Nexus or Bakki Shower

[Edge]

I'm planning on upgrading my filter set up to include either a nexus 210/310 or a bakki shower but don't know what would be better for my pond. The filters will be pump fed and situated outdoors. The pond holds approx 2200 gallons. I am new to keeping koi and have made some expensive mistakes some because of bad advice by world of slaughter.

I would like some feedback on the pros and cons from people who have used these systems.

I have also considered the roto innovations concept shower but I think this a new product and don't want to gamble on it.

[carlejo]

I haven't used bakki showers as I can't afford them!!

They would be my choice if I could afford them, but remember you need to turnover pond volume approx 150-200% per hour, so you would need to pump approx 3300-4400 gph.I think a full set of showers with media(4 tier and 50 kg of media is about £1300).... Be really nice to have a sieve in front of shower as well IMHO

[Casper Chapman]

Hi where abouts do you live in the UK, as a trip to Darren at A4 KOI might be a solution to help make your decision, or to one of his many customers that have showers installed.

[eds]

Showers are great but if you're relying on them for filtration all the year round outside then you are going to need to really insulate them well so they don't chill the pond. At least with a nexus you won't have the same chiling of the water.

Is there no way you can gravity feed the filters? It'd be far better than pumping to a nexus and if you go with a shower (which would be my choice if you can insulate them well enough to be outside) you really want some mechanical filtration as well on the pond, like a sieve before the pump. It doesn't have to be a bottom drain, a 4" side feed would do as a retro-fit as then the waste wouldn't get mashed up by the pump before getting to the filter.

[Edge]

My pond is lined using edpm. Is it possible to fit a bottom drain to a lined pond? My current filters are a biotec 18 screenmatic fed via an aquamax eco 16000 and a Blanton filter and pump which I inherited. I am planning on keeping the biotec going and replacing the Blagdon. When I purchased the biotec I was told it's better than the nexus (b******s). I was also told that ponds with less than 3000 gallons don't need bottom drains.

[carlejo]

Every pond needs a BD IMHO, only way to get solids to settle out and then let bio stage do it's job properly.

[Edge]

I agree all ponds need bottom drains. I was new to ponds and fish. I only had my local koi dealer to speak to and I listened to everything they said. They're just a bunch of salesman, lesson learnt. I have speant a small fortune and cannot afford to rip it apart and start over. In hind sight I would have built out of concrete and fibreglass.

[eds]

Next best might be to put a 4" pipe through the side of the pond then put a 90 degree bend and piece of pipe to take the intake down as close to the bottom as you can. Not quite a bottom drain but it'll have to do!

As much as I love showers, if you're siting this outside and want a filter that will do mechanical and biological filtration then I'd probably say a nexus might be your best bet. A shower is a great biological filter but doesn't do much for water clarity!

[steven perkins]

hi there ,,
just reading this post and thought i might be able to help ,,
my old pond had no bottom drain ,, it had shelves , i had problems keeping my water good
i did what the last chap said ,,
my pond was half under and half above ground
i drained my pond to half full , then i dug out enough soil to gain access to the pond wall as close to the half filled water level as i could ,, i used a whole cutter and an addapter to fix a 2.5 inch flexi hose ,, the pond end went down to the bottom and centre of my pond and the other end to the inlet of my filter system , of which was re fitted level with the filled water line ,, when i filled the pond the gravity naturaly pushed the water from bottom centre directly into my filtration ,
before i did this my pump was my bottom drain ,,
after doing this it worked great but my pond was only small ,,

6 months later i got a 1000 g pond and fitted a bottom drain ,,

cheers

perky