Bickal Koi Farm: Koi House Blog Settling Chamber & Filter Construction

Dec 30, 2006 The filter chambers are all framed in, insulated and ready for plumbing. 3" bottom drains if you please, and the ability to drain them completly dry is a must. The two settling chambers are 4x4x5' deep and should be close to 600 gallons each. The dirt is backfilled and the cone shape bottom complete. The two 4" lines on the right hand side come from the bottom drains. The 4" drain near the top is the skimmer. The hole through the wood is 6" and will connect the settling chamber to the chamber which houses the "Luke Pump" The center chamber which houses the "Luke Pump". I hope you like my DIY 6" watertight cap.

Jan 1, 2006 The liners are installed and we are full of water and operational. Some onlookers on the lower right thinking they are going to get fed. The black mesh tube is just temporary until I get my DIY Easy's made. I lost one 6" yamabuki who went through the bottom drains into the settling chamber, then to the pump chamber and went right through the Luke Pump. Lets just say the pump won. The temporary tube is removed. Inside the settling chamber sits a 55 gallon barrel full of slots (see the static strainer page for construction). This barrel is full of Bickal Bio-Rope. It is being used as Mechanical/Bio Filtration. The pump chamber. Luke Pump fully operational and pushing a nice current. Great flow through all 4 bottom drains, that appears to be pretty equal. The rope which is attached to the pump was tied to a board (removed for picture). This holds up the weight of the pump to keep it from slacking. I will make a permanant harness eventually. The valve chamber. About 36" wide by 6" thick by 5' deep. There are two 3" valves (one for each settling chamber, and a 1 1/2" valve for the pump chamber. There is a 6" tile line which runs out to the yard, and a 3/4" water line comming in. When I built the center chamber, I did so in such a way, that in the future, to service the valves, you remove the rubber and take off the bottom two boards. Not ideal, but ok with the room that I had. I finally tried out my skimmer pipes. Hooked up an elbow, and a small standpipe, and WOW, that works very nice!! I have to block them off when I am feeding the fish, but it is now keeping the surface of the pond very clean.

July 10, 2006 Koi went outside back in April, and I have been busy outside with spawning. Latest picture of the koi-house. I got my retaining wall in, Japanese Lantern, and Koi Flag.

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