my 70 gallon skippy filter

[koiguy1969]

the 3m ones i have too...they are a little tighter weave than the dollar store ones..they should be a one time purchase .. they are plastic, not sponge!! will not break down, 15 months of non stop use and mine are still working and looking great. they do not clog like some people may think, and say without ever having used them!! 15 months no clogging no deterioration no clogging, with no cleaning and not so much as a flushing!! just one benefit of a stock tank design. its enlongated oval design allows the debris to settle to the bottom before rising up into the media.

 

[aviator79]

Another decent deal is my home depot had the 8 pack of 6"x9" for $5 (No.96 regular thin green), not a bad deal, but I did it the way koiguy did and progressively went to a finer mesh as I went up. In my 100 gal I am doing a layer of SOS and Butler brand scrubby balls (99), then layer of plastic cut to size heater filter cut up in chunks, then a layer of 3m No.86 pads (60 6x9 halved), then a layer of dollar store scrubbies (actually xpect discounts has 15 small for $1, but I think it is only a CT store), then a layer of 3m No.96 pads (60 6x9 quartered). So my mesh goes finer and finer as No.86 are thicker and more open than No.96. It was expensive going this route, but with 2-2" drains I should be able to flush it so fast that any gunk will come out and it will last a lifetime. On skippystuff.com they say to not use heater filter material, but I think they must be referring to a paper or fiberglass type but I think the ones I got from lowes are plastic so its good stuff. I will check to make sure as I assume it says what it is made of. If I had gone with skippystuff.com it would have cost me half as much but oh well...

 

[koiguy1969]

those are like 7 or 8 bucks for 20 at sams club

 

[koiguy1969]

Koiguy,

would you be kind enough to post list of all the parts you needed to make the biofilter.

sure would..
*1 stocktank (70 gal)
*2 2" pvc shower drains (siox cheif , item # 825-2ppk) $6.28 @ home depot...one for dump valve, one for outlet.. (only one needed if you can make a waterfall weir like i did)
*about 5' of 1&1/2"
*1 2" ball valve for flush cleaning
* 2" pvc pipe (optional)( depends on if you want or need it...its to extend flush valve output)
*2 1&1/2" pvc T joints
*2 1&1/2" 90* elbows
* 1 threaded pipe end cap & nipple reducer to fit your hosing
*1 2'x4' drop ceiling flourecent light diffuser.. you can use 2 one to go over the media also, but top is not necessary, but nice
* enough media to fill tank about 80% full
***the dump valve assembly is not truly necessary but is a convenient way of cleaning the filter.

 

[aviator79]

Yes, if you have a membership, sams club is the cheepeset place to get them and I posted the 1 day free pas link in anothe thread
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/get-your-skippy-filter-pads-here-t3210p2.html
It just wasnt worth it for me to take back the box I got to save $6, but figured id post about HD price cause its less than a lot of places, but not nearly as good of a deal if one can get to sams. I just didnt want to fill my whole tub with 3m or dollar store scrubbies as it would be too fine of a material for the whole thing IMO. Thou I dont know $hit cause I just started at this.

 

[koiguy1969]

got any friends that are members?...use em'

 

[froger09]

Thanks koiguy for the list. But I am alittle confused. What are the lights for?

A few other questions:
1.) How often do you have to flush the filter?
2.) How often and how much water change do you do?
3.) Can you just dump tap water directly in the pond or through the filter to replenish the exchange?
4.) If you have too good a filter, can it make too many changes in pond ph, Kh etc etc and harm the pond ecosystem?

 

[koiguy1969]

the light defuser grates are the white grids that you see in the first pix... they keep the media above the bottm of tank
i have never flushed my filters in 15 months of use.
i dont do water changes persay.. every 3 days i drop the hose in the pond and run it for 10 minutes...in the basement pond 10% once a week
if your not doing a larger than 10% water change dechlorinator isnt needed... once your pond is established, that amount is not gonna hurt anything if your ponds over 200 gals.
no such thing as too good of a biofilter... when working properly a biofilter helps stabilize water paramneters.

 

[aviator79]

It is the grate so you have a seperation between the where the water comes in and where the media is, basically holding the media off the bottom to allow the gunk to settle. They are like $11 thou and not very sturdy, but it is still probably the cheepest perforated plastic that you can get.

TO connect my 1-1/4 pump hose to this thing I got a 1-1/4 nipple to 1-1/2 threaded and got a pvc threaded to male glue end and then I will be using a DMV fitting or something rather than a T fitting. Im not sure what it is called but it has an angle down to help the water transition down rather than hitting a wall and then gravity forces it down which likely would cause some spilalge out the top with 1900gph, but not sure.

i have never flushed my filters in 15 months of use.

You mean you have never used the bottom drain or?

 

[koiguy1969]

not at all i ran the tetrapond 1900, but dropped down to the 1200 for more hang time in the filter. it will come out over the top of the T for about 3 seconds when you first fire up the pump in a 70 gal with a 1900 gal pump into 1&1/2' pipe... dont dismiss it without trying it, it also makes a good spot for adding bacteria and such...and the light grids dont have to be strong, its not like theyre carrying any weight.

 

[aviator79]

Dont you think there is poop in there on the bottom that you would want to drain?
Mine is still a T as in it has the top open to prevent syphoning back into the pond when turning the pump on, and allow some areation into the filter maybe?, just the line coming in on the left slopes down like for tying in a drain pipe on the first floor of a hose to a drain coming down from the 2nd floor. No big deal but I figured why not go with it. I will post all the pics up as soon as I finish building. My plastic welder arrived today. I got the URETHANE SUPPLY 5600-HT plastic welder on ebay for $159. I ordered the harborfreight one but it is on backorder so who knows when it will get here. At least I didnt pay the $270 they charge for it on urethanesupply.com.
The pipe looks like this on the inside:

 

[Meekaboo]

For cheap perforated plastic you can go to your closest variety store and ask for one of the big plastic trays that the bread is delivered on. If you have no luck at the variety store try contacting the bread supplier directly. I asked a very well known supplier if they had any damaged trays they would be willing to part with and I was offered 50 of them! I took two. They are very strong and cut easily with a jigsaw.

 

[DrDave]

Can you post a picture of how these bread trays look and are used?

 

[froger09]

For pumping air into the filter, anybody use this venturi thing instead of an air pump. How do these thing work??????

 

[koiguy1969]

venturis work by the speed of the water rushing by a tube in the water line. it creats a vaccuum and draws in air.i have one from my tetrapond filter, so i use it.. you can actually see quite a bit of air jetting from them.