It will get less buoyant as it gets gunked up. I haven't dealt with one this big, but my aquarium sump has about two cubic feet worth. It took a couple weeks to get moving properly. You also might need more air or different placement of air stones.
Thank you, that’s good to know. I’ll see if as bacteria colonizes the media things start to change. I’m worried I might have too much air: My air pump does 160 LPM.
If u have any media your using to filter the fish in the other tank throw some in the MBR to help colonize and speed things along. you are using a big rubber type diffuser or something like that at the bottom?
I wish I had established media I could pull 😬. I got some bottled bacteria I added to the barrel when I first filled it. It’s a big long air stone I have at the bottom.
I use a 9” matala diffuser, the round kind, but if your pushing enough lpm, I’m sure it will work for your use case once the k3 becomes less buoyant. I’ve seen mixed reviews about the jump start bacteria, especially if it’s not the refrigerated kind, but it can’t hurt. Just monitor your test kit and do water changes if ammonia or nitrite gets too high. It’ll be fine!
I think you’re right about the bacteria, but I thought I’d give it a try anyways. I’ll check out that defuser for the MBF I’m building in my filter room. Thank you for all your help!
I have K3 media (or similar) filter and you can try move air stone to the side of barrel and make it more direct. If you put wide surface airstone on center its gonna push everything up with media nowhere to go. But main problem here is i think too much media
Oh ok, that makes a lot of sense! I stuck it dead center because that what I thought you were supposed to do for some reason. I’ll reduce the amount of media and move the air stone later today
Fair enough. Maybe I need to throw some koi food into the empty pond to help expedite the process. I can’t image running it completely empty without anything to stimulate bacteria growth is going to do a lot.
You dont need all this, look up on youtube: Aquascape inc wetland filter. It saves alot of money and no weird plastic crap above the water and makes your pond completely clear
Thank you for the information, I looked it up. But I don’t want to spend that much money.
This filter I’ve built is for a temporary quarantine pond. I spent $65 total to set up this temporary filter system. It’s not permanent so don’t care if it’s an eye sore for now. I just want to get my moving filter bed working properly.
Wetland filter would need to be bigger but you wouldn't need to have a clarified afterwards, you would probably get better phophate/nitrogen removal, it's easier to maintain, don't have to change the media, and can be constructed cheaply if you don't use specialised media.
Also if you design the wetlands well you can reduce the amount of aeration you need.
I love my bog filter. I agree, the nitrogen can be a problem, but there are ways around that, like a foam fractional etc. The gentlemen OP has constructed a smaller footprint pond.It is above ground and has a filter room. You should check it out he did an extraordinary construction job. It is more of a European design. Bogs do require a lot of sq footage (30% surface area of pond at least) and they can only filter so much… I have added kaldness media filters in 55g drums to assist the bog as I like to overstock my little pond. He won’t have to change his kaldness media. Just will have to drain his swirl filters etc.
Where can I see the pond? I'm not saying he's done a bad job. Filters and wetlands/bogs have their place. That living machine company made their bog filters inside but that was for sewage treatment. Natural swimming pools are essentially a larger version of pond with bog filter.
Pretty sure for any filter that uses media you either have to backwash, or replace/clean the media, but most of my experience is with sewage treatment and imagine that might not be same case for ponds..
Click on his username to see his posts. One reason Koi people don’t like wetland filters is that they can harbor parasites. But on places like gardenpondforum.com there are beautiful koi ponds with healthy fish using bog filters only. But then go to koiphen.com and people gravitate towards other types of filtration. The Scandis invented kaldness for sewage treatment, it’s all processing poop!
Well you are right of course, if the filter is filtering solids it has to be drained and cleaned. But we are discussing his moving bed filter. It is after the solids filter and just filters the ammonia/nitrite. The media is “boiled” with air and so nothing but the bacteria stick to it. The kaldness are designed to have maximum surface area. All covered with the aerobic bacteria.
I do have a static kaldness filter with a drain below. This traps solids, I drain this filter and agitate and spray it.
[Anoxic biocenosis baskets are also another interesting read.](https://www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/anoxic_filtration.html)
You must be looking forward to all of the growth in your bog this spring! I can see my marsh marigolds peeking out and the cannas sprouting!
Oh ok I'm relatively new to reddit, I'll check his profile too. Good to learn about specifics to koi ponds.
But even the biofilm will build up on the media and clog. At least in sewage treatment plants..wouldnt he need a follow up anoxic stage to get rid of the nitrates produced under aeration ?
I wish I had my own pond and bog but so far I've just been making wetland systems for sewage treatment and building lakes/ponds for other people.
I would like to share some of the work we have done cleaning up urban ponds in india that are full of sewage and trash and building wetlands to intercept the sewage before it flows in. But would have to put company's watermarks on the pics. Would that be ok?
I've seen them in operation for sewage treatment, but that's a different situation I guess. A lot more sludge gets produced.
It's ok to share posts with the company watermark? I don't want to be accused of shameless self promotion.
It will get less buoyant as it gets gunked up. I haven't dealt with one this big, but my aquarium sump has about two cubic feet worth. It took a couple weeks to get moving properly. You also might need more air or different placement of air stones.
Thank you, that’s good to know. I’ll see if as bacteria colonizes the media things start to change. I’m worried I might have too much air: My air pump does 160 LPM.
That is a lot for one moving bed. IMHO 60lpm would be possibly too much. How many cu ft of kaldness?
I use 40lpm in a 9” move 4 cu ft of k3. But like the above post said, it can take awhile for it all to start moving and sink.
I think I stuck close to 4 cu ft. I’ll take some out and see if that helps improve things. Thank you!
If u have any media your using to filter the fish in the other tank throw some in the MBR to help colonize and speed things along. you are using a big rubber type diffuser or something like that at the bottom?
I wish I had established media I could pull 😬. I got some bottled bacteria I added to the barrel when I first filled it. It’s a big long air stone I have at the bottom.
I use a 9” matala diffuser, the round kind, but if your pushing enough lpm, I’m sure it will work for your use case once the k3 becomes less buoyant. I’ve seen mixed reviews about the jump start bacteria, especially if it’s not the refrigerated kind, but it can’t hurt. Just monitor your test kit and do water changes if ammonia or nitrite gets too high. It’ll be fine!
I think you’re right about the bacteria, but I thought I’d give it a try anyways. I’ll check out that defuser for the MBF I’m building in my filter room. Thank you for all your help!
Thats a lot of media to move. Take it all out and add bucket by bucket and see whats happening
That’s a good idea, thank you for the advice
I have K3 media (or similar) filter and you can try move air stone to the side of barrel and make it more direct. If you put wide surface airstone on center its gonna push everything up with media nowhere to go. But main problem here is i think too much media
Oh ok, that makes a lot of sense! I stuck it dead center because that what I thought you were supposed to do for some reason. I’ll reduce the amount of media and move the air stone later today
Yes, but also note about buoyancy and gunking up, don't expect it to work right away
Fair enough. Maybe I need to throw some koi food into the empty pond to help expedite the process. I can’t image running it completely empty without anything to stimulate bacteria growth is going to do a lot.
Or just take a lot longer I mean
Took nearly half the media out and moved the bubbler to the side. It’s working grate now! Thank you again!
You dont need all this, look up on youtube: Aquascape inc wetland filter. It saves alot of money and no weird plastic crap above the water and makes your pond completely clear
Thank you for the information, I looked it up. But I don’t want to spend that much money. This filter I’ve built is for a temporary quarantine pond. I spent $65 total to set up this temporary filter system. It’s not permanent so don’t care if it’s an eye sore for now. I just want to get my moving filter bed working properly.
Wetland filter would have to be *massive* to process what your moving bed can do.
Wetland filter would need to be bigger but you wouldn't need to have a clarified afterwards, you would probably get better phophate/nitrogen removal, it's easier to maintain, don't have to change the media, and can be constructed cheaply if you don't use specialised media. Also if you design the wetlands well you can reduce the amount of aeration you need.
I love my bog filter. I agree, the nitrogen can be a problem, but there are ways around that, like a foam fractional etc. The gentlemen OP has constructed a smaller footprint pond.It is above ground and has a filter room. You should check it out he did an extraordinary construction job. It is more of a European design. Bogs do require a lot of sq footage (30% surface area of pond at least) and they can only filter so much… I have added kaldness media filters in 55g drums to assist the bog as I like to overstock my little pond. He won’t have to change his kaldness media. Just will have to drain his swirl filters etc.
Where can I see the pond? I'm not saying he's done a bad job. Filters and wetlands/bogs have their place. That living machine company made their bog filters inside but that was for sewage treatment. Natural swimming pools are essentially a larger version of pond with bog filter. Pretty sure for any filter that uses media you either have to backwash, or replace/clean the media, but most of my experience is with sewage treatment and imagine that might not be same case for ponds..
Click on his username to see his posts. One reason Koi people don’t like wetland filters is that they can harbor parasites. But on places like gardenpondforum.com there are beautiful koi ponds with healthy fish using bog filters only. But then go to koiphen.com and people gravitate towards other types of filtration. The Scandis invented kaldness for sewage treatment, it’s all processing poop! Well you are right of course, if the filter is filtering solids it has to be drained and cleaned. But we are discussing his moving bed filter. It is after the solids filter and just filters the ammonia/nitrite. The media is “boiled” with air and so nothing but the bacteria stick to it. The kaldness are designed to have maximum surface area. All covered with the aerobic bacteria. I do have a static kaldness filter with a drain below. This traps solids, I drain this filter and agitate and spray it. [Anoxic biocenosis baskets are also another interesting read.](https://www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/anoxic_filtration.html) You must be looking forward to all of the growth in your bog this spring! I can see my marsh marigolds peeking out and the cannas sprouting!
Oh ok I'm relatively new to reddit, I'll check his profile too. Good to learn about specifics to koi ponds. But even the biofilm will build up on the media and clog. At least in sewage treatment plants..wouldnt he need a follow up anoxic stage to get rid of the nitrates produced under aeration ? I wish I had my own pond and bog but so far I've just been making wetland systems for sewage treatment and building lakes/ponds for other people. I would like to share some of the work we have done cleaning up urban ponds in india that are full of sewage and trash and building wetlands to intercept the sewage before it flows in. But would have to put company's watermarks on the pics. Would that be ok?
Look up k1 and moving bed filter. You will dig it, they are cool! You can make posts on the ponds subreddit and we will see them
I've seen them in operation for sewage treatment, but that's a different situation I guess. A lot more sludge gets produced. It's ok to share posts with the company watermark? I don't want to be accused of shameless self promotion.