Filter Plan

[KennethO]

I'm planning to upgrade my current filter to a bigger two drum set up. Was two 20ish gallon totes.

First is the standard skippy upflow in a 55 gallon drum. Then overflowing threw a 90* elbow facing UP to collect more air before entering the second barrel. Second barrel will contain four 4"-8" pipes connected with a four way "+" that the water will flow into and be used as a 4 way trickle tower. The second barrel with contain only about 4 inches of water at the bottom before flowing threw another 90* elbow facing up to collect more air before it returns to the pond.

After pumped in. It will all be gravity fed. Plenty of air. May even add an air stone to the skippy if needed. Thinking of about a 1000 gph flow to keep the water in the barrels for about 3mins.

Would 2 inch pvc be able to handle a 1k gph gravity flow? or will It need to be 3 inch?

Since towers seem to have trouble with larger waste, I was going to use the skippy as a sort of prefilter for it.

The 4 inches of water in the second barrel is to aid in flushing, or it would be hard to clean it. Both will contain a 3 inch drain connected to a valve for flushing.

Any advice,ideas or problems noticed would be welcome. Thanks, Ken.

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

You could add a venturi to the pumped water line for more efficient aeration than an airstone.

 

[DrCase]

The 2" line should handle the flow back to your pond ..but you should watch it

 

[KennethO]

But doesn't a Venturi greatly reduce the gph flow of your pump from the restrictor?

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

It does reduce it, but the restriction is only at one point, not for any distance, so doesn't reduce it that much. I have seen pretty negligible drop in my gph as a result of my twin venturis. Really easy to make, too, check this guy's ideas out. His toothed version is great for finer bubbles.

http://leisure.prior-it.co.uk/venturi-pond-aeration.shtml

Only issue is that you can't put them under more than about 2' of water, they won't be able to suck air hard enough to work

 

[FredrikAnderson]

that is extremely interesting stuff venturis. I may look at putting together something like that. Into my filters. Thanks for throwing that up there hewhoisatpeace

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

No problem. This was very useful information for me in planning my pond and filter, I hope it can help some others.

 

[KennethO]

Thanks!

Drum filter is done and works GREAT. Added a venturi like you said, was cool to see how well it works in the 1-2ft range of water. I used the toothed idea, went with 5 teeth. Amount of bubbles was cool to see. Lost some of the suction when completely full to 3ft. I just hooked up an air pump and shoved it all the way down untill it hit the bottom "T" to help it out.

Old filters were doing ok untill I added 2 more kois and a dozen rosy reds. Then I could tell that after a week my current filters were unable to handle the load. After one day of running the drum with 1/4 full of scrubbies, tests were great. Ammonia/Nitrites at 0ppm. Nitrates at 5ppm. Wonder if the increased air flow in the drum is helping to remove the nitrates?

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

That's the way I understand it. My filter performs much faster than I read everyone else's does, and I credit my venturis. After all, it is aerobic bacteria we're trying to get going here, kind of makes sense.

I am very happy that your experience with it has been as good as mine.

Next thing you can think about is a pond water washing station/plant fertilizer factory, like I've recently added to mine. Just ask about it if you think you're ready to try something new with the pond & yard.

 

[KennethO]

Do you meen adding a valve and tube to the filter or inline to help you rinse off media and such?

 

[hewhoisatpeace]

I have an 1 1/4 clear tube hooked to my stock tank drain. My tank is off the ground by a couple of concrete blocks. The clear drain tube lets me easily see the water when it runs clear, and I can drain my sludge into 5g buckets to use for my plants (fertilizer factory).

In my 2" flex PVC line entering my filter at the top I have a PVC tee pointing up, with a hose bibb attached to a 10' hose. Just beyond the hose is a 2" ball valve, so I can shut the pump's flow off coming into the filter, and have all of the pump's output going to the hose.

When I operate the fertilizer factory (backwash the filter), I bypass the water coming into the filter thruogh the hose going straight to my stream, drain the filter through the vinyl tube, then use the hose to wash the filter media and plant roots off, which continues to drain through the clear tube. When the water runs clear in the clear tube, I cap the tube and hang it back on the top of my filter, open the 2" ball valve to refill the filter, and shut off the hose. My venturis perform with newly washed vigor, and after a brief cloudy flow, the watrer is better from the filter.

That's what I mean.