Unfortunately due to work commitments ive had no time to crack on with my main pond-my mother in law is getting fed up with cleaning filters etc while she babysits my fish. So main pond is on hold and growing on pond has started-which fingers crossed will be finished quickly and i can rehome my fish and get back to the main pond .
Anyway laid the concrete base this morning-man was that hard work on my own, plus id never laid any before! Hopefully ive got it flat enough-most of the concrete ended up over me or on my shoes! I used a 2inch deep sump bottom drain-which i managed to get all the concrete out of before it set!
Can someone tell me how long i will need to leave the condrete to go off for before the block work can begin???
Will post some pictures when Emma tells me where she has put MY camera!
I was originally going to run the bottom drain straight onto one of Bobs Showers with a aquamax 10000 as i wanted a nice turnover rate on the shower. However ive just bought a Cloverleaf CL1 gravity fed filter for it as well. Was thinking i could convert it to k1, run it off the bottom drain and then onto Bobs Shower-however the max flow rate the filter will take is 1250 gallon per hour-will this be to slow to run on the shower? As id be pumping clean water onto it i could use alfagrog and save from buyin BHM which will then pay for the filter! Could i get away with a aquamax 6000 as id obviously loose flow with the water going up to the shower (much higher head?)
Duncan still has a william lim 1/6th HP wave pump with a Baldor industrial motor for sale in the swap-shop section which is a cracking great pump. it's only been used for testing and is almost new!
Thanks for the offer-do you know what the output is on the sequence pump-would much rather the money go to a good source like the khv fund! Where abouts in essex are you?
In short whatever you can get through the cloverleaf, pump it over the shower. Try and at least double the pond contents per hour e.g. pond - 700 gallons, pump 1400 gallons. You could go higher though!
Yes the grog would be OK for clean water. Just keep an eye on it, as clean isnt always clean and you may get a slight build up. If it accumilates, just chuck the top layer of grog away and replace !
What crap weather! With the rain i abandoned any attempt at laying the block work-will have to wait til next weekend! I picked my filter up and have begun to modify it for k1.
I ripped the media out and gave it a quick clean. Luckily it had one bottom grill small enough to stop k1 which i put in the first chamber ready for static k1. I made up some air rings out of the 15mm push fit pipe and connected all pipe work ready for the air pump which turned up saturday. Ive fitted a 2inch tank connector ready for the pump. I then cut up some buckets to make something to stop the k1 crossing chambers- on the eazy i used a large bow to increae surface area. Then drilled lots and lots of 8mm holes! Then cleaned up lots and lots of holes with a stanley knife! Finally siliconed them in place-hopefully when dry i can fit the air pipes and test it!
Can anyone tell me how big i need to make the holes in the air line- i asked this before but cant remember what size was best (pump is pumping 70ltr min)
Holes in air rings - I used 1.5mm as I could never find a 1mm drill. Try fewer holes before drilling too many, you may find otherwise the air only comes out of a few! On the speedy fit pipe there are little crosses every inch or so, generally I drilled at those amounts apart.
I have found in both my fluid K1 filters (pond & QT) that placing the air halfway increases the movement of water. The K1 is buoyant or at least neutral and just follows the water currents. No way does it ever stagnate or clump at the bottom unless you have sinking media.
If the water is moving upwards then water is drawn from below the air pipe this is turn is replaced by water from above. As long as the air ring is on the outside or in side of the filter the flow will be circular. The down side to going deep is the deeper the air ring the less air the pump can produce. Often by bringing the air up just 10'' it will almost double the K1 circulation
Fill a deep container full of K1. I have tried this several times. If you use too little air the K1 just floats on the surface with the air bubbling up between the static media. But raise the air slowly towards the surface and the K1 starts to boil madly. I can keep my full bay of K1 moving with just a cheapo 20 l/m pump and it goes like gang-busters. Try turning off your air to the K1 and drop in a single air stone on the bottom. now raise it to the surface and watch when it comes into motion. Sure a bigger pump will do the job as well but why go to all the extra expence and electricty use?
Ive put the air rings about 3/4 way down each chamber just as it starts to taper down-mainly due to the fact the air ring sits on the ridge where the grid was and also because i couldnt get the rings any smaller without them kinking. Ive found it does give better flow for the k1 in the past however i am concerned that right at the base where the waste pipe is could cause krap to settle-im going to get a small piece of grill and cover this bit so i can flush each chamber every now and again-just in case. Im hoping that with a 70 ltr pump on such a tiny filter i should have plenty of movement. Im just hoping the transfer ports will not clog up!
Bob will try 1mm holes if i can find a drill bit that isnt broken if not will have to be 1.5mm-more holes to drill!
Thanks snow dog-my old man slippers are very comfortable and certainly inspiring!
.
