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  1. #1
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Is my pump too big for my filters?

    Evening everyone new to this forum used to be a member of another forum which I haven’t used for many years but that forum is not around anymore...

    Just after a little info. Iv got a 2500g pond with a bbf bead filter that Iv converted to k1 (roughly 100lt of k1) and a roter tube both are fed by a 13000lph pump.

    My problem is i keep getting an ammonia spike, with a ph level of 8.5 in the morning and a ph of 8.7 in the evening I don’t like to see any ammonia! (Nitrite always 0)

    I do have a constant trickle of fresh water going into my pond through a filter that roughly changes 20% of the water a week.

    With the spike I get sometimes I’m wondering if the pump is too powerful for the filters?

    Any ideas would be great!

    Thanks

    Ricky



  2. #2
    How many fish?
    How much do you feed?
    How often are you flushing your bubblebead?
    Is your water filter working (have you tested what’s coming out?)

    Welcome to the forum bud


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  4. #3
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigcarpchaser View Post
    How many fish?
    How much do you feed?
    How often are you flushing your bubblebead?
    Is your water filter working (have you tested what’s coming out?)

    Welcome to the forum bud


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    Alright mate thanks for the reply!

    Only have 9 fish 1 @ 21”, 1 @ 16” the rest are from 14” to 5”

    some days they won’t get fed some days they might have 1 to 5 hand fulls a day.

    I flush the bbf once a week, it’s got 3 big air stones in the bottom so i blast the k1 for a few mins then flush and refill and repeat until the water is nice and clean coming out the waste pipe.

    yep tested the water filter because it’s less than 1 week old 0 ammonia coming out of that, I do live in a area where Seven Trent put Chloramine in the water that’s why I installed the filter (did have the problem before the filter tho)

  5. #4
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Alright mate thanks for the reply!

    only 9 1 @21”, 1 @16” the rest are 15” to 5”

    some days they wont get fed some days 1 to 5 hand fulls a day

    i flush the bbf once a week, it’s got 3 big air stones in the bottom that I blast the k1 with for a few mins then flush, fill and repeat until the water is nice and clean coming out the waste pipe

    yep tester the water filter because it’s only a week old 0 ammonia, i do live in a area where Seven Trent put Chloramine in the water (did have this problem before the water filter tho)

    Iv not fed today so tomorrow the ammonia will probably be gone that’s what is making me think the water is flowing to fast past the k1?

  6. #5
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Sorry for the late reply think admin had to approve my posts...

    iv got 9 fish 1 @ 21” 1 @ 16” the rest are from 15” to 5”

    some days they wont get fed some days maybe 2-5 hand fulls a day

    i flush the bbf every week, it’s got 3 big air stones in the bottom that I blast the k1 with for a few mins then flush, refill and blast again until the water that runs from the waste pipe is nice and clean.

    yep tested the water coming from the water filter because it’s only a week old 0 ammonia, I do live in a area that Seven Trent put Chloramine in the water that’s why I got the filter it’s easier than adding a chemical every time I change the water.

    I did have this problem even before I converted from beads to k1 that’s what is making me think maybe the pump if pumping the water too fast past the k1...?
    Last edited by rickya; 13-06-2018 at 02:11 PM.

  7. #6
    Ricky...can’t see your post although Tapatalk is telling me there’s two replies


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  8. #7
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    I've approved all of Rickya's posts so they should be showing now. Not sure why they were not- maybe the auto spam thingie got them by mistake

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  10. #8
    dammit...just lost a big post...hhmm..

    shortened version
    had bubblebead 15 years ago...needs sieve for mechanical fitration...needs backwashing every other day...big pump good....you're leaving the waste to build up in the bead too long IMO, might look "clean" but clean of solids is irrelevant if they've already been in your system a week.
    how much flow going over your tower and how much into your bead do you think? is your Roto the one with the sieve on the top?

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  12. #9
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Haha no worries mate, I don’t think I’d be able to fit a sieve before the bubblebead because the water flows up from the bottom of the filter...? I’ll try flushing every day see if that helps bring it down. The water flows from the bbf into the Roto mate it’s not got a sieve in there it’s full of the media that comes with them. Wouldn’t my bubblebead be like a mechanical filter with a bit of bio and then the Roto full bio?

    I use the same pump to feed the bottom of the bbf then that goes through the roto so not sure what the flow would be, the pump pipe length is about 6ft and looking at the site I got the pump from it will flow 8000lph at a 2m head not sure if that helps mate

  13. #10
    I’ll see if I can find some old bubblebead info in my box of old stuff.

    100% they’re not good at mechanical filtration but they’re a reasonable bio for the footprint.


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  14. #11
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    I’ve changed the inside to work sort of like a easy pod. I had to put new pipes on the inside and drill 8mm holes in them because the pipes that are inside the bubblebead filters are slits and not holes so I was finding they was getting clogged with blanket weed, now it’s got the 8mm holes it doesn’t get blocked plus with the 3 big air stones in the bottom the k1 sounds like a tornado inside when I turn the air on to flush it through lol

    I'll flush it every day for the next week and see what happens mate ������

  15. #12
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Just flushed the filter, let the k1 bubble for a few mins then open the waste water was like green pea soup. Filled back up and let it bubble again water was almost clear this time, Sunday it took 3 flushes before it was clear...

    I timed how long it took to fill once it was cleaned so I can sort of work out flow rate...it took 2 mins 40 seconds. I found these details on the net that are in the photo, it says 210l back wash so I’m guessing that means it holds 210 litres of water. So I get that a flow rate of the pump around 5250 lph so just about all my pond water is going through the filters every 2 hours so maybe the pump isn’t too big it’s about right lol

    3AB5F6C3-64FC-46A6-B6B3-56A0D3C504A9.jpeg

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  17. #13
    Keep it up and check your readings.
    Had a look through my box of stuff and can’t find anything so must have sent it all off.
    Everything I recall from back then (pre Internet forum days) advocated use of a pre filter hence I spent a serious amount of cash on the estrosieve which at the time was proper rocket science stuff.
    Nexus came out a bit later or I would have probably got one as they were a big advance back then.



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  18. #14
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    I guess the ammonia just got to much for one of my Chagoi’s that Iv had since he was about 5” came out this morning to find him on the decking... in 10 years of the pond being there iv never had a fish bail out

    tested the ammonia it now looks yellow to me but i find it I find it hard to tell green from yellow... with my pond ph being so high even with the slightest bit of ammonia I’m sure it’s not good! Is it normal for a pond ph to be around 8.3 in the morning then 8.8 at night?

    i might do a few scraps when home from work just to rule out parasites...
    Attached Images Attached Images

  19. #15
    Sorry to hear about your fish!
    How’s the testing going today?


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  20. #16
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Alright mate, I flushed again the water was clean coming from the waste pipe, iv done a decent size water change but before I did that I checked the ph that was 9 it’s 8.8 now, I’ve also ordered a test kit so I can test kh levels

    I’ll check the ammonia in the morning, hopefully it’s 0 iv put one of them pond bombs in the top of the roto tube today not sure if that’ll help...

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  22. #17
    Member Rank = Tosai rickya's Avatar
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    Flushed the filter this morning water is only slightly green coming from the waste pipe. Tested the ammonia this morning it gave a very yellow sample so looks like it’s dropped right down now but I haven’t fed for a few days so I gave a hand full fingers crossed the ammonia stays down!

 

 

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