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  1. #1
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Yonsai dshaw63's Avatar
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    Bottom drain pipe blocking

    Seem to be plagued by 4" pipe from bottom drain continually blocking with crud or weed, was thinking of dropping air stone down pipe to give air lift effect. Anyone else suffered with this and how managed to get over problem. Have two 4" feeds to drum drain and skimmer, tried valving skimmer but no success, need to get more pull through drain. Any thoughts please and thank you in advance Dean.



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  3. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    I think its quite a common thing, mine block up occasionally, but I flush them every other week, what I do is turn the valve off to the bottom drain and let the drum and bio empty then turn it back on quickly, I do this a few times on each bottom drain and it does flush some crud through, its now part of my monthly maintenance, or whenever I think about it
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

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  5. #3
    Be very careful when you purge the bottom drain if you have rubber connectors on your pressure pipe, known them to blow off if you do it to fast.
    You could send down a Karcher Drain Cleaner, I use it a couple of times a year, surprising what it clears even after purging.

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  7. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Rapleyr's Avatar
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    I had a completely blocked drain last year with blanket week and used a drain pipe cleaner head with my pressure washer and it worked really well.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  9. #5
    I seem to be having this problem at the moment too, I bought a 10 meter spiral drain rod to try and clear mine. It didn’t work ! I think I need to get in and take the dome of and give it a good clear out.

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  11. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    long handled brush and brush round edge of bd,this clears any weed round edge and should help flow,also a good weekly purge or 2 helps,also try turning pump up for a bit to get more flow,,,,,andi

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  13. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    the other problem ive had on old pond was too much air keeping things suspended in pond and not letting drain pull properly,turn air off for an hour and see if drum kicks in more,,,,,andi

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  15. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andikoi View Post
    the other problem ive had on old pond was too much air keeping things suspended in pond and not letting drain pull properly,turn air off for an hour and see if drum kicks in more,,,,,andi
    That's the problem that I have at the moment, the biggest problem for me is that I have 1 EA 130 running 2 bottom drains and the Bio chamber, so if I shut off the air to the two bottom drains i'll have all that air going to the Bio chamber, I do have a EA 70 that I need to hook up and arrange the pipework so it will automatically switch over between pump and not back feed etc, etc Hmm, I feel a project coming on
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

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  17. #9
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Yonsai dshaw63's Avatar
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    When i built pond filters where at side but have now moved to end of pond where now have extra angles in pipe work to connect set up to drum, this probably has'nt helped. Think will have to try one of these jetting hoses if you people say they work and should get one with all backward or forward jet as well ??????? Dean many Thanks.

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  19. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dshaw63 View Post
    When i built pond filters where at side but have now moved to end of pond where now have extra angles in pipe work to connect set up to drum, this probably has'nt helped. Think will have to try one of these jetting hoses if you people say they work and should get one with all backward or forward jet as well ??????? Dean many Thanks.
    I ordered mine 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

  20. #11
    Every time I do a partial water change I've always emptied the first chamber with the bottom drain shut off and open the slide valve quickly, this clears loads of crud & muck out of the bottom drain pipework and doing this several times until the flushed pipework is clear of crud.

    I have been doing this to my setup for 40 + years and not experienced any problems with any of the bottom drain pipes blowing apart at the rubber joints, but then all the pipework had pea shingle surrounding the pipework and soil on top, also the last pipe coming through the wall into the first chamber is cemented in place and the stainless steel pipework fitted after that point is directly connected to the bio chamber which is always full of water and K1 and all stainless pipework is inline, so fortunately for me it would be dam near impossible for any of the bottom drain pipework to come apart.

    One year I did have a problem with blanket weed blocking the bottom drain around the dome lid lip, but I managed to clear around the lip with the aluminium pole from my koi catching net, it does seem the slightest bit of debris, twigs, etc can and does block the bottom drain around the lip of the dome lid, so I have found doing a quick flush out of the bottom drain at the weekly partial water change has kept it flowing freely,

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  22. #12
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion NickK-UK's Avatar
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    Hmm the BD shunt and drum filter meshes not sure I'd like to subject the mesh to that!

  23. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave26 View Post
    Every time I do a partial water change I've always emptied the first chamber with the bottom drain shut off and open the slide valve quickly, this clears loads of crud & muck out of the bottom drain pipework and doing this several times until the flushed pipework is clear of crud.

    I have been doing this to my setup for 40 + years and not experienced any problems with any of the bottom drain pipes blowing apart at the rubber joints, but then all the pipework had pea shingle surrounding the pipework and soil on top, also the last pipe coming through the wall into the first chamber is cemented in place and the stainless steel pipework fitted after that point is directly connected to the bio chamber which is always full of water and K1 and all stainless pipework is inline, so fortunately for me it would be dam near impossible for any of the bottom drain pipework to come apart.

    One year I did have a problem with blanket weed blocking the bottom drain around the dome lid lip, but I managed to clear around the lip with the aluminium pole from my koi catching net, it does seem the slightest bit of debris, twigs, etc can and does block the bottom drain around the lip of the dome lid, so I have found doing a quick flush out of the bottom drain at the weekly partial water change has kept it flowing freely,
    Agree, I've had the same problems with the BD blocking and use the same method to flush the BD pipework, it was a method that someone on here told me about and it works for me, no issues at all, all my pipework is securely fixed and noting is going to move or blow
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

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  25. #14
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Yonsai dshaw63's Avatar
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    Hi Roy any luck with drain pipe cleaner hose and if so best place to order from, still believe root of most problems with pond drain blocking and all water to drum going through skimmer feed as easier root to take. Thanks Dean !!??

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  27. #15
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dshaw63 View Post
    Hi Roy any luck with drain pipe cleaner hose and if so best place to order from, still believe root of most problems with pond drain blocking and all water to drum going through skimmer feed as easier root to take. Thanks Dean !!??
    Yes it arrived about a week ago, its worked brilliantly, I gave both the bottom drains a good clean and got lots of crap out the pipes, admittedly most of it was a big ball of blanket weed but its all out now.

    I got mine from fleBay

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-20M-Pre...53.m2749.l2649
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

  28. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dshaw63 View Post
    Hi Roy any luck with drain pipe cleaner hose and if so best place to order from, still believe root of most problems with pond drain blocking and all water to drum going through skimmer feed as easier root to take. Thanks Dean !!??

    I have restricted my flow from the skimmer by altering the face plate, it originally had about 4 slots in it, so I made one with just one slot at the water height, which has really restricted flow from teh skimmer and put it back on the bottom drains




    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

  29. #17
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    Try watching this by Craig from Akahana Koi
    Quite impressive little trick to unblock a bottom drain

    https://www.facebook.com/akahana.koi...type=3&theater
    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

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  31. #18
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

  32. #19
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

  33. #20
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    i suppose this could be used on any 4" pipe
    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

 

 
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