Need help deciding on filtration

[BGJ223]

Ok here is the skinny. So I am in the process of building 1000 gallon pond and I need to decide how I will configure my 3 55 gallon barrels.

So this is what I was thinking so far.

Bottom Drain to Settling tank to Mechanical filter to Docs Bio Filter.

Does this sound sufficient?

And lastly What is a good mechanical filter I can build. I am on web overload at this point seeing all of the different Mechanical filters made from 55 gallon drums.

 

[crsublette]

Does this sound sufficient?

Depends on your bio-load. All sizes and different type of filters will only process X amount of bio-load. So, a tough question to answer.

How many fish, conservative estimate on fish size, and do you keep pond plants ??

And lastly What is a good mechanical filter I can build. I am on web overload at this point seeing all of the different Mechanical filters made from 55 gallon drums.

"Quilt Batting filtering" is a good one.

Another variation on the one above if you want to try to pressurize it. (the one shown in the images)

Most of the DIY'd mechanical filters will be grabbing the 500 micron or bigger debris. You can try different material to get better filtering.

Sand & Gravel filter is a good one as well. This is best DIY filter I have seen for fine debris, but I have seen it used to filter out bigger debris as well, just be careful the bigger debris does not clogg it. Your settling tank should take care of the big debris.

You can also build your self a "phoam phraxionator" to filter out any floating foam on your water or dissolved organic matter. This is a complimentary piece used with your other mechanical filtration. I think the "out of the box" retailers call these "Clarity" devices.

There are many options you can take. If you want an out of the box approach, then you can look at the Zakki Sieve or the Compact Sieve II or rotary drum filters or the pressurized fine debris filter (multi-cyclone 50). All of these are quite expensive. If I had the money, then I would pay for a very good mechanical filter rather than a bio-filter since bio-filters can be DIY'd extremely cheap and easy.

The best bio-filters are never cleaned and the best bio-filters also should have extremely good mechanical filtration.

 

[Dave 54]

I have the same size pond as you I'll post a photo to show you how ours is set out, I hope it helps you decide how your going to set yours up

One is a vortex, the next two contain jap matting, the last contains K1 and Aquaone bio balls and is the bio filter

Dave

 

[BGJ223]

Depends on your bio-load. All sizes and different type of filters will only process X amount of bio-load. So, a tough question to answer.

How many fish, conservative estimate on fish size, and do you keep pond plants ??



"Quilt Batting filtering" is a good one.

Another variation on the one above if you want to try to pressurize it. (the one shown in the images)

Most of the DIY'd mechanical filters will be grabbing the 500 micron or bigger debris. You can try different material to get better filtering.

Sand & Gravel filter is a good one as well. This is best DIY filter I have seen for fine debris, but I have seen it used to filter out bigger debris as well, just be careful the bigger debris does not clogg it. Your settling tank should take care of the big debris.

You can also build your self a "phoam phraxionator" to filter out any floating foam on your water or dissolved organic matter. This is a complimentary piece used with your other mechanical filtration. I think the "out of the box" retailers call these "Clarity" devices.

There are many options you can take. If you want an out of the box approach, then you can look at the Zakki Sieve or the Compact Sieve II or rotary drum filters or the pressurized fine debris filter (multi-cyclone 50). All of these are quite expensive. If I had the money, then I would pay for a very good mechanical filter rather than a bio-filter since bio-filters can be DIY'd extremely cheap and easy.

The best bio-filters are never cleaned and the best bio-filters also should have extremely good mechanical filtration.

Since this pond is for my Mom to replace the 350 gallon above ground pond I made her last year, and that is already over stocked. I am sure this pond will be overstocked also.

I like the idea of the sand Gravel filter, but the cost of the blower puts it over budget.

The quilt batting one seems very doable, but the question of the day is, how quickly will it clog?

 

[sissy]

If the water is dirty several times a day and as time goes by less often and then after that i keep quilt batting imn my filters to pick up fine stuff going into my ilters .I put corse filter material on top and quilt batting under it .

 

[sissy]

I keep plants in my filters and this size filter works great no over kill and i have 13 fish and my water is fine and in 8 years I have not lost one fish to poor water .If the filters are big and hard to hide I find they just take more work also ,I keep it simple and easy .

 

[BGJ223]

Thanks for the reply Sissy, gives me something to think about.

As for hiding the filters, that won't be an issue, there is already a fence behind the pond and that is where the filter pit will be.

I just need to finalize how I will construct the mechanical filter. Since it will be after a settling tank, I imagine there won't be lots of large particles that would clog the quilt batting.

 

[BGJ223]

@ Dave, Your filtration setup is almost identical to how I want to do mine, with exception of a 4th filter. Does this keep the water pretty clear for you?

 

[crsublette]

Quilt Batting filter is just one rendition of this kind of mechanical filtration that uses variations of pads or cloth or other type of material.

Joanandcliff, a member here, also has a mechanical filtration using various pads that appears to do quite well.

Japanese matting is pretty popular as well.

Looks like Dave probably has pads with bigger pores at the top then pads with smaller pores on the bottom.

ERIC is a good website that has really built upon this type of mechanical filtration so there are its uses; the website is an interesting read as well.

The quilt batting one seems very doable, but the question of the day is, how quickly will it clog?

It all depends on the micron size of the filtration. Otherwords, depends on the materials you use and how you phase them. It is like your settling tank is phase 1 to remove the really big debris. These pad type mechanical filtrations go in a series where the initial pads have very big opens, next smaller, and so on, then the last set of pads is the finest that is considered the "polishing pads".

Skimmers also act like the phase 1 of mechanical filtration by removing the really big debris.

When these mechanical filtration systems need ot be clean, ALL of the padds must be cleaned which can take some time. So, I have seen people have 2 sets. One clean set that they switch in really fast so they can clean the second set whenever they get around to it.

The S&G filter is more expensive DIY, due to the blower cost, only requires a 60~90 second flush out and that is it. Maybe, once every 5 years the filter would need to be torn apart and rebuilt. This filter can also be buried.

The more expensive rotary drum and sieve filters never need to be taken out and are essentially " 90% self cleaning ". Depending on the product, some of these can be buried as well.

The number of times you need to clean the mechanical filtration will depend on the volume and quality of filtration versus the potential debris accumulation in the pond.

I'm not knocking one over the other. Just trying to explain all the options you have. They all have their pro's and con's. It depends on what matches your budget and your comfort level.


With your limited budget, the mechanical filtration that uses a series of phases containing various pads and materials might be the best option.

 

[crsublette]

Since this pond is for my Mom to replace the 350 gallon above ground pond I made her last year, and that is already over stocked. I am sure this pond will be overstocked also.

I have always liked my 33 gallon moving bed bio-filters that I bury (the bio-medium can be a bit expensive tho), but recently I am looking into Dr. Novak's anoxic filtraiton setup. The bio-filters are very easy to setup depending on how much bio-load you want to process. The anoxic filtration setup appears to be by far the easiest especially considering the potential high bio-load it can process, but it does require more space; however, it has the benefit of viewing the blooms of some beautiful plants.

 

[sissy]

I just like simple less problems and less chance of leaks that I have try and find .

 

[BGJ223]

@crsublette Very informative post, thank you.

I am hoping The use of batting and some other filter material will be sufficient for getting particulate out of the pond, but only time will tell.

On a side note... After further reading I noticed that I could use an air compressor for clean outs of the S&G filter. Which makes this a possible addition to my arsenal of filters. I have read the S&G filter can't be gravity fed, but what is the required flow? I was thinking maybe I could T off my return pump (Evolution ESM 2500) and have a line running to the S&G filter.
Would that work?

 

[BGJ223]

Also, for those interested, I am chronicling my progress on the pond here. I plan to create a thread for the pond on here soon also.

http://www.aimlessblog.com

 

[Dave 54]

[sup]

@ Dave, Your filtration setup is almost identical to how I want to do mine, with exception of a 4th filter. Does this keep the water pretty clear for you?

[/sup]

[sup]In reply to your question it keeps the pond spotlessly clean , I empty the vortex once a week which also causes around a 30%water change which I put through a dechlorination unit prior to it going back in the Pond, the Jap matting is very expensive around £45 UK per sheet but cheaper options can be found on the internet.[/sup]
[sup]Note the jap matting is in a portcullis type configuration this allows for the flow of water between sheets each filter with the jap matting +extras as previously mentioned I added 3 pond airstones in the last flter ( the barrel ) with the K1 and Aqua one bioballs there are another 6 airstones. [/sup]
[sup]This gives me plenty of oygenise water goin back into the pond, the air stones are supplied by an Airtec 40e airpump with multi gang tap system there is another Airtec 40e who's sole job is to supply air to the spindrifter bottom drain cover .[/sup]
[sup]The pond is kept crystal Clear with the second and third filters being cleaned twice yearly via a pressure washer then I add Microbe-Lift PL filterpad innoculant Gel which is about the best live bacteria ise that I know and very fast acting with no need to recycle the system to the Jap matting +extras leaing the gel in the air for a couple of oursbefore refilling and allowing it back into the rest of the system each filter is capable of beingcleaned seperately from the other filters by covering the pipework that connects each , I hope this helps ?[/sup]
[sup]rgrds[/sup]

[sup]Dave [/sup]

 

[crsublette]

I am assuming one of these 55 gallon barrels you mentioned is going to be the vortex chamber. I would double check on the flow rate. If the flow rate is too high in the settlement chamber, then the debris will always remain suspended and never will settle too well. If I am recalling correctly, I think the settlement chamber needs to be 10% of your ponds total gallons. So, a 1000 gallon pond would need a 100 gallon settlement chamber to properly function; I suppose you could achieve this by running 2 of the 55 gallon barrels in parrallel. However, it all depends on how the chambers are constructed. I have seen some settlement chambers have a rotary drum flare to it so that you would not have such a large chamber since the drum is essentially cleaned off by moving jets twirling around on the inside. For the traditional chamber, there are HUGE chambers out there. I often see them in parallel. Looks like Dave has one really big settlement chamber and then 4 parallel vortex chambers, it's hard to tell.

On a side note... After further reading I noticed that I could use an air compressor for clean outs of the S&G filter. Which makes this a possible addition to my arsenal of filters. I have read the S&G filter can't be gravity fed, but what is the required flow? I was thinking maybe I could T off my return pump (Evolution ESM 2500) and have a line running to the S&G filter.
Would that work?

I have heard the required flow maximum should be no bigger than 2000~2500 gph. Otherwise, the force of water will displace the stone layers inside the filter. Same applies to your air compressor, be careful. If you're air compressor is too strong, then it will displace the stone layers inside the filter. When the layers become displaced, then your sand can possibly fall to the bottom of the barrel. You just want a nice simmering, low boiling of air coming out of the top. A good youtube video on what it looks like in action, Cleaning Sand Gravel Filter. This is why you only want a 1 hp blower. A 2 hp blower or a shop vaccuum will likely be too strong; so you will need to make a relief valve that will allow you to gradually add the air into the barrel. Personally, for flow rate, I think slower means better fine particulate filtration. I have 2 that are buried where I have a valve that only around 1800gph goes through each of them; the unfiltered water goes to my fountain or waterfall.

BE SURE the layers are correct depth. The first 3 rock layers must each be at least 3~5 inches. This depth provides enough weight so that the flow of water does not displace them. For the sand, I have heard anywhere from 9~18 inches. Generally, more the better and more not necessarily required. I stayed in the middle. I did 4 inches for each layer and 14 inches of sand. If the flow rate is too high for the sand, then you risk dislodging the fine particulates. There are all sorts of sizes for sand you can use. Typically, a No.1 Fine sand size is used, but I've heard a #2 medium sized sand can help increase flow except you won't be getting as many fine particulates.