To keep things interesting I tried to design the filter tanks for my pond so I could change things around and experiment a little. My "biological filter" tank originally had submerged "Jap mat", or Matala mat along with some Savio Springflo media in it, but I found this stuff accumulated algae and other debris, and although I only felt I had to clean it once a year at the end of the season, I decided to change the media to something more efficient and self-cleaning. I decided to go with a moving bed filter.
The idea of the moving bed filter is to provide a solid media like Kaldnes that the nitrifying bacteria can grow on, but because the media is always moving it makes it almost impossible for debris to accumulate on it so in essence it is self-cleaning.
This is a before picture.
This is an after video.
I took the underwater video to check and see how much of the Kaldnes media was sticking to the outlet pipes.
"Kaldnes Bio Filter Media suited to fluidized or moving bed tank systems. Kaldnes can support about 35 lbs of fish per 2 cubic feet of media, where fishes are fed 1.5% of their body weight per day. A safer measure is a maximum of 0.55 lb of food per 2 cubic feet used, in order to ensure the best possible water parameters are achieved.
How It Works
Kaldnes bio media provides the maximum active surface area for the bacteria to colonize, more than other types of static media. It is this process which removes harmful ammonia and nitrite from the water.
As the Kaldnes media moves within the filter, it causes the old dead bacteria on the outside to be displaced. This makes space for younger, heavier feeding bacteria to rapidly colonize. Within the wheel is a protected surface, which enables colonies of bacteria to naturally follow their life-cycle of maturing, dying and then fueling the latter stages of the nitrification cycle.
Unlike foam, matting, or other forms of static filtration media, the Kaldnes media is designed to move freely within your filter. The constant chaotic movement of the air causes the media to self-clean and thus requires no maintenance. This allows the filter to reach optimum effectiveness without the disturbance of periodic cleaning, avoiding unnecessary loss of bacteria within the filter."
The idea of the moving bed filter is to provide a solid media like Kaldnes that the nitrifying bacteria can grow on, but because the media is always moving it makes it almost impossible for debris to accumulate on it so in essence it is self-cleaning.
This is a before picture.
This is an after video.
I took the underwater video to check and see how much of the Kaldnes media was sticking to the outlet pipes.
"Kaldnes Bio Filter Media suited to fluidized or moving bed tank systems. Kaldnes can support about 35 lbs of fish per 2 cubic feet of media, where fishes are fed 1.5% of their body weight per day. A safer measure is a maximum of 0.55 lb of food per 2 cubic feet used, in order to ensure the best possible water parameters are achieved.
How It Works
Kaldnes bio media provides the maximum active surface area for the bacteria to colonize, more than other types of static media. It is this process which removes harmful ammonia and nitrite from the water.
As the Kaldnes media moves within the filter, it causes the old dead bacteria on the outside to be displaced. This makes space for younger, heavier feeding bacteria to rapidly colonize. Within the wheel is a protected surface, which enables colonies of bacteria to naturally follow their life-cycle of maturing, dying and then fueling the latter stages of the nitrification cycle.
Unlike foam, matting, or other forms of static filtration media, the Kaldnes media is designed to move freely within your filter. The constant chaotic movement of the air causes the media to self-clean and thus requires no maintenance. This allows the filter to reach optimum effectiveness without the disturbance of periodic cleaning, avoiding unnecessary loss of bacteria within the filter."
