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  • Results 1 to 7 of 7

    Thread: Zakki Sieve: Prime pot needed?

    1. #1
      senatorcongressman is offline Junior Member
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      Zakki Sieve: Prime pot needed?

      Hello,

      Dan here. I've been reading/consuming posts here since 2016 when we bought this house with existing pond, but this is my first post. Quick summary: pond is ~1000-1300 gallons, liner, 3 potted water lillies, 1 lotus, about ~20 fish (6 koi, balance goldfish, number fluctuates with procreation and heron predation), Little Giant 2.5K skimmer box containing an older submerged Alpine pump, "bio brushes" --> a small waterfall. This "filter" doesn't really do much beyond collect leaves at the skimmer grate. About a week ago, I drained the pond, scrubbed out the muck and refilled it. We can see the fish again, but I don't care to continue repeating this each spring, which has been the routine.

      So... I just bought a used Zakki sieve locally and am about to venture an install with a home-built retro BD --> Zakki --> pump --> S+G --> under water return. The S+G is not built yet though I have a couple of barrels on hand for this.

      I am about to order the rest of the bits to plumb this all together and have a couple of questions...

      I am considering keeping the skimmer circuit as is and setting up the BD circuit with an external pump (size TBD) I read somewhere (can't find it now) that the Zakki sieve needs a leaf basket. Is this really necessary? I thought the sieve would be a good place to fill for prime, as long as I use a check valve below the water line?

      I wonder if down the road I might want to run the skimmer and BD on a single circuit (we get a lot of leaves)... should I consider upsizing the pump a little? Can I even run this skimmer like that?

      I am planning to run everything in 2" PVC, I've seen lots of retro BDs on here run 2" on here...

      Thoughts?

      Thanks in advance
      Dan

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    2. #2
      catfish whiskers's Avatar
      catfish whiskers is offline Supporting Member ~ WWKC President
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      Yes , it should have a priming pot /leaf basket before the pump. When put in sieve backflush mode , water bipasses the sieve and is drawn directly into the pump. The priming pot/ leaf basket will keep large debris from being sucked directly into the pump

    3. #3
      Mild Bill's Avatar
      Mild Bill is offline Senior Member
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      You don't need a priming pot before the Zakki sieve but if you install a bypass before the sieve you'll need a pump with one.
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    4. #4
      cottagefog is offline Senior Member
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      I own 2 Zakki sieves. Zak himself said this was his favorite layout on the smaller sieve. Great video in my opinion.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNO5aTPW9I8

    5. #5
      jimfish98's Avatar
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      And you can also cut back on all that bypass, back-washing plumbing, valves galore and just turn off the pump and spray your screen down with a hose once a week. In that case, no prime pot needed.



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    6. #6
      senatorcongressman is offline Junior Member
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      Thanks!

      So leave basket is only needed to protect pump if using bypass mode for cleaning. Makes sense.

      -Dan

    7. #7
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      Quote Originally Posted by senatorcongressman View Post
      Thanks!

      So leave basket is only needed to protect pump if using bypass mode for cleaning. Makes sense.

      -Dan
      This is correct. Basically the Zakki IS a giant leaf basket. That's the way I look at it.

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