Thread: Drum can’t handle green water

Have you tried swapping the mesh on the screen for a less fine mesh?

If not I'd suggest swapping it over first. I did on mine from a 52 microns mesh to a 74 micron mesh. It dramatically improved the drum and it can now handle a higher flow rate and cleans less regularly.

If you have already done that, then I think the best long term solution is to swap the drum out for something theat can handle much more flow.

It sounds like you were always going to struggle as the 16 is only good for around 12 - 13k lph imo.

In fact I think even if you had gone for the 25 it'd still be maxing out what it can realistically handle... going on the presumption they you want to turn your pond over every hour or so.



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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...

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

Cheers

Gaz

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

Originally Posted by DiabloDave

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??

I had green water for most of the summer (no UVC), full sun and a solum16 with a decent rate of water through.

I found it could handle water flow but it's never going to clear the soup. Green water algae is far finer than 50 microns.

Only once the UVC was installed did the water clear.

Sounds like a large filter basket on the front (for leaves) is probably the cheapest option.

I use the solum 25 on 3000 gals and it isnt too big at all,I changed the mesh to I think 110 micron and didnt notice any difference on clarity but it doesnt clean as often which is good,cleans about every 30mins in summer lot less in winter.

I also made a new float switch with a longer reach to lower it down further.

Currently on a ~60 minute trigger cycle (I've got the 99mins switched on anyway) with a 50 micron drum.

I've taken the mesh off before for an acid rinse to get the scale/film off. In short it's a faff but doable (it takes ages to get it all aligned).

You have my sympathy, I had 3 months of drums not working, running dry etc but finally sorted and settled now although I’m going to upgrade the drums shortly.

As well as the usual things I also flushed out the bottom drain and pipework with a drain cleaner from Amazon that attached to the pressure washer?

if you have green water that’s going to block up your mesh I would’ve thought, or at least put a film on it which won’t help much

Sometimes good to take it one step at a time otherwise you feel you’re going round in circles, certainly wears you down but it’ll get there in the end

So I’ve had an interesting chat with a dealer today who I’ve bought all my Draco kit from. He said that the cheaper mesh seems to cause problems and he’s had over a dozen people swap out the mesh for an online alternative and they’ve had issues resulting in dry pumping (no sniggering at the back). These issues have been rectified by going to Draco for their 77 gauge mesh.

He isn’t a overly impressed by Draco at the moment though and is aware of quite a few issues!