The new Google community is already showing its advantages with others and me communicating on an easier level, example shown below.

The new Google community is already showing its advantages with others and me communicating on an easier level, example shown below. Please take a look-see at Michael Lim’s pond. However, if you have a jealous bone in your body then don’t look.

Example:

Michael, to say your photos are impressive would be an understatement. Your pond and its layout look as though they belong in a public conservatory somewhere. Very clean and crystal clear water.

 I think your methods of applying the BCB’s into your system in the old none working veggie filter is spot on! Season the BCB’s before you wean off of your existing system is a prudent move.

Your aquarium photo looks as though it is a breeder’s tank much like Dr. Franco did in Italy. Maybe some tropical fish lovers out there will employ this same method of filtration as you have.

Did you use clay or Zeolite as your medium choice? What were your Nitrates before the introducing of the BCB(s) in you aquarium?

Google communities… why not join?

https://plus.google.com/communities/113515464017212364360

Cheers,

Kevin

Google community...

Hello everyone, I have started a Google community so those of you that have something to ask or show others, can participate easier now than ever before.

Just click on the link below to join.

Thanks,

Kevin

https://plus.google.com/communities/113515464017212364360

Anoxic Filtration by: Manky Sanke ,explanatory article comming soon.

Re: Anoxic Filtration

http://www.koimag.co.uk/forum/post756599.html - p756599by Manky Sanke» Mon Jun 23, 2014 6:08 pm 

If you can wait a couple of weeks I'm trying to complete a fairly long and explanatory article for Koi Organization International and, as soon as they convert it to eBook format and upload it onto their website, I'll put it on mine as well.

It will explain the system, mainly in understandable language but with all the technical stuff in separate Science Panels so the main body of the text will be simple to read but with the Science Panels also available for anyone mad enough to want to know the technical details.

Information from the thread on that other forum will be included, along with a section on the complete build by Brian Woodcȯck. It will be on, or accessible from, the webpage on the link below.

Disadvantages? There are three:

1. Obtaining the correct cat litter isn't just a case of popping to Tesco's and picking up the nearest. You need to check that it's suitable but that's explained on the link below.

2. An effective filter that will provide complete stand alone filtration will need about one basket per adult fish so they need suitable space to be available.

3. Expect bricks through your windows from other hobbyists who have spent a fortune on other systems but which cannot get near zero ammonia, absolute zero nitrite and near zero nitrate .

http://www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/anoxic ... art_2.html

Manky Sanke

Super member

Posts: 2326

Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 5:23 pm

Location:Little Thurrock, Essex

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For the gardener Anoxic filters are probably the best filters one could have if you like aquatic plants with lush growth.

For the gardener Anoxic filters are probably the best filters one could have if you like aquatic plants with lush growth. However, as the photo shows cation must be exercised because aquatic plants can get a little out-of-hand and will outgrow most aquatic baskets with what seems like an infinite root system.

Achieving such growth without fertilizers several years ago was unheard-of by pond hobbyist and only those that dabbled in high nitrogen plant tabs could achieve such good growth. But the downside was nitrated laden water that really was not fish compatible. Because plants need to use seven times the energy to convert nitrogen back into ammonia once again, this processes was omitted at night when peak photosynthesis was stopped. I say peak photosynthesis, because only at that time do plants do the conversion processes because of the energy they must use.

So what happens to all that excessive nitrogen in the plant baskets when the plants can’t use it; it goes right back into solution once again!  The AFS BCB’s allows plants the right amount of trace elements along with ammonia/ammonium so they can now proliferate in root hair growth. The upside is plants will take in ammonia/ammonium 24-7 night and day. Because it takes very little energy to do this, the plants now can concentrate on root hair growth along with flowering and reproduction of its species.

Photo taken from internet from owner of an AFS.

The vigorous and profuse plant growth of some plants may overwhelm hobbyists into a stupor that, that particular plant species will never be used again and with rightful causes. Bursting the BCB’s with their roots to the point that their usefulness is compromised for the next years filter and will have to be thrown away after one season is a little too expensive for a one time use!

Veggie and Bog filters only show such growth rate of their plants when the substrate is compromised with detritus and all kinds of smuts. Under these conditions they are really hindered on how much and proficient they can and will clean the ponds water. AFS will outperform these filter ten to one because these insults stated above are not a needed foundation of foodstuff for the plants in a BCB only ammonia/ammonium is. AFS keep water at a higher redox than the Veggie and Bog filters will because all detritus and smuts are eliminated before the filter and is not “part of the filters matrix” like the other two filtration methods.

Anytime a filter keeps insults far too long in solution is not a well-designed filter and will give inadequate protection to its aquatic animals. Some of the ways of telling this is by sores on the fish, fish growth being stunted, sicken fish or anemic looking fish or the hobbyists making up excuses on why they need a prophylactic added to their ponds every year.

You also get the hobbyist that without ascertainment of their findings that they have done nothing to their ponds with these filters for years and their fish are doing just fine. But under closer examination their good fortune is not repeatable for everyone that uses them and they become the exception to the rule but not the rule itself.

As each year goes by hobbyist are finding out that Veggie and Bog filters are not natural filter at all, but ports for all kinds of water deteriorating bugs (bacteria) that if not taken out of the system eventually, they will win in the battle in making your pond uninhabitable. I have had BCB’s as long as 25–years now without being broken down and are still going strong on cleaning and protection the inhabitance of the pond. Is there any other filter out there that can make the same claim and still keep their pond inhabitance healthy and longed lived as my Koi? Okay, you got me…natural system will go on for hundreds of years without intervention from man too.

Anoxic Filters Vs all conventional filters in cold weather.

Well…The weather is now in the lower 40˚F (4.44˚C) in Chicagoland and it will be dipping into the upper 30˚F (-1.11˚C) next week and for conventional filters this is that time of year that most pond owners once again worry about their nitrogen cycle.

QUOTE:

“Temperatures like this are very bacteria unfriendly and the temperature for optimum growth of nitrifying bacteria is between 77-86° F (25-30° C) seldom is this temperature reached in the springtime and at this time of the year it will only get worse not better.

On top of that, this temperature is considered too high for Koi and Goldfish and is not consider optimal for such. Growth rate is decreased by 50% at 64° F (18° C) and will decrease even more by 75% at 46-50° F. The worst part of this is that at 39° F (4° C) no activity will occur at all and nitrifying bacteria will die at 32° F (0° C). Nitrobacter is less tolerant of low temperatures than Nitrosomonas. In cold water systems, which our ponds are in late winter and early spring, care must be taken to monitor the accumulation of nitrites. Not so with the Anoxic system.”

QUOTE: From Dave Collins in France.

"Hi Brian,

As you know I only have an Anoxic filter with a drum before it. It’s been running for three and a half years and depending on feeding levels the nitrate hovers around 6mg/l. 

So you'll no doubt be surprised with my answer but I would keep the bead filter. As you say, if it’s not broken ……… The bead does work against the Anoxic but your Anoxic is large enough to cope and gives you peace of mind.

What I say is, sit back and enjoy a glass of whatever takes your fancy and watch your Koi swimming in clean clear water."

Nitrobacter and cold weather:

  One of the most important and least understood, aspects of successful pond keeping is biological filtration and its function in the nitrogen cycle. Species of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter nitrifying bacteria are classified as obligate chemolithotrophs and are gram-negative microbes. This means if you use a gram-negative inhibitory chemical to treat an infection on your Koi, so will it also kill off the beneficial bacteria in the process. They are obligate aerobes and cannot multiply or convert ammonia or nitrites in the absence of oxygen, unlike facultative anaerobic bacteria that can.

  Nitrifying bacteria have extensive generation times due to the low energy yield from their oxidation reactions. Since little energy is produced from these reactions they have evolved to become extremely efficient at converting ammonia into nitrite and then again into nitrate. Most of their energy production, which is over seventy-five percent, is devoted to fixing CO2 via the Calvin cycle and very small amounts of that energy remain for reproduction and growth. Nitrifying bacteria reproduce by binary division and as a consequence, they have a very slow reproductive rate.

  Under optimal conditions (which by the way would be in a lab and not in our ponds), Nitrobacter may double every 13 hours. More reasonably speaking though, they will double every 24 hours in our ponds. This is an extremely long time, considering that heterotrophic bacteria can double in as short of a time as 20-minutes, exceeding 35-trillion cells in that time. Now you see why in natural systems and waterways they use and depend on heterotrophs over autotrophs because of faster reproductive times and less stress on the entire eco-system.

  They have a complex cytomembrane that is surrounded by a slime matrix (also known as a polymeric adhesive) and therefore they (Nitrobacteraceae) are unable to form spores.  All species have a limited tolerance range and are individually sensitive to pH, dissolved oxygen levels, salt levels, temperature, and chemical insults. In our ponds, which are closed systems; they can survive short periods of adverse conditions by utilizing stored materials within the cell. When these materials are depleted, the bacteria die. They do not have the ability to use other sources for their carbon needs. They can be as sort lived, as 24-48 hours, and if conditions are impertinently unsound this timeframe can be shorten by those veritable insults. However, the Nitrobacter bacteria strain may have specific tolerances to environmental factors and nutriment preferences not shared by other, very closely related strains, which there are several species and many strains among those species.

  The temperature for optimum growth of nitrifying bacteria is between 77-86° F (25-30° C) seldom is this temperature reached in the springtime. On top of that, this temperature is considered too high for Koi and Goldfish and is not consider optimal for such. Growth rate is decreased by 50% at 64° F (18° C) and will decrease even more by 75% at 46-50° F. The worst part of this is that at 39° F (4° C) no activity will occur at all and nitrifying bacteria will die at 32° F (0° C). Nitrobacter is less tolerant of low temperatures than Nitrosomonas. In cold water systems, which our ponds are in late winter and early spring, care must be taken to monitor the accumulation of nitrites. Not so with the Anoxic system.

  Nitrobacter will grow more slowly at high pH levels (7.8-8.0 most of our ponds in the US fall in this range do to hard-water) and optimum range is between 7.3-7.5. Care must be taken to monitor ammonia if the pH begins to drop close to 6.5. At this pH range, almost all of the ammonia present in the water will be in the mildly toxic, ionized NH₃⁺ state. Maximum nitrification rates will exist if dissolved oxygen (DO) levels exceed 80% saturation. This would explain why hobbyist must oxygenate their ponds too the maximum, not only for the fish sake, but also for the bacteria as well. Nitrification will not occur if dissolved oxygen concentrations drop to 2.0 mg/l or ppm (Anoxic conditions,) or less. Nitrobacter is affected more by low dissolved oxygen than Nitrosomonas.

  Also for those hobbyists that like to add salt to their pond as a prophylactic; adaptation to such salinities may involve a lag time of 1-3 days before exponential growth begins. Nitrifying bacteria are also photosensitive, especially to blue (750k) and ultraviolet light. After they have colonized a surface this UV light poses very little problems for them afterwards. During the first 3 or 4 days many of the cells will be suspended in the water column especially after reinoculation of the pond after a cold winter. Therefore, UV light/germicide lamps should remain off during this time. Once again this is a very decisive time for our Koi, in as too eradicate pathogens and germs, and we have our hands tide because of the bacteria that we are using, not so with my system.

  Now let’s take the Anoxic filtration system and the bacteria that it uses, and compare what has just been said above. Hobbyist that use this kind of filtration system should start their filters when temperatures reach 32^o F (0^o C) or above and the pond water has become stabilized so as not too incur freezing of pipes or waterfalls.  The Anoxic Filter is already working without the reinoculation of such chemicals, bacteria cultures or heterotrophic bacteria spores. This is a very crucial time for our fish; because of their weaken state from such a long winters rest. As you can see Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are not of much help to us until water temperatures have risen to a more ideal rang that suits them and not our animals. I have written quite extensively on this subject on the Internet and in my Cd-book about bacteria staying active during winter months.

 This is why most hobbyists in the colder parts of the U.S.A. will not even attempt to get their filters online until latter in the spring while the ones with the Anoxic Filter have started their filters in late winter. In fact Koi and pond clubs throughout the Midwest are telling them not to. After the initial water change and filter cleanout you will notice that your Koi will become more active earlier than in previous years. This activity of our Koi happens two to three days after cleanout. They will actually begin to forage for Algae and worms far earlier in the year (39° F (4° C) than when using conventional filtration methods. The Algae and worms will not only give our animals beneficial bacteria that is so badly needed at this time, but will also act as a laxative from the worms they eat. These natural foods will not only strengthen the Koi’s immune systems to fight off primary and secondary infection should they acquire such help. It is not unusual to find Koi swimming around like it’s a warm summer’s day when pond temperatures are in the low 40^o F range.

  Yes, you can keep testing your water until the cows come home but you won’t find any ammonia/ammonium or Nitrites. Even though the Koi have become active enough to take processed foods, still all parameters will stay stable without incurring any undue cost or stress to the animals or the hobbyist.

Cheers,

Kevin

So the experiment was to keep a plastic 6-mill cover over the AFS all season long and at the end of the year at the October cleaning see just how much detritus really would accumulate inside the filter.

If you have been reading some of the pond and Koi forums out there some know-it-all hobbyist(s) advocate that the AFS is nothing but a cesspool of muck and detritus. If not cleaned like other filters more than twice a year you will end up with all kinds of bacteria problems and water degradation along with sick fish.

These are the same people that know nothing about the AFS, have never read about it or become the self proclaimed aquatic microbiologist that really contribute nothing to this hobby except misguided information to others. Their real agenda is never really understood by most but one thing is for sure:  If an audience will listen then they will preach their sermons on that proprietary knowledgeable soapbox forever.

Despite the fact that I have said it several times before the AFS really doesn’t get that dirty if a proper prefilter is use before any pond water goes into the filter. Plus the fact that any detritus that does settle in the AFS never really gets compacted like filters that pass water through a medium, unless pond maintenance is forgone far too long. Most turns into mulm by a chemical reaction called oxidation anyway by the end of the season and becomes inert.  This loose layer of mulm is nothing to worry about and is unsightly but nonetheless is a natural process of life in a pond.

It may consist of cat litter that has migrated out of the BCB’s, dead cyanobacteria, algae, and geographic pollution from outside sources.  This could be from birds, trees and just dust and dirt that is airborne getting into the filter itself. All of what I have said sounds very logical if a well designed prefilter is use before the AFS. I mean, how else would the filter get dirty?

This year I did an experiment to see just how much dirt and detritus would really fill an AFS if all outside insults were lessen or eliminated altogether. This experiment would show that the amount of detritus would basically be plant and/or bacteria origin related and basically the AFS does stay very clean from one cleaning to the next.

As we know the BCB’s do not clog so that’s one less thing that has to have servicing throughout the year like other filter need. So the experiment was to keep a plastic 6-mill cover over the AFS all season long and at the end of the year at the October cleaning see just how much detritus really would accumulate inside the filter. Basically the filter would be a greenhouse for the aquatic plants with four 6" (152.4mm) holes in it, two on each side.

As everyone knows I have nothing but a homemade prefilter for my pond. Nothing expensive bought out of a box and is serviced once a week during high feeding season and once every fortnight when only feeding once a day. The cover has been on since last cleaning in May of 2014 and was remove in October of 2014 to be evaluated for mulm or detritus accumulation.

You can see the very bottom of the filter that it has cat litter on it by the red arrow. A thick layer of all kinds of mulm or detritus is not covering it up. The lowlight short hair alga seen is because my filter is under a Snowdrift crabapple tree that is very messy. With over 50 trees  in the yard, birds, squirrels, leaves and everything else get into the filter every year, but one thing that doesn’t get into the ponds filter is sunlight. 

 In October all aquatic plants are cut down and the filter is emptied and cleaned for the winter months ahead. This gives the Koi fresh water and a nice new clean environment for their long winters nap.

What I found out was, there was very little mulm or detritus in the filter this year at all! Once the outside insults were lessen to a greater degree the AFS remained very clean despite what some think. Most of what did exist was plant related along with a little Goldfish waste, but was nothing to get upset about. I was really quite a surprised at just how much outside pollution gets inside an AFS. If pond husbandry is carried out on trimming any dead or dying plant foliage then pollution inside the AFS is very negligible.

You also must remember that algae and cyanobacteria are part of the equation of pollution that gets inside an AFS and dies and then is broken down into mulm. Plant DOC’s are really nothing to worry about unless in excessive amounts. In most ponds the DOC’s come from animal related insults about 90% but not so much plant matter. If you can control the amount of insult getting into an AFS then the cleaner it will be between seasonal cleanings.

Part two: The Answer..Your DOC’s are being introduced through your Bakki Shower Filter, but not your Sand filter.

PART TWO: ANSWER

Your DOC’s are being introduced through your Bakki Shower Filter, but not your Sand filter. First, your Sand Filter once it starts to clog, as stated in your letter, Quote: “but whenever it is clogged and need backwashing the foam would be significantly less or none at all.” begins to act like a micron filter or Diatomaceous Earth Filter by “polishing” the water and removing some of the DOC’s in the process. Once this happens it will even strip fish slime right out of the water too.

This is why Sand Filters remain so popular today if filtration Husbandry is kept up on them they can reward the hobbyists with very Gin clear water. The sand itself being inert, chemically speaking has micro pores but they are just too small in size to be of any concern.

I do not understand why the changing of the sand is recommended, if cleaned, and because it is inert and will not clog because of the micro pores are so small: Why change something that never wears-out?

The interaction between bacteria, detritus and sand surfaces are and become material removable. By mechanical action by other apposing sand particles and this then makes an initial mechanical contact between the two surfaces to wear or clean each as ‘mechanical wear’ by interactions by impact wear of the two particles.  If you were using some of the newer sintered medias out there, then I would have to agree that replacement is a necessity because of clogging of the larger tunneling pores.

It sounds to me that someone just wants to sell you new sand and blow smoke in your eyes that it’s because it will accumulate DOC’s is not true. Maybe if it was never cleaned… but then again Sand Filters need a cleaning everyday and sometimes more than once a day at that.

Your statement, Quote: “Another "suspect" I have are the mats in my Bakki showers, they tend to accumulate mulm under them and also like you said they are covered in cyanobacteria.”  Now you found your fly in the ointment! As much loved as Bakki Showers are they do have their downfalls too.

Once again we are back to what kind of media that is used in a Bakki Shower Filter will determine its productivity in the system down the road. As you are finding out, which was discovered thirty years ago, that wet-dry filters like your Bakki Shower will produce DOC’s when clogging begins. No different than a sponge getting clog up with dirt, proteins, fats, organics along with bacteria and now gravity takes over and pushes those nutrient rich chemicals out into solution once again.

Remember what I said about filters that clog, they will at some point need servicing or they will become nutrient rich expellers of DOC’s and a producer of Ammonia too.

Activated Carbon:

This is not normally use in pond applications because of expense and the very short longevity of the activated carbon itself in pond applications. For aquarium use it serves a function of keeping such a small body of water clean but in the pond, not so! A reef tank is a very delicate balancing act of recreating the entire ocean in a small glass container and a hobbyist should not buy cheep activated carbon for those applications.

Do not confuse activated carbon with the BCB’s because they are entirely two different animals altogether. Carbon adsorptive powers holds things like coloring but does not do absorption. Absorption is when one element is exchange for another element like plants do, and the BCB’s cat litter allows them to do. The plant will exchange one ion for another ion and that then becomes absorption.

Activated Carbons on the other hand with its adsorptive abilities will take in DOC’s and holds it in its pores until exhausted. There is no ion exchange with carbon like there is with the BCB’s and your Zeolite is action the same way cat litter does. Normally Zeolite will adsorb ammonia and must be recharged again in salt water. However, with the way you are using Zeolite, that recharging process is omitted because one ion is always be exchange for another ion in the BCB’s so now it is absorption instead of the adsorption that it use to do. The BCB’s do not clog because water and detritus are not being forced into the baskets and only electrical changed ions are.

Carbon on the other hand is specifically designed with just the right pore structure to adsorb and not have an exchange process of one ion for another ion like Nitrates for example. If that were the case, what good would it do at cleaning water?

Protein Skimmers:

They will remove the DOC’s from solution by their ability to have the DOC’s adhere to the surface of the bubbles and Ozone, which will enhance this action by adding an unstable atom molecule to the O2, and turn it into O3. 

Used by some hobbyists more so than any activated carbon used. This added piece of equipment is used in the pond hobby but some think it is not a necessity if proper filtration and pond Husbandry is carried out like it supposes to be. I think a proper sized UV is more beneficial to a pond than a protein skimmer.

The Problem:

You’re not the only hobbyist out there that pushes the AFS to it limits and thinks it is a ‘last word’ filter; it is not! I have had many think that their Nitrates have dropped to lets say 10-ppm which is very acceptable levels from what they had and their water is crystal clear but the filter should be doing more.

Sometimes it will take more than a AFS to bring über water conditions for all that use it because of unknown circumstances like in your situation. Every case and every circumstances has not been played out as of yet with the AFS. Like ALL filters made for ponds there is that chance that the expectations of the hobbyist are overplayed and no matter what the cost of the filter or its media that is used, it can be pushed too far.

Over feeding seems to be the biggest culprit because the filter is just that good and the first thing hobbyist do is to (Read about Brian Woodcock’s pond build and see how much he now feeds his Koi compared to his previous filtration methods he used.) (1) again overfeed their Koi to accelerate growth.

Adding the wrong kinds of extra/external filtration(s) onto an AFS are the biggest offenders of the group also. Not that adding extra filtration onto your pond is bad, but the tradeoffs with extra maintenance still must be carried out on those filters as those the AFS did not exists. Your Bakki Shower Filter still needs to have periodical cleanings or the expulsion of DOC’s into solution is its outcome. So a very good prefilter, sometimes even a micron filter is needed before the Bakki Shower or wet-dry filtration system.

Sometimes people just want a miracle filter and expect it from the AFS and for that I have failed once again.

Reply to my post above:

Thank you Dr.Novak for the crystal clear and very detailed answer. I could never thank you enough.

I have done the maintenance to the Bakki shower yesterday and yes you are right on target. To give a better picture of my Bakki Shower (BS), it consists of 4 tiers. Each tier has an acrylic bottom with holes drilled. The top and 2nd tier holds 1 layer of Japmats. The 3rd tier has Crystal Bio on the bottom and covered with 1 layer of Japmats to prevent water dropping directly on the Crystal Bio. The bottom tier has Matala Bio Actove stones on the bottom and also covered with Japmats with the same purpose of tier 3. Below the BS is the waterfall chamber where I also have 18 BCB’s and on top of them also 1 layer of Japmats for diffusion of water dropping from above.

All the Japmats are covered with cyanobacteria and also hold within them lots of mulm. I took each mat out and hosed them clean. There was a significant drop in weight before and after I hosed them clean, showing just how much mulm was trapped in the Japmats.

[Ed: (1) One hobbyist wrote me and complained that he was feeding 360-lbs. (That’s nine 40-lbs. bags of Koi food a year.) a year to his Koi and why wasn’t the AFS keeping up with his feedings and bringing his Nitrates down.]