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  • Results 1 to 16 of 16

    Thread: Is it possible to overclean a bead filter?

    1. #1
      ma4utopia is offline Member
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      Is it possible to overclean a bead filter?

      I rebuilt a full new pond 11 months ago. Changed over to a GC Tek Alpha one bead filter. Due to lack of space this is my full filtering system.
      My fish load is in line with what the manufacturer said the filter can handle for my size pond. approx. 2800 gallons.
      I admit I'm a slightly heavy feeder , My pond pigs devour every last drop of food i feed them. The skimmer might collect a little.
      I do a cleaning every Saturday, i usually notice the clarity of the water goes from amazing to slightly dirty. but still able to clearly see the bottom perfectly. the pressure in the filter does increase over the week.
      Here is my question.
      by cleaning this often am i killing off the bacteria. I backwash for probably 5 minutes and remove 10-15 % of the water each week. and add more bacteria Microbe_lift bead bacteria
      I get very slight ammonia reading and my nitrates and nitrites also are showing a very low reading.
      It appears i am never full cycling the filter.
      I also have a foam issue. nothing terrible but an annoyance.
      Am i chasing my own tail with this cleaning. should i just let the filter get really dirt. (think not)

      IS IT POSSIBLE TO OVERCLEAN A BEAD FILTER?

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    2. #2
      batman is offline Senior Member
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      Water quality parameters will indicate if you're doing things right.
      The real Batman wears polyester! Don't be fooled by the plastic imposter.

    3. #3
      kdh is offline Senior Member
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      First of all through away the micro lift.
      Then get a hold of the distributor or rip of the bead filter and tell them what you have posted here. Might even read your posting to them so no misunderstanding of information between them and us.
      5 minutes is a looong time.. If I remember correctly 30 to 60 seconds. Since you say the water isn't that dirty I would imagine 30 seconds is more than enough. And I have no idea if your 5 minute cleaning knocks back the bio system. I would try just 30 seconds for a week or so and see what happens. However based on your foam DOC's. Ammonia and nitrite readings. And time frame of unit working (months)?Your bead filter is under performing your bio capacity. Might try feeding half the food for a week or so and see if your parameters improve. Fish will be fine. You might also consider some ammonia/nitrite binder just to be on the safe side. I would also consider some type of mechanical filtration to remove the larger particles before entering the bead filter. As with any type of equipment sold that is based on fish loads. Always go to the next size up as there is exaggeration of the efficiency of the product. And we tend to underestimate what we do to our ponds. Should always add the next size up than what the manufacturer suggests. Such as pumps, any bio media, bead filters etc etc.

    4. #4
      catfish whiskers's Avatar
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      I have a very similar filter on one of My ponds , the Sacramento Koi advantage bead filter . It takes a lot longer than 5 mins to go through the complete cleaning cycle , and I do it 4 times before it runs clear . I follow the manufacturers cleaning process .1 backwash 15 seconds .2 place on rinse and turn on blower for 3 minutes. 3 blower still on & place on backwash till waste runs clear . 4 place on rinse till water runs clear . I have to repeat this 4 times .
      It is a very poor bio filter regardless of the manufacturers claims , but I’m using it only for mechanical filtration . I have a shower filter after it for bio filtration .
      I had to buy new media from Them to repair a customers filter , and while talking to them on the phone , the Rep stated that the new media was coated with benificial bacteria already , and that the pond would cycle within a few days . Like Kirk mentioned above , benificial bacteria does not live in a bottle or can on a shelf at the store .
      You might consider building bio filtration, it doesn’t have to be ugly or take up much space . Let’s see some pics of Your pond and filtration

    5. #5
      kdh is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by catfish whiskers View Post
      I have a very similar filter on one of My ponds , the Sacramento Koi advantage bead filter . It takes a lot longer than 5 mins to go through the complete cleaning cycle , and I do it 4 times before it runs clear . I follow the manufacturers cleaning process .1 backwash 15 seconds .2 place on rinse and turn on blower for 3 minutes. 3 blower still on & place on backwash till waste runs clear . 4 place on rinse till water runs clear . I have to repeat this 4 times .
      It is a very poor bio filter regardless of the manufacturers claims , but I’m using it only for mechanical filtration . I have a shower filter after it for bio filtration .
      I had to buy new media from Them to repair a customers filter , and while talking to them on the phone , the Rep stated that the new media was coated with benificial bacteria already , and that the pond would cycle within a few days . Like Kirk mentioned above , benificial bacteria does not live in a bottle or can on a shelf at the store .
      You might consider building bio filtration, it doesn’t have to be ugly or take up much space . Let’s see some pics of Your pond and filtration
      I should have been more specific. Actual agitation time of 30seconds not 5 minutes. Nice post and agree with all said.
      Last edited by kdh; 07-04-2021 at 12:09 PM.

    6. #6
      ma4utopia is offline Member
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      thank you everyone for the quick responses.
      The backwashing im doing is not to just clean the filter but to do a water change. I guess it might be a good idea to do the back wash until the site glass runs clear about 30 seconds and then switch over to the waste cycle for the removal of water for the water change.
      Do the space limit limitations putting a bakki shower or trickle tower is next to impossible? I have a pool filter and pond filter system tucked away behind a bush next to a fence. I have a bad hip and its just enough room for me to hobble around back there to do Maintenace. My skimmer box is run off an external sequence pump with a emperor aquatics uv up to my falls. the bead is run with a performance pro pump to the falls.

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    7. #7
      catfish whiskers's Avatar
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      You’ve got to think outside of the box to find space . Do You run the skimmer to waterfall 24 hrs a day ? Might be easier to use a moving bed bio filter between the bead filter and the waterfall , because water from a moving bed bio filter exits near the top of the filter . For comparison, a shower filter would have to be much taller , because the water from a shower filter exits near its bottom .
      Last edited by catfish whiskers; 07-04-2021 at 02:02 PM.

    8. #8
      catfish whiskers's Avatar
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      Either filter can be remotely located , and piped to gravity return back to the pond .
      .
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    9. #9
      ma4utopia is offline Member
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      Thank you for the response.
      everything you have said here has gone thru my mind.
      the bead filter should handle a 5K gallon pond with a larger fish load then mine. Im at 2500 approx gallons.
      Im moving huge amounts of water with my pump. it was designed intentionally this way due to a very large water fall. I have no problem with providing oxygen to the pond with my falls and a large bottom air stone also.
      i really think im trying to hard with the cleaning. and should allow "things" to grow in the system
      I do have a Trickle tower from my old small pond that i might try to work into the space i have. that cant hurt.

    10. #10
      kdh is offline Senior Member
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      please keep us posted in the future and let us know the results.

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    11. #11
      KoiFan84 is offline Senior Member
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      On my bead filter I typically focus more on the amount of backwashes than how long I do them. I usually do a triple and sometimes quadruple backwash. I have a blower so I will run the blower on rinse setting with the pump off. I’ll let it blow with handle open for about a minute, then close handle for a few seconds then reopen fast. This gets the beads churning better, which improves the systems ability to remove dirty water. Then I go to backwash with pump on. I’ll do this 3 times then go back to rinse and turn on the pump. At this last step I do let the water rush out of my pipe to waste until it becomes clear. Since I do 3 short backwashes it does not drop the water level a huge amount. That way my sieve can keep running even though my pond is only 10x7.5x5.25 deep and 3K gallons. One time I only did a double backwash 1.5 weeks after the previous backwash, and I could see some cloudy water reentering the pond after I started it up again.

    12. #12
      catfish whiskers's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by ma4utopia View Post
      the bead filter should handle a 5K gallon pond with a larger fish load then mine. Im at 2500 approx gallons.
      .
      Your basing this opinion on manufacturers claims that are over exaggerated.
      Adding that trickle tower will be fantastic.

    13. #13
      UnkleTim's Avatar
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      I’ve an Sacramento Koi Advantage 15 bead filter on my 15 year old pond. In the warm months I flush it several times a week with no issues. It’s used for both bio and mechanical although we have a 1200 gallon poly tank settling chamber before the filter.

    14. #14
      Roddy Conrad's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by UnkleTim View Post
      I’ve an Sacramento Koi Advantage 15 bead filter on my 15 year old pond. In the warm months I flush it several times a week with no issues. It’s used for both bio and mechanical although we have a 1200 gallon poly tank settling chamber before the filter.
      This is an exact match with my system. 1000 gallon settling tank gravity fed, overflow to recirculating pump, pump to Sacramento koi bead filter, outlet of bead filter to 80 watt UV light, exit UV light to waterfall which is a massive amount of feather rock serving as a trickle tower biofilter.
      Dump a little settled solids out of the 1000 gallon settling tank daily, clean up bead filter every two days as described above.
      Your koiphen chemist and environmental scientist.

    15. #15
      UnkleTim's Avatar
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      Great filters, aren’t they? I just picked up a used Advantage 5. I’m going to dedicate that fir the skimmer circuit back to the waterfall. Currently that circuit and the bottom drain go thought the 15. My uv is a 120. Direct hot sun

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      oceanmann1869 is offline Junior Member
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      I just set up my first 2.5 alpha one bead filter having a hard time cycling too I bought a bead micro starter and also used pond water to help start some life keeping my kh at 200 seems like it takes me at least 100 gallons of water to get clean water out of sight glass just bought some momotaro bacteria house for my bakki shower hopefully it starts some good bacteria housing best of luck to you

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