static k1 filter help

[smudger]

hi all,
im in the process of building my new pond with intensions of using some home made filters out of the famous 'blue barrels' which i managed to pick up from work. i had all intensions of using jap mat as my chosen media but changed my mind on a recent 'section visit' to cuttlebrook farm (dam good day!!!!)
after seeing that mark and lisa use fluidised k1 and static k1 and this is where my question comes from so here it is-

1) when using static k1 as a mechanical fiter is the amount of k1 used directly affect the amount of cleaning needed to the k1 or does more k1 mean more mechanical filtration????? (i.e, if i had 50 litres of k1 as a mechanical filter and needed to clean it twice a week would 100 litres of k1 need cleaning once a week?)

2) how much k1 would be recommended per ???? gals of pond water needing filtering?

i know the amount of k1 used is directly affected by the size of the pond and if vortexs or screens are used etc etc and many other factors are needed to be taken into concideration when calculating amounts of media within a determined size pond but all im really after is a guide with no scientific calculator needed to work it out and any help will be seen as a blessing!!!!!

many thanks all

p.s- amazing set up at cuttlebrook and to say am envious is an understatement- well done mark and lisa, i take my hat off to you both.
p.p.s- if anyones not taken a visit to cuttlebrook then shame on you, you've no idea what your missing out on!!!!!

[boogatee]

1) when using static k1 as a mechanical fiter is the amount of k1 used directly affect the amount of cleaning needed to the k1 or does more k1 mean more mechanical filtration????? (i.e, if i had 50 litres of k1 as a mechanical filter and needed to clean it twice a week would 100 litres of k1 need cleaning once a week?)

No, in static K1, you really want to remove the debris as soon as it is
a) excessively blocked - because the more the media blocks the higher it will float until it's no longer straining the water or
b) at least once a week - as test have shown that waste in K1 will go anaerobic after about that time.

Having said that, I go on holiday and leave mine for 3 weeks every year.

2) how much k1 would be recommended per ???? gals of pond water needing filtering?

i know the amount of k1 used is directly affected by the size of the pond and if vortexs or screens are used etc etc and many other factors are needed to be taken into consideration when calculating amounts of media within a determined size pond but all im really after is a guide with no scientific calculator needed to work it out and any help will be seen as a blessing!!!!!

That is a misconception ... according to EA the amount of K1 is dependent on the amount of food consumed on a daily basis and in my experience stocking levels also plays a role, although amount of food and stocking levels generally go hand in hand, this is not always the case.

Evolution Aqua is rating it (K1) at a maximum of 0.25kgs of food per 50 litres used, in order to ensure the best possible water parameters are achieved ...
http://www.evolutionaqua.com/acatalog/Kaldn ... Detail.pdf

and I normally say at least 50 litres per 250 cm of Koi - which ever calculation is greater. So some ponds will require the amount dictated by feeding rates and some wil require the amount based on cm of Koi.

One final note ... a good rule of thumb is that the static K1 is never used in the calculation, it's a strainer to remove debris and nothing else

Hope that helps

[ageinghippy]

Hi smudger,

Have you had a look at the `adapting a vortex` post in the Ponds and Construction section, there is a link to Maurices` use of k1. It might give you some help.

Plus of course, there are quite a few similar posts if you scroll down the section. Lots of people have done the same conversion.



Chris (another one)

[smudger]

cheers everyone, koi- who'd have em!

[Bob Hart]

Hi Smudger,

If you look at how much K1 is in a Nexus 200 or 300 and the amount of pond size or Koi it can support, just use the amounts of K1 as a rough guide when making your own. I have 2 vortex's, one with 70-litres of Static, followed by an aerated vortex with 80-litres of K1. I consider this around the same as a Nexus 200, which says it can filter up to 4000 gallons. I actually have 2 pairs of pairs of Vortex's, which should filter 8000 gallons or thereabouts.

If you have any questions on these and how I make them up just shout.

[smudger]

hi bob,

dam good idea with the guide to the amount of k1 needed ( i was only looking through the nexus book before i made the post )

i've got an idea on how to make the filter kindly donated by cuttlebrook on the visit (hope they don't mind!!)

im gonna us the blue drums i got through work- as they were free! the basics is putting a container inside held near the top using a 4 inch pipe going through the container horizontally and being held on each side inside of the blue drum using tank connectors, the container will have slots or hole in the bottom and half way up the sides, the horozontal 4 inch pipe will have slots or holes around it and the k1 in the container just covering the pipe.

hope i haven't lost you yet or made you wet your pants laughing?

the water will enter the blue drum some where near the bottom and will come up through the container, pass through the k1 and into the pipe onto the next drum.

i would love to post a sketch but am no 'wizz' with any aspect of a pc!

being as the container will hold about 25 litres of k1 would it be possible to make two filters in two blue drums to get the amount of filtration required or would it prove usless as the first filter would 'block up' too quick?

[Bob Hart]

Smudger,

I can fully follow what you are doing, sounds OK to me. I'm sure you'll get more than 25-litres into your aerated K1 chamber, unless of course your drums are smaller than I have in mind.

If you was to put another drum after the first aerated drum, you just have to look at how much head loss you may get from the pipes. This will depend on the output pump though, if large it will just suck all the water out too quickly.

[Russ Little Pond]

I`ve just added sunday a 200ltr water butt with 50ltr aerated K1 and I only have 900 gallons total, and I dont feed nowhere near 0.25kg of food that 50ltr of K1 will handle.

All the best with your setup.

[smudger]

my idea that i posted was solely for the stactic part of the filter hence why i've worked out the containers holding the k1 in the blue barrels to only hold approx 25 litres! (this coupled up with the usual air supply for cleaning and the gap in the bottom of the barrel to collect and drain off the waste collected by the k1)
it was this idea that i was curious if two or more stactic filters could be linked one after the other to make up the 'correct' amount of media required to do the job????

the fluidized part of my filter system will be as many barrels as i can fit into the filter bay area while still making the system viable for access.

i figured i could always take a barrell or two away if it was too ott rather than try to work out how i could add to it if wasn't affective enough.

[herbie]

Smudger

If you fit a second static K1 barrel it wont be doing a lot (if anything)
Youu'd be better off fitting 2 seperate static barrels (Maybe 2 seprate
sets including the fluidised) But thats just my opinion but I'm sure it's
right.


Best Regards

[Smart Koi]

As Bob mentioned you cant go wrong by looking at what EA use in their Nexus range.

In the static section the 200 uses 30Lts of K1 whilst the 300 uses 45Lts. The smaller Eazypod also uses only 30 Lts. Therefore I would say that you dont need more than is used be EA as both the 200 and 300 can filter pretty large ponds.

As for the fluidised bay I believe you should be able to use half its volume filled with K1 which allows for the media to move around once airated. So if your blue barrels are 200 Lts you should be able to use 100Lts of K1. That would then allow you to feed up to 1KG daily ( 250g for each 50Lts of K1) assuming regular cleaning of the static section.

Hope this helps, Dean.

[Bob Hart]

Dean has summed it all up well Smudger. I wouldnt go with more than 2 barrels though, the drop in levels will get too great and you'll starve the pump. 25 litres of static K1 and 100 litres of aerated will be more than enough for your pond.

If you have a skimmer, could you do something similar and seperate with that, meaning you'd get 2 great filters able to handle just about anything?

Just scanned back at the earlier posts, didnt see how large your pond was to be, or did I miss that part?????

[dazzafjr1300]

this ebay item no will help as this is a drian that fits inside the barrel so wene you clean out tanks the k1 wont get flushed out looks very good and only about £4 well wort it on the k1 stop you flushing it all over the garden let me know what you think i made mine then found these 400003052555 this is item number and it comes with screw in fittings