the steps he had to go through to get it rigged up to work without leaking and I was like "no thanks". And yet... here I am.

that's sort of why I'm pushing you in the 'filter sock' direction; there's no foam included and the cost is easy. It does take a bit of diy but even that is easy, imo. The largest detraction is the size of the drum. I ended up camoflauging it with a camo tarp. If this is more or less a temporatry thing, it could still help you out and you can just store it for the future. I've done this; both my sock barrels are in the basement in case I ever use them again.

And the plumbing is easy as it's all standard fittings and flex pvc. This sock filter is an aquarium creation--I just enlarged the vision, is all. I mean, 5 minutes of hosing it off and back in? Easy peasy. And I've tweaked the design so it's almost fool-proof now.

I can understand the allure of a plug and play, but I bet you whatever you get won't have the same filter area as the sock one I've suggested. The nice part too is you can get different micron mesh and create a scenario that catches almost any size particle you want. Same system, you just need different socks.

In any event, hope you find something you like and it works for you!

 

[Lisak1]

Thanks @brokensword ! DIY is definitely still on the list of possibilities - I'll give the sock filter some consideration!

 

[GBBUDD]

Forgive if you already answered this I didn't read all the posts but why do you want this filter is your water clouding up?

 

[Lisak1]

I don't think I mentioned it here - but we have lots and lots of tiny floating debris. Not cloudy - just dirty. For the last few years we've noticed we were seeing more and more fine floating debris, but it would settle out rather quickly. This year is just stays circulating. Essentially we need a fines filter.

 

[GBBUDD]

Is there another site you have found for ponds ,?

 

[SarahT]

@Lisak1
Lisa; the diy filter I described to you would be a lot cheaper and work better (imo) without all this hassle. All you need is a drum (the external container), some 400 micron nylon mesh (from ebay, it's the filter), some plastic chicken wire (interior basket to hold the nylon sock), 3 bulkhead fittings (1-1/2") and a couple of unions. You sew up the 'sock' including a tube near the top to accept a rigid wire for keeping your sock open at the top, make a conical basket out of the chicken wire that is less in height than your drum, have one bulkhead at the top to which you attach your pump feed and this feeds into the sock, then 2 bulkheads at/near the bottom as your exit. You make the interior basket to give structure to your sock filter and it's less in height and diameter than your drum so if you get a clogged sock, it overflows and still exits into the pond instead of overflowing the top and draining your pond. The unions make it easier to detach all the tubing going to the filter. I used this for a few years and it works great plus with a 55 gallon drum, you get about 1800 sq in of filtering power that only takes about 5 minutes to rinse out with a hose.

I got a couple of drums, one $20, the other $50 used. If you want some sort of picture, let me know and I'll post it up. Really easy all the way around, imo.

Well, I'd like to see a picture when you have the time. NO hurry at all. Thanks.

 

[brokensword]

Well, I'd like to see a picture when you have the time. NO hurry at all. Thanks.

here ya go; The outlet has to be twice the diam of the inlet. I didn't want to buy 3" bulkheads, so made (2) 1-1/2" outlets instead.

 

[SarahT]

here ya go; The outlet has to be twice the diam of the inlet. I didn't want to buy 3" bulkheads, so made (2) 1-1/2" outlets instead.

View attachment 140104

thank you

 

[Lisak1]

Is there another site you have found for ponds ,?

Yes, but I can't tell you about it because then I'd have to stop talking about you there. haha!

Just kidding. I meant I don't think I mentioned the fine floating debris we've been dealing with as the reason we wanted the gravity filter in this thread.

Here's my quick review:

First the pros after not quite four days of running this filter -
1. it works GREAT. Doing exactly what we need it to do. The water is already 50% clearer after just a few short days. I don't think we'll need to run it more than a few weeks to get ourselves back to tip top condition, clean water wise.
2. Matala filter pads - need I say more? So far superior to any other product that I know of. These things are made to last forever. A cinch to clean, super sturdy. I'd buy this filter just to get these pads. And for the price of this whole set up I don't think you could buy the filter pads on their own for less.

Now the cons:
1. we got the model with the waterfall attachment this time so we avoided the problem we had with the plumbing sizing the first time around, so that was better. But this thing is not easy to assemble. Or let me be more precise - the instructions are TERRIBLE. You have to piece together the outlet, the inlet and the drain. Multiple parts for each section, all packaged in one plastic bag. Tiny TINY print and pictures that are impossible to decipher in the instruction book. The parts are labeled one way in the book and another way in the card they put in the package with all the various gaskets and rings and nuts and fittings. Very frustrating to get one end assembled and then realize the piece you need for the next part you erroneously put on the other part. Either make the piece identical and interchangeable, or label them more clearly.

2. The filter comes with a clean out fitting at the bottom. It's basically a barbed fitting with a screw in cap to plug it. So if your desire is to just open it up and flood your yard with dirty pond water, you're all set. But if you need to drain it and have the water go somewhere ELSE, then you need to fit it with a hose and valve or something similar to be able to control the clean out. Still haven't figured that part out.

So that's my review so far. We were sitting by the pond this evening and were really quite pleased and surprised with how much improvement we are seeing already.

 

[GBBUDD]

@Lisak1 i wonder if you were to place a matala pad under the negative edge below the stone it that would catch your floating issue

 

[Lisak1]

@Lisak1 i wonder if you were to place a matala pad under the negative edge below the stone it that would catch your floating issue

We actually did consider that and variations on the theme. I even tried putting quilt batting under the edge one year. Several things that work against the idea, at least in theory, are:

1. the water flows OUT of the negative edge rather than water falling OVER, if that makes sense. So it's not like the water just dumps over with space under it to easily place a filter pad. The water hugs the outlet rock as it comes over the top. I suppose I could cut a pad to fit precisely under and around that edge to catch more of the water flow, but I still think it would miss as much as it would catch.
2. once the pad gets filled with any degree of dirt or debris the water can just flow right over it into the rest of the basin. With our negative edge being our skimmer that would happen anytime there were leaves or other bigger bits of debris, not just the fine silty stuff. So constant cleaning would be required to keep the water flowing through rather than over. (And we learned just how fast things will clog up with our "landscape fabric under the rocks" version 1.0 of the basin.)
3. cleaning the pad would be interesting. I've already learned that picking up the filter pad out of the water releases a lot of the debris back into the filter box, so I imagine the same would happen with a pad in the negative edge. The pads don't so much "trap" the silt as they do just keep it from flowing through. A simple spray off with the hose cleans the pad in 10 seconds. Getting the pad out without letting all that flow back into the basin would be a challenge.

We have discussed if we were ever to build a pond again, we would incorporate a biofalls somewhere in the design to address the lack of mechanical filtration. We do know that a lot of the fine debris settles in the bottom of our rain exchange, because anytime the water level gets low, we can tell because we see more of the fine floaty stuff. I don't think much settles in the bog, probably because our water flows through faster than is ideal. We have a small stream and waterfall on the pond where we used a waterfall spillway and some rocks to create the waterfal l- we could have easily used a bio falls instead and had some mechanical filtration happening. We actually could still do it, if we ever get that ambitious.

 

[GBBUDD]

Many newbies reading that post will be like what did she sayyyy

 

[Lisak1]

haha! Right? That would have been me a dozen years ago... "break that down for me JUST A BIT"!

 

[Lisak1]

Still haven't figured that part out.

OK - so now we need to figure this part out. Cleaning this filter isn't terrible - the pads come out easily, hose off easily, etc. (Please note - I am using this for mechanical filtration only, so I'm using straight up hose water - not worried about killing off bacteria. Just want to clean the pads fast. I have heard so many times people say "use pond water to clean the filter pads" and honest to goodness - I have no idea how one would do that? Like just swish them around in a bucket? It would have to be a big bucket... but I digress.

So this is the outlet/cleanout:

it's installed at the bottom of the filter box and the "idea" is you screw off that end cap and then... get flooded with dirty pond water I guess. We have a clamp and a hose that will fit the barbed fitting, so I can see that we can remove the cap, attach the hose and then... get flooded with dirty pond water? My husband is on the search for a gate valve or ball valve to either replace this outlet or to attach to the outlet, but so far no luck. The Matala website says:

• Bottom Drain fitting for backwash of dirty water. Includes drain plug. Capable of connecting to optional drain valve (not provided).

OK - so don't PROVIDE IT, but how about if you SELL IT so I can BUY IT without SCOURING the INTERNET looking for something that MIGHT WORK.

Oy. Anybody got any good ideas what I should even search for? Is there a ball valve that can slide on to something like this on one end and clamp to a hose on the other? I'm thinking something that's got kind of a Fernco rubber slide on or clamp on female connector on one side and a PVC male connector on the other. Is there such a product? OR is there something that could go on the outlet end of my hose that would act as an on/off valve? Then I could just clamp the hose on and open and close it from the other end. Although that might not work because then I would always have water in the hose... oh my gosh. WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO DIFFICULT!?!

 

[combatwombat]

Looks like you need a barbed ball valve. Should be able to pick one up on Amazon. HD/Lowe’s might carry them, but would be a toss up around here.