Hey all.
This is my first post on this forum, but i thought it was time for me to share an idea i had, to hear what you guys are thinking.
im having a 55000 Liter Concrete Pond with Koi's, sturgeon and some other fish.
from the beginning i wanted to build my own filter, and was very impressed with the Nexus systems. which resulted in me making 2 static kaldnes filters from 2x200 liters barrels i had.
the pond have been running with those for 2 year without any problems accually, only thing that annoyed me was the amount of water going to waste in every cleaning. And if i wanted my pond nice a clear, i needed to clean those drum at least every second day.
After the first year i started to look for something else, and i ofcourse got amazed by the Drum Filters.
When i made my Filter i made sure to make room for any future testing of other filters.
Right now my filter looks like this:
Pond -> 1000 Liter Vortex -> 2x200 Liter Static Kaldnes Filters -> Empty 1000 Liter pallets Tank -> 1000 Liter Moving Kaldnes Bed Pallet Tank -> 1000 Liter Pallet Tank with UV Light -> 1000 Liter Pallet Tank with 20000 Liter Pump.
So yes, the entire filter seems like Overkill for my pond, but my idea was that i wanted to play a little with different filtrations and i wanted enough space for that. And all this is put beside the Pond in a shed "basement" at the same level as the Pond, so i dont have to lift the water.
Then Last year i started a company with my friend,, which mean that we suddenly had alot of machines in our shop, CNC Mill, 3D printer & Laser Cutter, and that gave me the possebility to make my own Drum Filter.
So i began to draw the filter, and my first idea was to make it as small as possible, and i also didnt want the filter to be a "unit" by itself, i wanted it to be lowered down into a Pallet Tank, without a watertight outer casing, but simply just being a part of a allready existing filter.
However not long in the design i figured, why not make it so it would be easy to manufactor the parts, and design it in a way, so that other people than me would be able to maybe purchase the parts, and assemble it easily. In a way to make it possible for everyone to get a cheap Rotating Drum Filter.
I got some parts designed, Machined and assembled, However, a growing success with our newly started company, made the project stop for a while, and it went on the shelf.
Then this year, we had an very unusual start on the summer, as the temperature went from 6 degrees Celcius to 26-28 Degrees Celcius over 3 days. and the the temperature stayed that way with Heavy Sun and no Rain for a little over a month.
That meant that my pond exploded with Seeweed, which plugged static filters, and never gave the biofilter a chance to get started.
Every time i cleared the filter from weed, 10 minutes went by and it stopped again, meaning the pump was running dry, and i had to stop it. And now it became very clear to me, i had to resume my RDF Filter project, or my pond would end up as algae soup.
Okay so now i told you a little about the setup and why i wanted a Drum Filter, now to the fun stuff :)
As mentioned before, i wanted the filter to be a unit that should be lowered down into my Pallet Tank, it dont have to be a pallet tank, but some sort of square or round tank, why i wanted that was because many people like me have tried building their own filter, and have used such a tank for the project.
I also wanted the filter to be made from nice and durable materials, alltho still being cheap.
The result was using PEHD for each side of the Drums, and 3D printed ribs to connect them.
And before any of you say that 3D print dosnt work for that, i will just say that i have been testing the PLA i use for printing, 2 Years outside, in sun and cold, underwater in my Pond, all through winter frozen up, and i tell you, its very VERY Durable. And also very hard to break.
Ontop of this stainless steel is installed, with 3D printed Gears on the side, which gets turned by a Stepper Motor controlled from an arduino board.
This filter is not very big, it supports 1x 110mm ingoing pipe, and 1x110mm outgoing Waste pipe.
So here is a couple of pictures, and i want to remind you, that what you see is a prototype, which mean that the drum is build with the PEHD Material, with 3D printed parts and stainless Mesh. Where the frame holding it, is made from cheap Acrylic i had in store, simply because i wanted to test the positions of things, before i make the final assembly.
This is the drum:
And this is the setup before i install the Spray Bar and motor:
And this is what the filter will roughly look like when its all done and tested:
I installed it in my pond with 300 Micron mesh, to be sure that the flow wasnt too little that it would not run properly. And it have been running with that for the past 14 days, and wow is that a relief.
Alltho it runs on a timer right now, i tell you, it just removes all the waste, and algae without any problem.
So today i installed a 125 Micron mesh to see how that would go... remember it only runs on a single 110mm Pipe, and that just made everything better.
So next is to try 70 Micron Mesh, and installing some good water level sensors.
When i began this project, the prices on those RDF's where redicules, however those prices have been going down, and small rdf's aint that expensive anymore, However the bigger ones are still pretty expensive.
But now i want to ask you guys, would this be of any interest to any of you.
When its all fully tested and running flawlessly, i was thinking about offering all these parts, machines and printed, complete with screws and hardware, and the Motors and controllers to run it. So all you have to do is assemble, and install into an existing tank and then you have a RDF.
I dont have a clue about the price on this thing yet, so it might not even be cheaper than buying one of those small rdf's.... but maybe its way cheaper...
I ask the question because if this where of any interest, then i would think a little bit differently when i make the final tests and changes.
For those of you thinking... This is too small, a Much bigger version will come after this one, with being around 600mm in diameter, it will be twise the Diameter, and will be able to support many more 110mm Pipes:
But i need to test and finish this small one first, as when thats done, it will be fairly fast and simple to make the bigger one.
Let me know what you guys think, and dont hesitate to ask question.
However dont expect this to be finished right away... i want to test it and make the right changes before i will offer it to the public.
Also, more pictuers of the Rough installation to be pond will follow... it aint pretty "yet" but its working :)
Best Regards.
LynxDK