my 70 gallon skippy filter

[koiguy1969]

about your koi eating like pigs.....koi dont have a stomach... their digestive tract is straight thru,so it doesnt take long to get rid of whats consumed.... so they will eat every 15 or 20 minutes if you let them. but dont, give them enough to give a couple minutes eating time, twice a day. less mess and they will be happy.

 

[koiguy1969]

well... i put the waterfall weir on today and will start the artificial "ohio blue stone" weir that will sarround this one. time to get out the air brush. its welded together, and mounted with all stainless hardware and siliconed in.the weir is 10" long 1&1/2" high and 6&1/2" out so the opening is equivalent to about a 4" square opening

 

[koiguy1969]

Heres How Its Lookin [email protected] Looked Fantastic... Camera Batteries Died. OH WELL CANT WAIT FOR THE NICE WEATHER TO STAY.
Gotta dig a little deeper and settle it in and rock it up and plant arround it and....

 

[Baraccus]

Thanks...Looks cool. So those pics are with a 500gph pump?? Are you gonna build up rocks all around the filter?

 

[koiguy1969]

yep...i will using a 1000gph tetrapond pump.. building up the dirt arround it and rocks of couse and plants and filling it with water hiacynths to look like a small upper pool.

 

[jameskoi]

I found some scrubby pads at Dollarama. Bought a few packs to see if it's good... They're called Royal Sponge, made in Canada. It's probably probably 6x4x1/4". 12 for $1, made from 100% recycled fibre. Colours are green, red, yellow and blue. Did a sniff test... no real scent, except for the new smell. What do you guys think?

I'll post a pic tonight.

 

[koiguy1969]

started waterfall mockups... i like the lower profile one... cant go much further without going in pond... 43* water, no thanks. JAMESKOI, if those things have sponge on them forget 'em!!!

 

[jameskoi]

started waterfall mockups... i like the lower profile one... cant go much further without going in pond... 43* water, no thanks. JAMESKOI, if those things have sponge on them forget 'em!!!

No sponge in them. Pure scrubby pads, but in an assortment of colours. The green ones look just like the ones you used.

 

[Meekaboo]

Hey jameskoi,

That is exactly what I used along with some large industrial scrubber pads and so far I've had no problems. They cleared my water in no time and seem to be standing up quite well.

 

[Baraccus]

Koi guy..Thank for the updated pics I like the lower profile one too. Anyway to give it step or little waiting pool or something...Just a thought...

James Koi...I know I'm new to the pond thing but not to biological filtration. I have been using the scotch brite scrubbies in my fish tanks for years. Like koiguy said as long as they are just the scrubbie pads no soap etc you should be good. I always give'em a good rinse first anyways...

 

[jameskoi]

Okay... Here's the pic. I gave them a dip. I think they're good, IMO. But here's the picture anyway.

Thanks again guys!

Holy smokes, 5 bags of this stuff is 1.9 gallons worth. Nice!

I'll do a 3 barrel setup. 2 barrels for scrubbies and the first barrel for settlement/mechanical.

 

[jameskoi]

Okay.. I'm not that happy anymore... I'll need 100 bags of scrubbies to fill up the barrel.

I'll see how it goes in the beginning. I don't need that much bio filtration yet. I don't know if I read right, but some of you guys only bought 50 bags (5 in a bag) for 55G barrel? Unless they're thicker, mine are precisely 5.5x4x0.25" and comes in packs of 12.

 

[Baraccus]

Hey guys...How much is is costing you to build these skippy filters start to finish ...not counting the pump???

 

[jameskoi]

Hey, I just discovered someone using plastic bird tree netting or deer fence. I guess anything with plastic can do it. It looks much cheaper too! I'm sticking to scrubby pads.

http://www.doughtywatergarden.com/Tips/55 Gallon Biofilter.htm

I figure my cost so far for 1 drum is:

$35CDN for the 55G barrel (I know a place that sells 'em used, but I hear some people buying 'em for $5 - impossible for me... don't have the connection).

$100 bucks in scrubby pads. I thought I was gonna be able to do it for $50. :-( 5 bags will occupy 1.9 gallons. 100 bags will give me 38G. I guess with gaps, it should be more than enough.

The big question for me is plumbing. Probably another $50-100 in plumbing.

My pump will be an Eheim 1620 (900GPH). I love Eheim pumps. I have 3 smaller ones for my reef tank. Have one for 20+ years, and still running strong, but on second impellar. Small crack in magnet but still worked. Not taking any chances though.

I just posted a message on another thread asking why everyone likes to pump their 55G barrels from the top down and not just tap a hole at the bottom instead!? I don't know why, I think water pressure would still be the same eitherway.

 

[DrDave]

Pads will eventually need to be cleaned. It will not be a pleasant task. With the plastic netting, fencing, turnings or tubes, all you will ever have to do is flush.