BIOLOGICAL FILTERS
Operating Instructions for:
Waterscape Designs, Inc. #F- 1200, F-1200-V, F- 1500 and F-3000
These filters utilize an upflow movement of water through the filter media to create an efficient and easily maintained biological reactor. Remember, the objective of the bio-filter is to culture huge colonies of beneficial bacteria on the media surfaces. These bacteria in turn, process the by products of fish waste and decaying vegetation (ammonia, nitrites) and purify the pond water.
Excess cleaning of the filter pads will disturb and deplete these bacteria
colonies and greatly reduce the effectiveness of the filter. We suggest
back flushing your filter once every two weeks. This is accomplished
by turning off, or diverting the inflow to the filter, and opening the
bottom drain. This allows the water in the tank to reverse the flow
(down flow) through the filter media and removes debris that was accumulated
in the lower settling chamber. Back flushing can and should be performed
regularly since this gentle rinsing action does not disturb the bacteria
colonies and keeps the media free-flowing and free of trapped solids.
The actual washing
of the filter pads should be done only when the media has become so
physically clogged, it has created a restriction of the water flow.
When this restricted condition exists, remove and clean only the bottom
filter pad using pond water. Clean only the bottom pad as it will collect
most of the debris and tend to clog first due to the upflow design of
these filters. Place the cleaned pad on top of all of the other pads.
By cleaning only one filter pad at a time, you are minimizing the depletion
of bacteria in the system and leaving enough seed bacteria so that the
colonies can recover very quickly. Never clean all of the filter pads
at one time as this would essentially wipe out the bacteria colonies,
causing the filter system to require weeks or months to regain it’s
biological filtering capacities.
A newly installed filter system can take 6-10 weeks to naturally establish the required level of bacteria colonization to effectively purify the pond water. This “maturing” period can be significantly reduced by adding freeze-dried seed bacteria to the pond and filter. This bacteria is available in a liquid or a dried concentrate form from our shop.
After your filter is set up, backflush the filter often to prevent clogging of the filter pads and only wash pads when absolutely necessary to maintain unrestricted water flow.
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Waterscape Designs, Inc. . 1088 W. 9th St. . Upland, CA. 91786 . (909) 981-1731 . (Lic. #824893)