23 replies to this topic

[c2c7390]

white trash can is my bio filter...not skippy style as you will see in following pictures



so it goes from the skimmer(i have a skimmer cause the surface of the pond collects alot of dust and grease)

[c2c7390]

to the pump



to the T and ball valves...(these are so i can control the amount of water that goes into my biofilter and so that i can work on it without having to turn off the pump and re prime it)


the right side of the T goes back to my pond a circulates the water

[c2c7390]

the other goes to the filter


this is the back of the filter
its a T the left side is a ball valve that i can connect to a garden hose to drain or fill up the pond up with water and the right side is the hose coming from the pump

[c2c7390]

top view

side view

bottom view(outlet)

[c2c7390]

and thats my pond...TADA
oh and hear are the floating cages that i made for the babies
1 inch PVC
garden pvc
and netting from pool supply store
$60!!!
cause the stupid netting was something like 40 for both

[DrDave]

Unless I am missing something, I think this system could be improved.

It looks like you are passing water over the bio balls and letting gravity return the water to the pond. If that is so, you are not allowing the nitrate/nitrites filled water to saturate the bio material so they can do thier job.

If you feed it from the bottom and let the overflow out the top return to the pond you will get more time for the bio system to do the job and sediment would be trapped in the sump of the bio filter basin.

[c2c7390]

ive never done the bottom to top thing...ive always done the top to bottom cause thats what i do for my saltwater and freshwater tanks

i never have any problems with ammonia or nitrites just nitrates but thats because i dont have any plants

i might redo it when i add the waterfall im going to put back on

[newday3000]

Having played with bottom and top feed 55G drum that I tried flows from the top and bottom the flow rate out of the barrel is what determines the contact time with the media.

If you bottom flow you have the head height of the barrel pushing water out the bottom which will maximize your flow (the higher the head height the more atmospheric pressure, then you are only limited by the outflow pipe size). If you top flow the filter you only have an 1" or so of head height above the outflow and you effectively get half the height of the barrel of head pressure for gravity return which reduces your flow rate.

If you want more contact time you can just restrict flow into the top of the barrel.

I plan on putting fines media material on the top of my barrel and top feeding so that cleaning or changing the media easily without stopping the filter.

I think it can work either way with different advantages for top or bottom fed filter.

[DrCase]

I like all the pic c2
Good catch DrDave
You could raise the outlet pipe that you have now ,
Put a stand pipe up on the outlet you have, up to the same height that would cover the media, and turn the pipe back to fall into the pond ..

If you put a tee on your outlet you can use one side for a drain and the other as the stand pipe

[nc0gnet0]

As c2 expierance is with wet/dry filters for aquariums her design makes sense. If you ever visit a saltwater/freshwater aquarium forum they will preach to you that the bio-material should be at least 2/3's above the water line and preferably all above the water line. The trick is to have a good dispersion over all the medium, and its here C2, your design needs a little work.......might a suggest adding spraybars/drip tubes to your T's for better distrubution over the medium?

However, that being said, the bottom up method provides an infinatly better filtration of solids, and C2, eventually your bio-balls will become filled with sediment/sludge and become a toxic waste machine without some type of pre-filtration (does your skimmer have filtation?). Not to mention you will have ever insect in the neighborhood atracted to it as bio material accumulates in the top layer of bio balls. We don't have this problem in enclosed houses where we use this type of design.

That being said I guess the best of both worlds would incorporate both , perhaps with a 2 barrel system in which the first barrel flows from the bottom up, like a skippy design simular to Koiguys, and then the flow out the top of that barrel would then be directed to a second barrel that flowed from the top down like C2's design.

[c2c7390]

oh yea i have spray bars...i just havent put them on yet...big sale at work...11 hour days friday sat and sun
and i have a lid for the top to keep bugs and rodents out

[c2c7390]

if i did the bottom feed i would have to move my filter off of the pond and put it next to it im kind of using it to hide my bad carpentry skills...lol...and i dont have the room...cause im planning on putting 3 dog houses on that side of the pond..ill see what i can do but this is what i have for now

[nc0gnet0]

Well C2, on the plus side your system will provide wonderful biological filtration, and with the addition of spray bars dispersing the water evenly over your bio-balls, great aeration as well.

Where it is severely lacking is in its mechanical filtration abilities and you do not want to use bio-balls for this purpose. The addition of a second smaller barrel that is fed from the bottom up through some filter pads and then fed to your filter would solve this problem.

If you ever get a chance to look at one of the commercial waterfall style bio-falls in operation, note that they first feed up through some pads and then into the bio-balls before exiting out the weir. These pads overtime become quite nasty and plugged with poo, plant debris, and just about everything else. Without them the bio-balls themselves would become clogged rendering them much less effective. You do not want to be in a situation were you have a fully stocked pond and need to clean your bio-balls aggressively.

Here is an example of one of the thousands of designs used in a wet/dry filter:

http://www.aquariumg....ow-sump-3.html

Notice that before the water is trickled over the bio-balls it first is filtered through a pad. Other designs such as the one I use in my tank first run the water through a filter socks before hitting the bio-balls.

[nc0gnet0]

At a minimum I would suggest using a couple of these between the bioballs and the spray bars:

http://thevacuumcent...ads-p-4889.html

Get them in a size that fits the diameter of your barrel.

[nc0gnet0]

[attach]1559[/attach]

This is crude but would do the job.

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