Thread: Drum can’t handle green water

My Draco has kept going into fault mode and turning off. It’s a real pea souper and very frustrating as the filter isn’t doing its bio bit either. I’ve found this morning that the UV bulb has blown. Fortunately the quartz sleeve is dry so just a replacement bulb. I’ve also added a hefty dose of Envirex.

I’m am now thinking that the Solum 16 just isn’t big enough to deal with approx 23k litres. I thought that having it run slowly at about 8-10k litres an hour would be fine but it appears not! I’m guessing I’m going to have to opt for a bigger drum, maybe a Burton.

Has anyone else’s drum struggle with green water??

Yes already changed the mesh about a month ago but it seems the combination of pea souper and leaves is proving too much.

not really sure why a heavy dirt load would make a drum go into fault?

i've had some real humdingers on my pond after an aquasource resolve treatment in the spring,
made the pond a right mess with chunks of algae floating around everywhere.

all that happens is the drum washes more often as it gets blocked quicker...
until the pond is clear.
having a UV not working and green water algae shouldn't affect a drum much as the algae are less than 2 microns in size and only get removed by follocation when the clump together.
change the UV bulb and see how the water clears up...

Originally Posted by davethefish1

not really sure why a heavy dirt load would make a drum go into fault?

i've had some real humdingers on my pond after an aquasource resolve treatment in the spring,
made the pond a right mess with chunks of algae floating around everywhere.

all that happens is the drum washes more often as it gets blocked quicker...
until the pond is clear.
having a UV not working and green water algae shouldn't affect a drum much as the algae are less than 2 microns in size and only get removed by follocation when the clump together.
change the UV bulb and see how the water clears up...

The drum is going every 30 seconds so it shuts down to protect itself from burning out. I believe most have this function, if not they aren’t worth having!

Originally Posted by DiabloDave

The drum is going every 30 seconds so it shuts down to protect itself from burning out. I believe most have this function, if not they aren’t worth having!

if your pond has that much leaf fall and crap,
that your drum is running every 30 seconds, you need a bigger drum...much bigger i'd say like a QK50,000 or profidrum 65/40

or cover/net the pond in autumn to catch the leaves if it is a seasonal problem

The pond it netted all year round! I’ve had ponds for over 30 years and never had a problem like this. Damn those trees, they don’t provide any shade in the summer to stop the algae boom but come autumn they’re shedding right in it. Typical eh?

Originally Posted by Gazkoi

If you’re upgrading and budget permits - Oase every time for me.

Cheers

Gaz

20years ago I’d have agreed with you. Unfortunately since then I’ve bought products out of desperation when nothing else has been available- every single time I’ve had issues and can’t ever see me buying anything with OASE on it again. I had one of their expensive pumps (circa £850) and in the space of 5yrs I had 4f failures requiring replacement under warranty. The last time the impeller decided to implode on the bearing and that cost me about £150 iirc. That then failed.

I sold my Oase UV last year, as I had plants last year. Comes this spring I got rid of the plants as the soil was smelling bad - then came the shock a string algae bloom! Added Resolve, string algae gone followed by green soup! For several weeks I couldn’t see past 1 inch under surface. I gave up and even added loads of clay saying to myself I had a mud pond! Finally I really really got fed up and ordered an almagam UV - waited for two weeks got told by seller it was out of stock! The day I got my card refund the water cleared like magic - from green water quickly to brown then to gin clear. All the dead algae clogged up filter big time. Two days later fish spawned!

I've read of similar struggles with the Solum 16.

Then when I enquired with Draco about buying the bigger model he told it that would be overkill and the 16 would be plenty adequate.

When I queried that it may not be enough Tony said I could opt it with a higher micron mesh and it would be plenty adequate.

Maybe you could consider changing mesh as opposed to the entire drum?

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I’ve got up early this morning and given it a really good pressure wash. Maybe biofilm is part of the problem. We shall see. If it improves the situation then maybe a weekly pressure wash is required.

Totally fed up today - every day the drum has stopped working even after I replaced the water solenoid and drum motor. I’ve noticed on occasion that the drum turns and the water doesn’t come on. I’m still getting washes that are about every minute and the drum just can’t handle it so shuts down. I’ve got a 120micron mesh on there too which has made bugger all difference.

I’m wondering if I should change to a 300micron like I had on my sieve - I was completely happy with the water quality but got fed up with the maintenance of cleaning it every day.

The thing is this drum isn’t even cleaning and I’m trying to rectify issues every day. What is the point? I’m actually wishing I’d given up the pond when we moved.a totally had enough now and it isn’t fair on the fish.

Update on the hour every hour.

The BRAND NEW water solenoid isn’t working properly.

Now the drum turns and the water doesn’t spray. So I did a test as described in previous post so that both the motor and solenoid are connected to trigger at the same time. Testing says both work…..except then the drum turns and the water doesn’t come on. But then a couple of times later the water and drum do both work. Then only the drum turns again.

Im at the point where I can no longer see any benefit of a drum. Vortexes never failed. Ever. Maintenance was weekly but I knew it would carry on doing what it had to do. Drums CANNOT be trusted. There are far too many points of failure. Given there are so many points of failure then a drum SHOULD have an automatic bypass that detects the drum isn’t working but maintains water flow to keep the filter alive. This bypass could have brushes in it to prevent big debris getting into the bio chamber.

im now considering giving up my pond altogether because this is not relaxing and is actually very stressful because I’ve put alot of time and money into providing a healthy environment for my koi: which at the moment isn’t happening.