Thread: Cleaned out bead filter YUK...

Now my beads have been working for about 5 years happily doing there thing regularly flushed and no issues.

I have just had to do a big rebuild of the filter pit so the beads got dismantled and I had to remove beads so I could lift the bloody things. I was surprised at how much muck was in the bottom and the beads had clumped and sections of the filter were horrid.

So todays lesson (I learnt) beads need opening and blasting and a full clean probably at least once a year don't leave it for 5 years.

Andy

I posted a similar post the other day about a used Bead filter I bought.

It was so bad I hoovered all the media out and binned it, then jet washed it, then left it sitting filled up with bleach.

Even though all this took place in the garden the wife was complaining that the whole house stunk of sewage. That was a couple of weeks ago and the conservatory still smells.

I've bought 25 litres of micro k1 for it now.

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I did consider swapping to K1 but it seemed a shame to bin the beads as they work so well. I would be interested to hear what you think of a K1 bead filter now you have done it.

Originally Posted by Andymadd

I did consider swapping to K1 but it seemed a shame to bin the beads as they work so well. I would be interested to hear what you think of a K1 bead filter now you have done it.

Yeah for sure I'll update on progress, will probably reserrect my build thread to do so. Won't be for a few weeks as I'm still waiting for a rain free day to finish installing the base for it to sit on, and then will need to order some pipework. The bead will be on the skimmer line and will in turn feed a protein shower so I need to build a base for that too.

Whilst I can't compare to actual beads since I've never used them, I've spoken to a few people who switched from beads to micro k1 and they all 100% recommended the switch. Going by the mess I inherited with this filter, it seems clear beads are not designed for the waste a koi pond produces. Big chunks of the beads were all stuck together, it was a right mess.

I will look out for your K1 update. I have no problem with beads they work well, but now I know every spring take the lids off and get the Karcher in there.

Andy

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Ive converted a few bead filters to micro k1. The trouble with beads is water tracks through them leaving stagnant areas and potential bacterial problems There are no downsides in my opinion to changing to micro k1

Do you think the micro K1 filters as fine as beads? I had K1 in a Nexus and mum has a Pod so I have used it but always felt beads filtered finer particles.

Micro k1 is nowhere near as compact as beads. However you will get a far better flow through micro k1 and superior agitation when cleaning resulting in no dead spots and potential bacterial timebombs

I’ve seen a few post about using K1 type media in bead filters. Having previously run a bead filter that gave crystal clear water but with inconsistent water parameters, I decided to change my set up a few years ago. I too could not believe how much muck was still in the filter after prolonged and frequent blower purges/back washes.

My thoughts are that the beads are smooth and still a lot of gunk manages to clog them together and leave nasty detritus behind. Therefore I would be concerned how much debris would get stuck in the innards of the K1 type media. It is my understanding that K1 type media was always designed to be moving and heavily aerated to prevent detritus build up….so using it as static with the occasional flush seems slightly risky to me. I know many others do not have this concern.

If you convert a bead filter to Micro k1,and clean once in winter and twice in summer you will not get any build up of debri on the media.The micro k1 agitates very well,and seems to clean by friction as well on the insides of the casing .I stripped my EB100 full of micro k1 and after two years it was suprisingly clean.Its all about good husbandry .Easypods use static k1 with no problems

Great to know it works well. I may do mine

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