Thread: Bio Chamber v Bakki Shower ?

Hi folks

I`m currently planning to upgrade my filtration , mainly to cut down on maintainance , and also to have everything situated indoors (garage) .

At the moment I have an easypod acting mainly as a pre-filter , followed by a bead (both inside) and an outdoor bio unit with waterfall and 2 other returns

I`m finding that Im spending a lot of time cleaning the bio unit outdoors , so looking to avoid this .

What I`ve done so far is to bypass the bead filter , as I don't think it was doing a lot , switched the bio unit to fluid rather than static , and tweaked the easypod , adding a filter sock and sponge to help with the mechanical filtration .

The fish look happy - so far my perameters are unchanged and I reckon I`m getting less fines in the pond with the mods to the easypod

What I plan to do next is bring the bio unit indoors . Problem is , Its too big so will have to be rebuilt . I`ll do a DIY job probably . And maybe at some point replace the pod with a drum .

My question right now is , should I make another bio chamber , or would a shower be better . I don't have a lot of space , so it`ll probably come down to a choice between the two . The shower would be indoors rather than situated over the pond .

Any thoughts would be much appreciated . Pond is around 2.5k Gallons .

I would be looking to swap out the EazyPod and not the bio at all.
If you got a drum on there your bio units will remain clean and it means next to no maintenance for you.

Thanks for the input , folks .

Ive been running with my current set up for about a week now . I forgot to mention that Ive swapped the K1 in the pod for micro . I`m finding now that there are a lot less fines in the pond now and the improvements to the pod are making a difference .
The fish went off their food for a day or 2 when I made the changes , but are looking a lot happier now and feeding well .
Of course , now the pod is catching more waste , it`ll mean more regular cleaning , but its easier for me to clean the pod , than the bio unit .

I`m thinking , the next stage will be to bring the bio unit indoors , over the winter . I`ll see how this works and how happy I am with the cleaning regime .

I think I will at some point , as Lara suggested , replace the pod with a drum .

Incidentally , I saw a video of Adam Byer being interviwed at his farm , last night . On all his systems , he runs a drum and a k1 fluid bed bio chamber , so if its good enough for him - then I wont argue . I`ll probably go with this rather than the shower .

Originally Posted by markini5

drum drum drum all day long,

the key if removing as much debris in the first stage of any filtration system, biggest reason for this is the massive reduction in risk of bacteria/viruses from waste settling in the bio side/in your pipes or the pond floor some fish parasites love to hide in waste material , which then means treatments become non effective as they cant penetrate through debris

less debris in the water also allows for better oxygenation
less debris in the bio from having a drum or sieve allows for far better processing of ammonia/nitrite and nitrate although floating bio's dont do that well at converting nitrate which many of us see with blanket weed /green water if you dont have a UV or suitable sized UV for the pond
bakki showers are ment to be best but the costs are far greater

i dont need to do any cleaning on my system , odd clean of the pond window every other week

happy to make you a drum filter mate for a very good price. much cheaper than anything on the market. pm me if interested.

thanks
mark

Could be interested , Mark . Ive PMd you

Just an update with my progress , so far .

I decided in the end to go with a drum and bio chamber , rather than the shower option . As I already had the K1 from my previous set-up , AND managed to find a nearly new fiber glass tank for £25 . At 450 litres , its bigger than I would have gone for , if I`d ordered one , from a plastics manufacturer , but sometimes bigger is better , I think . I`d been quoted £300 just for a basic tank , a bit smaller , so a good saving there . Only had to fork out for the pipework , really .

Currently running the bio with the easypod and expecting the drum , this week . I could have gone for a combi unit , but as my pond is set quite low , I`d have had to dig down into my floor to accomodate . Ive configured the bio , so the returns are at the top and it emptys into the pond by gravity - hence the platform . The only issue I had , was that originally I had the UV after the bio , and it caused it to overflow . Once I put the UV before the bio - it works fine .
Went for a Draco Solum 16 . I know 1 or 2 have said , go for the 25 , but I`m sure I`ll be fine , as I dont feed massive ammounts .
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Originally Posted by markini5

could of built you same size as solum 25 for about £950 anyway best wishes

To be fair though , Mark , were not comparing like for like . As has been mentioned on another thread , its the wood and G4 construction and the electrics of your product that's putting people off - myself included .

In any case , it was too big for my space - that's why I went for the 16 and not the 25 .

That doesn't mean that I wasn't interested in your filters , though - I was .

Just caught up with your thread Colin and what a good move.

Never regret a drum and you will see the difference in a couple of days,that looks a great tank you got what a bargain there.
Could you not fit a shower inside after the bio etc,that's what I have but running on two pumps but one in winter.

As you know Colin cant have too much filtration and all maintenance free.

Originally Posted by john1

Just caught up with your thread Colin and what a good move.

Never regret a drum and you will see the difference in a couple of days,that looks a great tank you got what a bargain there.
Could you not fit a shower inside after the bio etc,that's what I have but running on two pumps but one in winter.

As you know Colin cant have too much filtration and all maintenance free.

Thanks John . Really pleased with it so far .

Sadly , I just don't have the space for anything else in there . What used to be a garage is also my gym , bike storage and fishing tackle shed ! As well as all my tools and decorating stuff . (Although , I could give up the DIY , I suppose …)

I have my shower up higher than the drum battened to the brick wall then 4ins gravity back to the pond all the oxygen created by the shower goes back to the pond.

You could allways go jogging instead of the gym

Tbh it looks like you have plenty of bio without a shower.

But if you really wanted a shower, do you have space above your bio unit?

That's how I set mine up. I pump water out of the moving bed unit to the shower (which is sat on my bio unit lid) which then flows back into the bio unit, rather than pond. That way the dwell time in the filters is increased without actually reducing the flow through the filter.

In terms of drum, I've a 13k litre pond and am really regretting getting the solum 16 instead of the 25. If it wasn't so much money I'd be swapping the 16 for a 25, or even a 30k litre drum, in a heartbeat.

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Glad to say , I received the drum from Draco ,last Thursday , and its been up and running for a few days , now .

Really pleased with the results , so far . It removed the fines from the pond within a few hours of installation , and seems to be running really well . I`m only feeding small ammounts of wheatgerm , right now , so we`ll have to see how it goes , next year , when things warm up , but early results are very promising .

It seems to be firing about every one and a half hours at the moment , on the shortest wash cycle .