Thread: Draco Drum Solum 16 + Standard Bio review

Hmm, thanks Rs.
No noise at all from the motor but just some flexi play on the drive cog,maybe a call to Tony at Draco see what he says.

An update.

The new pond is built and operational. I estimate somewhere between 13,000 and 14000l - rain added a good couple of inches to the pond. Powered entirely by two 110mm airlifts I would happily guess the capability is well over 20,000lph in total.

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What is not shown on the list is that there are two 110mm connections between the drum and bio and the bio to the anoxic/airlift chamber. The entire system runs on a 58W air pump with valves to adjust the airflow to various parts of the system. The remainder of the XP80 air output is used to drive the bio unit air into a rolling boil.

The old pond has been shut down, dismantled and backfilled.

The Draco Solum16 + bio has been moved into its final home, connected up and is now operational. This means the installation has moved from being pump-fed to gravity fed filter. I have removed the pump-fed sensor on the dirty side and replaced it with the gravity-fed water sensor on the clean side.

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The pond is still clearing as I'd left it to establish the biofilm on the edge of the pond. The process was sped up by moving the water from the old pond over to the new pond.

I'm happy to report that the drum is performing better than on the previous pond in terms of litres per hour.

Interesting set up Nick,what depth is the anoxic for the uplift?

Have you any pics of the uplift and how they are returned to the pond,this is the part I am trying to plan.

Originally Posted by john1

Interesting set up Nick,what depth is the anoxic for the uplift?

Have you any pics of the uplift and how they are returned to the pond,this is the part I am trying to plan.

Hi John,

There's an airlift thread here that may be interesting: https://www.koiforum.uk/pond-constru...tem-using.html - at the back of that thread I have some photos and videos.

The anoxic chamber is the same depth as the pond 184cm. It was easier for me to have a deeper chamber and one that was fibreglassed at the same time as the pond.

You could do a U bend style airlift separate from the filter chambers and that way the chambers can be whatever shape you like then have the U bend as deep as you need (just use a post hole digger for example).


The drum is working well on the larger pond, only adjustment I've made is a notch in the waste chute to allow water to overflow when it rains or the cycle threatens to overflow. The skimmer isn't quite level so the back spills just before the chute overflows and I didn't want to do more work in resetting the depth of the drum/bio.

This is the way am hoping to do it nick after talking to you over pm . Think the u bend will be much easier. And also hoping I can rig that up to my multibay now get it running and take my time finding all the new bits for anoxic filters. Just priced at toolstation and should be about 50 quid to get it running . So get back from London and get that done and sorted .

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Just a little update, and probably the last as the system seems happy and stable.

I worked out using the level difference of the water level to calculate the psi. From that psi+pipe diameter it's possible to work out the flow rate.

So at full pelt with a good foot of water drop difference, with the flow coming from the pond direct into the chamber - the flow rate is 22,000lph for each airlift or ~44,000lph total. Bananas!

The system us now running with all the pipework and filters, turned down so that the flow back into the pond doesn't suck the drum dry and the fish aren't been swept away. The water difference demonstrate's it's running at ~11,000lph for each airlift or 22,000lph. Given a 10% error margin that's 20-22,000lph through the 16,000lph drum. I have the drum running with the 99 minute wash over-ride and it seems happy to hit the override.

Happy with that.

Originally Posted by Maddog1

Hi Nick/How long are your Airlifts?

Probably about 1.4-1.5m and then with the bend on the top. The anoxic to top of blockwork was 1.84m but the anoxic-to-pond pipe that's FG'd into the divider is below the water line IIRC at least 15cm below it. So with the long bend T rubber flex boot on the bend, it's about 1.5m overall I'd guess.

The reason I got the flow rate is the 110mm diameter of the pipe. The psi then doesn't have to be too high.



Since that photo was taken I moved the T from the horizontal to the top of the up pipe so that the air comes straight up and out. The result is better performance.

4K void (just the quality setting) - this is the same drum on my 14000 litre pond with the airlifts now the UVC has been put into operation:



In this setup the 16,000lph drum flow rate is too small for a 14,000 litre pond. Remember the 16,000 is clean flow rate so drop to about 60% of that (16000*0.6 = 9,600) to account for waste. Another way to look at this would be I would need (20,000/0.6) a 35,000lph drum for waste and reliably operating without a frequent wash cycle.

I found, although the column16 could operate at 18-20,000lph the flow rate causes the drum block to almost binary switch between clean where it keeps up with the flow rate and too low rate which requires a wash. You want some time between that. This is evident from the lower flow rate from the old pond where it seemed most happy (flow rate was 6-8,000lph).

I find the welded poly design a possible issue in the long term - I noted a few areas where the weld is not 'true' and the plastics from both sides are not homogeneously melted into one. This has caused the weld to separate but the design of the joints has, fortunately, kept it together. Draco seem to have made most of the joints lock together and the design itself of the locking parts seem to support one another - except the end pieces (there's no through holding interlocking joint for the end piece welded joints).

I don't have a pump for the wash, I use the mains water which offers some chlorination to clean the drum but at the same time (in a hard area) will result in scale on the drum. It would have been useful to have a drum that could be lifted out in one piece for cleaning without removing the entire drum filter.

Also another takeaway is that the drum needs to be in a completely level plate under it (same as the bio needs to be on a completely level base) to prevent any warping of the plastic.

I've not (touch wood) had any issue with the motor. I am electrically minded so if the drum has a problem with the motor I may end up modifying the drum design to move the drum out of the wet area.