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  1. #1

    Question Change to a Bakki shower?

    Hi, I currently have a basic 1500 pressure filter from the skimmer which is fairly easy to maintain, but recently thought a bakki shower would Improve bio capacity, any thoughts on what I would need, shower size/pump etc ? Pond is 3200 Gal with a Nexus 200.



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  3. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Gazkoi's Avatar
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    Hi mate,

    Im a bakki fan and have 3 on my main pond and 3 others on 3 of my 4 sales ponds.

    Personally I would put a sieve after the skimmer and pump to the bakki using a vari pump of some description. That’s what I do.

    If you go bakki, use BHM - your fish will thank you for it.

    There are only 2 water problems I have:

    Foam - Bakki’s can cause foam
    The bill although that is not to do with the bakki

    Cheers

    Gaz
    Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.

    Always happy to help!!

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  5. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Gazkoi View Post
    Hi mate,

    Im a bakki fan and have 3 on my main pond and 3 others on 3 of my 4 sales ponds.

    Personally I would put a sieve after the skimmer and pump to the bakki using a vari pump of some description. That’s what I do.

    If you go bakki, use BHM - your fish will thank you for it.

    There are only 2 water problems I have:

    Foam - Bakki’s can cause foam
    The bill although that is not to do with the bakki

    Cheers

    Gaz

    Do you use it in all the showers?

    I'm not saying it isn't good as i have not tried it, but could you explain why BHM is better than other alternatives?

    I have seen some recently but didn't really think much of it, I actually thought it looked less porous than the pumice I currently use.

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  7. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Gazkoi's Avatar
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    Hi John,

    I use BHM in 4 of my 5 showers. The other has CSM which is not operational yet.

    My understanding is the true BHM has been used for a number of years now in Japan and then the cheaper copies arrived on the market - a bit like my Nolex watch from Turkey... Momotaro was the first to use this in Japan and threw away a ton of matting as a result - that says something..

    Most larger dealers that I have been too also use BHM ie Absolute and Gatwick due to performance belief.

    Filter maturity is faster and the media handles a massive water flow without impacting its structural integrity. BHM is far more porous than imitations which is observed when simply breaking in half.

    I have not used pumice or grog personally, however customers who have soon changed as they were not happy with the results. I have used Crystal bio which took forever to handle the water parameters and show any maturity.

    As with all things koi, experience, opinion and budgets will vary as BHM is not a cheap product at around £150 for 10kg. In fact, of all the media it is actually of of the least profitable for retailers, but selling high margin products for sales purposes only is not my Company’s ethos.

    I hope this helps a little.

    Cheers

    Gaz
    Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.

    Always happy to help!!

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    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    I run a bakki shower with 80kg BHM looking to add another but with no work really at the moment can’t justify the cost.
    i think the cost difference is worth it if you are going to run hi volume of water through it as a proper shower and not a lower volume of water more like a trickle tower.

    you often hear of media breaking down or becoming blocked etc but my media looks fine after 3years.
    I took the shower apart last year to clean the media but it didn’t need it, I do purge it every few weeks and that’s it.

    Since I started it all parameters have been better and more stable and nitrates are down to almost nothing, I alway had nitrates when running my nexus.
    The other thing is this happens fairly quickly, about 6 weeks rather than my K1 taking 1year plus.

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  11. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Sim View Post
    I run a bakki shower with 80kg BHM looking to add another but with no work really at the moment can’t justify the cost.
    i think the cost difference is worth it if you are going to run hi volume of water through it as a proper shower and not a lower volume of water more like a trickle tower.

    you often hear of media breaking down or becoming blocked etc but my media looks fine after 3years.
    I took the shower apart last year to clean the media but it didn’t need it, I do purge it every few weeks and that’s it.

    Since I started it all parameters have been better and more stable and nitrates are down to almost nothing, I alway had nitrates when running my nexus.
    The other thing is this happens fairly quickly, about 6 weeks rather than my K1 taking 1year plus.
    Blimey that’s expensive if it’s £150 per 10kg, what size shower have you got?

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  13. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    Standard momotaro bakki, hunk it could quite happily take more.

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    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Gazkoi's Avatar
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    I reckon i have 100kg in each of mine

    Quote Originally Posted by Sim View Post
    Standard momotaro bakki, hunk it could quite happily take more.
    Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.

    Always happy to help!!

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  17. #9
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by D’ster View Post
    Hi, I currently have a basic 1500 pressure filter from the skimmer which is fairly easy to maintain, but recently thought a bakki shower would Improve bio capacity, any thoughts on what I would need, shower size/pump etc ? Pond is 3200 Gal with a Nexus 200.
    Hi D'ster,
    Another shower fan and I made both of mine,three tier on the main pond and a three tier on the grow on.
    Use alphagrog on both and find it great as very porous and cheap to buy.

    Bhm probably better,dont know as never used it as I cant justify the price.
    Did use Bacteriahome for a while in the grow on but not keen on it as the koi seemed to have gill problems so removed it.
    Tried Pumice but didnt like that as not porous enough.

    Would really recommend a shower the oxygen it creates and returns to the pond is unbelievable and is maintenance free,though the water has to be as clean as possible when flowing through.
    You can use floss or japmat on the top to catch a bit of crud.
    John

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  19. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by john1 View Post
    Hi D'ster,
    Another shower fan and I made both of mine,three tier on the main pond and a three tier on the grow on.
    Use alphagrog on both and find it great as very porous and cheap to buy.

    Bhm probably better,dont know as never used it as I cant justify the price.
    Did use Bacteriahome for a while in the grow on but not keen on it as the koi seemed to have gill problems so removed it.
    Tried Pumice but didnt like that as not porous enough.

    Would really recommend a shower the oxygen it creates and returns to the pond is unbelievable and is maintenance free,though the water has to be as clean as possible when flowing through.
    You can use floss or japmat on the top to catch a bit of crud.
    Thanks John, would you say like Gaz did to use a sieve in front then? and does ithe media need a clean as that might change where I was going to put it.
    Thanks Darren

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  21. #11
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    On my grow on I have bottom drain to vortex to home made seive to pump then shower.

    Main pond drain and skimmer to drum,one exit off drum to pump to shower.
    Other drum exit to k1 to pump to pond.

    Yes a seive first would be ok,would put some floss on top of the shower to see how much if any crud getting through.

    I havnt cleaned my shower as yet,I have a good flow going in so keeps it clean I think.

    Dont get foam like Gaz said.
    John

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  23. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Gazkoi View Post
    Hi John,

    I use BHM in 4 of my 5 showers. The other has CSM which is not operational yet.

    My understanding is the true BHM has been used for a number of years now in Japan and then the cheaper copies arrived on the market - a bit like my Nolex watch from Turkey... Momotaro was the first to use this in Japan and threw away a ton of matting as a result - that says something..

    Most larger dealers that I have been too also use BHM ie Absolute and Gatwick due to performance belief.

    Filter maturity is faster and the media handles a massive water flow without impacting its structural integrity. BHM is far more porous than imitations which is observed when simply breaking in half.

    I have not used pumice or grog personally, however customers who have soon changed as they were not happy with the results. I have used Crystal bio which took forever to handle the water parameters and show any maturity.

    As with all things koi, experience, opinion and budgets will vary as BHM is not a cheap product at around £150 for 10kg. In fact, of all the media it is actually of of the least profitable for retailers, but selling high margin products for sales purposes only is not my Company’s ethos.

    I hope this helps a little.

    Cheers

    Gaz



    Well I managed to be in the right place at the right time today.












    I won't be using it until next year now but hopefully it's good.

    My poor car was sitting low on the way home.
    Last edited by kikokuryu John; 27-06-2020 at 10:46 PM.

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  25. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    Fair few kg you have there, has it been used as it looks clean.

    years ago when bakki’s first came out they used to be pumped straight over the bakki from the bottom drain without problems.
    personally I think the cleaner the better but think the key to it is good flow to stop it clogging.

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  27. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Sim View Post
    Fair few kg you have there, has it been used as it looks clean.

    years ago when bakki’s first came out they used to be pumped straight over the bakki from the bottom drain without problems.
    personally I think the cleaner the better but think the key to it is good flow to stop it clogging.


    It was used only for a few weeks before the pond was shut down. It will be drum filtered before the shower but I don't want to change media this time of year so will wait until next spring before I replace my pumice.


    I've read before that people pump straight from the bottom drain but don't understand were the waste ends up.

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  29. #15
    [QUOTE=kikokuryu John;339187]Well I managed to be in the right place at the right time today.

    Wow, good find. Was it advertised on here? Having not seen bhm is it more porous then other products..alfa grog is porous if I remember?











    I won't be using it until next year now but hopefully it's good.

    My poor car was sitting low on the way home.[/Wow, good find. Was it advertised on here? Having not seen bhm is it more porous then other products..alfa grog is porous if I remember?

  30. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    I would do half now and half in couple of months.
    BHM will mature quickly in these temps.
    my parameters were good in 6weeks.
    i run mine all year but slow the flow right down through the winter and use under water returns.

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  32. #17
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    You could even put the BHM in and the dump the pumice over the top of it until mature

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  34. #18
    Good call from Si as usual, whack it all in there ASAP


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  36. #19
    Not sure what I'm going to do yet, after i have finished installing this drum i shall be replacing the 4 barrels that are currently used on the other bottom drain with a 1000l + tank to put my K1 in.

    These also are connected to the shower but won't be needed on the current shower as i will be able to crank the 30k up to fill in the void, however i might add another shower and put some BHM in that one.

    Both drains will be connected to the drum but until install is finished i Ieft the barrels unconnected so the shower didn't dry out.

    I wanted to get it done today but time was running out, I was 1 swept 90 short and trying to glue pipes to the shower outside in the rain isn't really a good idea.

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