Thread: What’s your drum filter arrangement?

I have had gravity fed systems for years, currently have a Draco drum fed from 4” bottom drain and 4” skimmer. This then feeds via two 4” pipes to the Draco bio, then the pump sucks from the 2No 2” outlets to a UV and a shower via a single pump with valves adjusting flow.

Now I have a bigger pond at 4500gallons it’s time to go for a bigger drum filter - which means that it won’t all fit in my in-ground filter bay area.

I’m considering putting the drum only in the bay giving loads of maintenance space, then pump from the outlets to the bio chamber that would be above ground (as per the shower) so that it turns to the pond via gravity from the bio filtration. My initial thoughts are it will be noisier as it’s fluid bed, potentially susceptible to the cold, and that the flow rate will be reduced for the same amount of electric being used. It will be easier to service everything with this arrangement though.

Anyone else do this arrangement of pumping from drum to bio? Pros/cons welcome…

Hi Dave, I dont have that system with the bio pump fed as mine is same as your original one but no shower.
What size is your current Draco and what one are you thinking?

If you go for the raised bio it will be a large lump to see,but it could be enclosed with insulation and cladding.

If you did the latter, the air lift can sit outside of the filter area close to the pond return, so that should help reduce the space used up In the filter area.

Also if you go for airlifts, then you'll ideally need an amalgam UV in the drum rather than an inline UV. So that could free up the space currently needed for pumps and UV.

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And as you can tell I'm a big fan of air lifts. They are just so cheap to run and require no maintenance once they are all set up.

I installed mine in October 2019 and it has been running without any issues since then. The only thing I do is clean the air filter on the air pump once a year.

And it's just so economical to run! I have a 58w air pump ( a second hand hi blow 80xp I got for £100) supplying air to the air lift and bio filter (210l of k1).

Plus if the air pump ever fails, it's so easy to swap out. I can easily swap my 40lpm air pump over (that I have for the BD) as an emergency back up whilst I order a new one.

I have 2 425w solar panels on the pergola over the pond. On a fairly sunny day they easily cover all of the power needs for the pond and my whole house.

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With an 55W air pump I am running at 17,000-20,000 lph. It varies constantly with the drum filter rinse cycle as the clean side level drops before rinsing and going back up again. I'm only working with an average head of 12-15cm.
The deeper the air lift the better, but there's a sweet spot. Go too deep and the pressure required either reduces air flow or requires a higher wattage pump.
Like 2WNS mine runs beautifully - here's the important bit:
pd44.jpg

my drum is gravity fed and then pumps to a 500 litre bio unit i welded up myself.
gravity returning to the pond.
https://www.koiforum.uk/pond-constru...tml#post426472