Reducing fines

carlejo · Post by **carlejo** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:54 pm

don't know...son in law of a guy from the local koi club works with s/s and he made them for me....2 grids for bottom of vorticies and 4 grids for inlet/outlet..... worked out perfectly, with my little dremmel thingy

macaws fly · Post by **macaws fly** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:17 pm

Gazza, i'm sure you could spare a piece of the plastic grid. LOL

this would surely cure the problems of flow.

fatherted · Post by **fatherted** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:05 am

You may be having the same problems I have now got. Since changing my pump to a larger aquamax 10000 the flow rate is sucking the K1 against the perforated plate and causing a severe drop in levels to the next chamber.

I am going to drill some more holes in the air ring below this side and see if that helps but if not I will have to increase the surface area of the transfer port.

Bob Hart · Post by **Bob Hart** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:15 am

This may help a little, if you need to roughly know how many holes to drill. Hope it makes sense but as an example a 4" pipe would need a minimum of 156 8mm holes drilled in it to have the same area as the 4" pipe.

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... 0sizes.JPG[/img]

Post by **B.Scott** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:32 am

Ted, I had the same trouble when I first started using fluid K1. The better option it to increase the surface area as drilling more holes still leaves the K1 concentrated in one place and makes it clump. What you want to do is spread it around. A little more are near the screen helps as well but is not perfect.

B.Scott

Mitchy · Post by **Mitchy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:45 pm

Hi all

Thought I would post a few pics of the K1 conversion.

Still have to sort out the flow problem but the brush in front of the transfer port seems to be doing the job for now.

I cannot believe the difference in the water clarity in a few days the fines are about 70% gone.

Thanks all for advise and help

regards

Dave

Mitchy · Post by **Mitchy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:46 pm

Tried to sent four pics but it would only accept 3?

Temp brush fix

regards

Dave

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:48 pm

Hi Dave,

yes static K1 does the tick and is a great media for bio and mechanical

How much K1 have you in there as it may be too much and restricting the flow and perhaps you could do some more holes

What size holes did you do in the end

Mitchy · Post by **Mitchy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 8:19 pm

Hi Gazza

Hole size was 9mm and not to much room for many more.

I have 50 litres of K1 in the vortex which fills it completely from the grid plate up to the transfer port.

The K1 just sticks to the grid over the transfer port but as soon as I add the brush the levels return to normal.

regards

Dave

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:14 pm

I would have a go at taking half of it out and try 25lts and see what happens and if you can get any more holes in the plate do as many as you can.

Also are you getting much waste stuck in there as it may just be the amount of waste sticking to the K1 how often are you cleaning it as at the beginning i was doing mine three times a day.....and i thought i had a clean pond

tomc · Post by **tomc** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:39 pm

Dave

The alternative is to increase the surface area of the exit. How?

1/ Source about 12 inches of 2" pipe (or similar size).
2/ Terminate/seal one end.
3/ Drill 2" hole (using appropriate drill bit available from DIY stores) into your current exit (i.e. in the middle of the plate you have attached).
4/ Drill many new holes into first 10" inches of pipe as you have for your current plate.
5/ At other end of pipe drill two holes at opposite sides.
6/ Thread 2" pipe through hole you created.
7/ Secure it from falling through either by putting a rod through the two holes you created OR use rawl plugs in each hole.

I haven't work out exactly how much new surface area you have created but it should be sufficient.

Tom

Mitchy · Post by **Mitchy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:41 pm

Hi Gazza

The K1 has been restricting the flow from the minute I turned the pump on so it cant be the waste build up that soon.

I am cleaning it twice a day at the moment until it clears and settles down.

I will try adding some more holes to the transfer grid and see if this helps.

regards

Dave

Mitchy · Post by **Mitchy** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:05 pm

Hi Tom

Thanks for you advise I will give this a try

regards

Dave

fatherted · Post by **fatherted** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:32 pm

Dave

I was going to get exactly the problem you described so I have increased the surface area by adding an open channel to the transfer port.

[img]http://www.koivista.com/files/fatherted/290 ... re_153.jpg[/img]

Only been running a few days now but I don't get the drop in water in the next bay.

Mitchy · Post by **Mitchy** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:42 pm

Hi Ted

Very impressed with the s/s grille that has been made. Did you do this yourself?

regards

Dave