Anyone attempted a DIY microscreen?

[BonnieIN]

Ian, Bickal, anyone?

I need to come up with some type of microscreen or filter for my 1st filtration bay which is currently just a settling tank. Well actually not much settling is happening though, too small and too much flow.
I'd have to measure again but I think it's approx. 100 gallons.

2 BD go into 1st bay then flows into 2nd bay which has brushes and 3rd bay has floor maintenace pads .
Pump is 3200(?3600?) sequence then UV light and on to the skippy waterfalls with plastic strapping.

Thanks

[jack]

hI Bonnie ...just a thought here ....How fast is the water flowing through the filters and UV light ? I understand that water should flow through at a slow pace so the bio and UV can do their job? Just a thought ..I put a bypass in my water feed so i can control the flow .Some goes through the filters and the rest just goes back directly to the pond .

regards....Jack


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[GregBickal]

I had got one built, but never got it assembled and working. System worked fine without it so I just skiped it.

[BonnieIN]

hI Bonnie ...just a thought here ....How fast is the water flowing through the filters and UV light ? I understand that water should flow through at a slow pace so the bio and UV can do their job? Just a thought ..I put a bypass in my water feed so i can control the flow .Some goes through the filters and the rest just goes back directly to the pond .

regards....Jack


..

Hello Jack, the filter bay that I'm speaking of is for mechanical means only. After those bays we have a tee in the pvc pipe which goes to a UV then to 2 waterfalls which house plastic strapping for bio.


Greg-
No pix of assembly? Shame on ya!

[Terri]

Hi Bonnie, I'm not going to speak for Ian as when he gets a moment I know he'll add to this thread, but I can say that Ian has been mentally designing something for DIY microscreen - with him it's all stored in his head and then BAM he makes it LOL

Ditto Bonnie Greg, where's the pics? :grin:

[BonnieIN]

Terri I think Greg will say BUY the CD! :wink:
But I have them both! :grin: I just couldn't find the 2005 one until I cleaned out my computer drawer yesterday and there it was!
Actually it's not Gregs design.
Here's the link:http://www.livingjewels.com/DIY/vortex_microstrainer/vms.htm

I did manage to find more information on KV which I see that Ian saw it also.
http://www.koivetforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14314

I only have one problem though.... here's a pix of our concrete bay which I was wanting to add the microscreen. We have 3 pcs. of PVC not one.

[Ian]

The more I think about a DIY self cleaning micro screen the more I want to forget it. To many variables to make it good and reliable due to the moving parts needed for self cleaning. I saw the thread on koivet and have a hard time with the gallons per/hr flow as I see it was not done with a 4" pipe. Your lucky if you get 3800 gals per hr through a 4" pipe gravity fed. If it was built with a 2" pipe I would bet less than 900 gals/hr. If the pump was sucking directly from that 2" pipe coming up through the middle of that DIY micro screen to get that flow than the rest of the filter chambers would have to be pump fed. The fact that the screen moves around the pipe creates a bad moving connection from screen to pipe. If that connection is tight than the screen will not spin, if loose enough to spin there will be a gap bigger than the holes on the screen. Water will find the easy route to flow and the gap will be it and not the fine mess screen. Unless I copy the "Answer" at which it would cost me more to build than to buy to get the reliability and performance that is needed for a fine screen filter not to clog and fail. I will fire up a fourth "answer" soon as the outside pond warms up and my koi get moved outside.
Terri says I have no money for a fourth Nexus but I still have a couple books of blank checks that she does not know about :grin:

[BonnieIN]

Well sorry to be the bearer of bad news Ian... but she knows about those checks now! :smile:

Do you have any suggestions what I could/should use in my first filtration bay?
Please remember, I don't have any checks around that my DH doesn't know about and I definately can't get a Nexus! :mad:

[ozzyrockman]

Thanks Ian, personally I feel the diy self clean micro screen system has way too many potential mechanical failures and this hobby throws enough factors to consider already. Could you post a pict of the inside of the sediment chamber showing the pipe work? Allen

[OttawaPonder]

Bonnie, Not sure if this would work for you however I found that it helped a "LOT" with my set-up and the restrictions I had.

I had learned more about settling chambers and holding tanks a year after I built the pond out front. I was limted to space and so I added a combo of a settling/holding chamber in one behind my waterfall.

I also was not able to add in a drain in it so I clean it at least once if not twice in a pond season. All depends on how drity it gets.

MTCW on what I did:

I went out and purchased some framing and screening used for house screens.

I cut the framing to fit tightly between the two walls. I place one screen in front of the other and I remove only the one closest to the pond inlets, from my retro BDs and my in pond skimmer, and hose it off. However when I place it back I move it behind the other one. So the next time I need to clean the screen it is always a different one and I can keep the pump(s) running while I remove just one.

Hey I know it is not the best way!! However it works wonders with what I had to work with, with all my restrictions. Great improvement I must say. :grin:

Good luck and please keep us posted on what you end up doing.