FIP Filter Improvement Project

After about a month, my biofilter seems to work just fine but the setup is lacking a drainage valve. My filter pump needs constant cleaning of the small coarse filter that came with the pump. So I went ahead with an improvement plan to include a drainage valve at the bottom and also figure out that I should put more filter pads in there...

Here is the previous setup of my filter: http://mahfudzaquaponic.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-about-filter.html 

I went ahead and Google up those koi pond owners to look at their designs and this is what I came up with...

I took apart the filter and these are the separate components: Filter pads, leca,  and scoria

A closer look at the components, the green pad is the coarse filter

Got a colander and drill a hole right through it

Drilled a hole in the filter case to attach the drain valve

This is the setup of the water inlet at the bottom, some people say it would create a uniform flow upwards with the swirl effect; I have nothing to disagree on that :)

Put it all together, this time the leca sits at the bottom of the filter

Followed by the coarse filter, and the fine filter, the scoria in between and more filter pads on top

The end result, the water flow doesnt seem to decrease with the additional filter pads. I think this will do for now...I should find some scrap rebars and put it on the top most layer of the filter to provide iron in my system...

Among the points I read from the pond owners, they say that a filter should never need cleaning, just a lil backflow from time to time. Bacteriae colonies should be consuming the faeces and the fecal matters should be gone after decomposing into nitrates and other minerals. Hope it works!

UPDATE 20/04/2011
It works! The drainage valve I have incorporated in the filter coupled with the void space and swirling inlet flow makes removal of excess sediment as easy as ABC. 3 days after the improvement was done I tried draining the filter and I immediately saw a head of sludge gushing out. Success! I figure it will make it easier to maintain the filter with the backwash installed.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed that...

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