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Thread: Adding Sieve

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion samp09's Avatar
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    Adding Sieve

    I am considering adding a sieve to my filtration to deal with all the mechanical stuff before my rotos gravity shower filter as I think this would make a vast upgrade. I am happy with the bio performance of the gravity shower as my readings are always spot on, I just want that filter to deal with the bio and the crap to be gone before it reaches it. Someone locally has a Estrad standard sieve for sale which is a good price and I am very tempted, but haven't found much info in regards to flow rate etc for this. I did see someone say its 10000lph which is probably below what I need as I am about 14000L and ideally want to be turning the water over hourly. A midi sieve may be the better option but just don't have the money at the moment and not sure I will ay time soon. Does anyone know if the standard Estrad sieve flow rate or if it would be ok to run it at say 12-13000L which is generally what I run the flow at.

    Also, I am guessing I would have to run BD - sieve - pump - roto gravity shower - pump - pond. I saw the on EA website something about a balancing pipe between the BD & filter bypassing the sieve, is this required? Surely if the Sieve is the correct height for the pond level it won't overflow anyway so won't be an issue? I would run 2 vario pumps to get the flow balance right.



  2. #2
    Hi Samp,
    Is your roto shower the tall thin roto shower or the wider concept shower?
    If it’s the tall thin one you can buy a sieve section for it. There is one on eBay £180.
    I tried to google the Estrad sieve flow rate but couldn’t find anything (as I’m sure you have as well)
    I have a small similar estrad type sieve and that doesn’t have much of a flow rate about 3000lph I’d guess at.
    I’d say go for a midi sieve. If you keep a check on Facebook marketplace they come up occasionally second hand for between £200 and £250.
    When I had a sieve in my set up (Cetus) I pumped from the sieve up to a nexus which then gravity fed back to the pond to avoid all the balance pipe requirement. It saves running two pumps and I think trying to balance the two pumps can be a bit of a problem as the flow rates can fluctuate unless you have a balance pipe. But I always felt that the balance pipe option always allowed dirty water to bypass the sieve...
    Cheers
    Ady


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion samp09's Avatar
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    Thanks for the reply Adyprice. I have the wider concept shower so not the tall one.Yes with the balancing pipe it seems to me like I would end up bypassing the sieve, especially if the sieve pipe has to flow up instead of straight. I figured that having vario pumps would counteract this as you can just adjust the speed until you have it running how you need to though? I don't think I will be raising the roto shower above pond level anyway, haha! I want all the filtration to be hidden too which is one reason why I don't have a Bakki Shower. Midi Sieves are rated to 12000lph as well so not sure it would make any difference, in fact, The dimensions for the 2 are almost identical, the measurements I got from the Estrad filter are 29cm x 54cm x 73cm and the midi sieve is 27cm x 56cm x 74cm so I can't imagine there is anything in it.

    The other option would be to get a bigger Sieve with two inlets and then run the skimmer line through it to reduce a pump there but then would need 2 bigger pumps so the one which returns to the pond would need to split between the 3 returns. This would be more of a job as would need to drill out the base of the skimmer to make it bigger so it draws naturally to the sieve and also go into the wall which is right by the corner of the pond so not sure I want to risk reducing any strength on the build there, although its in the top 4-5 courses of blocks so probably the place its least required. I thought about replacing the roto shower but happy with the bio and requires 2 pumps regardless unless I'm using a Bakki Shower on the wall. As you can probably tell, I am trying to make this as simple and cost effective as possible! I really want to be reducing the running cost if anything lol. I just want something to remove the crap before the bio and as cheap as possible but also want the whole filter area to be hidden. Luckily I haven't enclosed my filter bay yet so still have a little flexibility but this is something I want to do once not change in a year again.
    Last edited by samp09; 02-08-2021 at 08:50 AM.

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    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai rolo's Avatar
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    hi Gaz at Auora koi does a supersieve with double inlets,outlets and waste made by air aqua. good price.
    im embarressed to say how much crap it collects.

    keith

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion samp09's Avatar
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    Thanks roll, will probably be going down the second hand route as haven't got a lot of money for a while as missus is coming to the end of maternity! Am seriously considering sticking a 3" tank connector on the skimmer with a ball valve to control flow then have this and the BD going into a ultra sieve 3 with 2 inlets to reduce the need for a pump on the skimmer line then that way I just have 2 20k varios to do the returns and not using the balancing pipe part. Will be a big overhaul though!

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    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Twhitenosugar's Avatar
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    Hi Sam. As you know I bought a midi sieve second hand a while back. I've barely had it working as progress on my grow on tank has been slow, to say the least (although nearly there now).

    In terms of sieves, I'd suggest going for the ultra sieve 3 rather than midi, if your budget allows. I say this as the midi seems quite poorly designed imho. At the top of the Weir, I expected there to be a lip so water can flow out and over onto the sieve. But it actually just flows straight down the other side of the sliding Weir plate.

    In the midi there is a diagonal cross piece that sits just in front of the Weir (have a look at the thread where the guy was selling one too far from you and zoom in on the pic, hopefully you will see what I mean).

    I'm not sure why the cross piece is located where it is, but its annoying. You can rest the top of the mesh on it (as the guy selling his one has done) but it leaves a gap between the Weir and the mesh, effectively allowing dirty water under the mesh and into the clean part of the sieve??? And if you try and put the mesh under the cross piece (so the top of the mesh sits against the sliding Weir rather than the cross piece) the cross piece makes it bloody difficult to get the mesh out again for cleaning.

    I understand the ultra sieve 3 does not have this cross piece and the Weir has a lip on it too, so the water flows onto the middle of the mesh (although you should get someone with a ultra sieve 3 to confirm that).

    In terms of your conundrum. I'm really not sure what to suggest. As you have pretty much the only shower filter on the market that runs gravity, it makes fitting a sieve in before it neigh on impossible in my view (unless it can run pump fed too?).

    Even if you have identical pumps running inline, that are variable, I still think you could end up in a situation where you can never quite get them in sync and you could have a gradually filling or gradually emptying scenario somewhere in your filters.

    You could put a sieve on your skimmer. But that doesn't solve the issue of improving mech. Filtration before the roto concept shower.

    Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk
    13,000L fibreglassed raised pond with window

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion samp09's Avatar
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    Thanks for the input Tom. The gravity shower can be pump fed, it has a float in the middle which regulates the flow so it isn't fixed as such like a normal shower where it just deals with whatever flow is pumped over it. So with that in mind, surely it would be easy enough to get the flow correct with the two pumps? I do think an ultrasieve 3 would be a better option, especially if I covert my skimmer to 3" so it naturally pulls well then regulate with a ball valve. Just thinking of a way to remove as much mechanically so I know I don't have any crap holding anywhere as seem to be struggling with water quality again, mostly since spawning and fluke issues (like the rest of the country).

 

 

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