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  1. #1

    Improving filter capacity

    Hi all,

    Have been a general fish keeper for a few years and have recently built/dug an approx 12,500 litre pond which I am planning to run as a koi pond.

    I didn't do a whole lot of research on filters prior to building the pond and bought a lotus clearpond 80 due to its stated pond size of around 20,000 litres for koi. I have previously successfully used box filters for my goldfish and mixed ponds but although this filter is large (for a box filter) it appears to have a very small volume of biological media.

    In an attempt to make to work as efficiently as possible I have popped one of my air stones into the biological compartment however feel it may still be lacking. Is there any alternative arrangement that would benefit me? For example moving the foam cartridges to the brush chamber and back filling the foam chamber with biological media.

    Has anyone used one of these units successfully with this size pond?I' running it with a 10,000lph pump and have a separate skimmer in use.

    Cheers,
    James.



  2. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Kyusai 1meterchag's Avatar
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    Hi,
    If you are not on a water meter a very cheap way of improving water quality is to have a constant trickle in and overflow arrangement through a chlorine removal filter.

    Alex

  3. #3
    Unfortunately I am on a water meter. Have madee a few part water changes already and the initial fill so all ready dreading my water bill!

  4. #4
    unfortunately your filter won't be much use for koi, filter upgrade looming !...... a second hand nexus 300-320 would be ok.

  5. #5
    Yep, already on the look out for a second hand filter. Was wondering if there was anyrhing I could do to helo it along in the meantime.
    The cloverleaf units look good as do the kockney koi multis. Sadly I think I'll be looking at a new pump too as my 10,000lph seems too high for most appropriate filters.

  6. #6
    it wont be too big a pump I wouldn't think, by the time you have a few bends fitted , some head height, a u.v or what ever you will be lucky to get 5,000 lph in actual flow.
    If you get a nexus 300 series you will probably need a bigger pump, nexus are much better than a multi bay imo, more expensive true but you can also buy a drum filter that fits right inside them so you never have to clean it again.

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  8. #7
    Think the nexus may be a bit OTT and large for my space.
    A pump fed eazypod work for my set up though - I'd be right on the limit of it's capacity though.

  9. #8
    nah an eazypod wont run your pond, they won't even run a little grow on set up, without extra bio filtration added afterwards like a shower.

    Tbh the nexus 300 series I suggested, imo is not over filtering for 12,500 litres, you can't judge by what the manufacturers say, Im pretty confident that a nexus would run your pond ok for a year or 2 but after that I can see you needing to add a shower too, obviously this is depending on how heavily stocked you are, but nobody builds a big koi pond to put just 6 fish in it do they, your going to want maybe 15 or 20, and initially you could bang 20 little koi in your pond and they would look lost, but 2 years down the line, when theyre 60 cm you will either have to get rid of half of them or add more filtration, and in another 2 years time if you don't think ahead with your filtration, you will be in the same position again.

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  11. #9
    Fair enough, I'll keep an eye out for a nexus second hand, some on facebook market place going silly cheap (but other end of the country). Have been having a think in the garden and could mount it in amounst a large hedge I have, obscuring it well so would be workable.
    My current plan is to run the pond with 10 koi, but I'm sure I'll end up picking up a few extras.

  12. #10
    apologies if that wasn't what you wanted to hear, if you have a look in the filtration section, you will get a realistic idea of how much filtration you need.
    Companies advertise filters with a supposed size of pond they will filter, but it depends entirely how many fish you have in the pond, and koi make lots of waste, and 1 big koi will make more waste than 10 little koi, thats how filters become inadequate as your fish grow, which is why almost all of us have had to upgrade our filters at some point or another.

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  14. #11
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Have to agree about an Eazy Pod not being big enough for your pond as I've got one on mine which is considerably smaller than your pond and that has to be washed out ever 2 or 3 days and I tend to flush it almost every day. It was starting to clear the pond nicely but due to work commitments I've not had time to clean it or flush it since last Saturday or Sunday and the pond is not as clear as it was last week.

    Looks like it's the big clean today

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  16. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    family man and frimley are spot on. i have an easy pod on 500 gallon grow on as mechanical first stage. on its own no good.
    added media after it. and it is now spot on. agree a nexus to start with then change it further down the line. as the fish grow
    once you 100 % hooked you will want to grow them big. because believe me there is nothing better then looking at a couple of big koi in your window.

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  18. #13
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    So it's true what they say Fred - size does matter lol

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  20. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Haha thats what they reckon.
    Quote Originally Posted by Frimley Koi keeper View Post
    So it's true what they say Fred - size does matter lol
    Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

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  22. #15
    Cheers for comments all. Will keep my eye out for a second hand nexus within range. For now the clearpond will do - currently only have 5 x 8 inchers and a few 3 inchers in the pond. They are the new fish to seed the filter and complete their quarantine before I move my existing koi over.

  23. #16
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Should be able to pick one up for around £500 second hand. A lot of people are going away from them in favour of a drum and shower by the looks of things.

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  25. #17
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Would you not be better going sieve and multi bay as that may be a cheaper option?

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  27. #18
    For now my water parameters are fine - the clearpond appears to be coping. So there's no massive rush. Keeping my eye out for large multibays (kockney 18,000 and the Nexus range) - few going but too far from me. When a suitable one comes up locally I'll have it.

  28. #19
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Why not get a quote from a courier as you may be surprised how cheap they are. I got a quote from interparcles for a DIY barrel filter via Hermes and it was only £20 for a 2 day service from Manchester to Surrey. Not sure if the weight of a Nexus would be too much as the light and large service went up to 30kg. Worth a look incase the right one comes up for sale.

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  30. #20
    Will check it out. Cheers.

 

 
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