Reconfiguring a shower

[eds]

I run a DIY mini shower on my QT system ([url=http://www.koiquest.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... +QT#p81739]See here for more details[/url]). It's running with an Oase Ecomax 4000 (4,000lph) so the turnover is pretty puny compared to others.

It's doing a decent job so I'm not overly worried but I am thinking about how I can up the performance without having to buy another pump. First thing I was planning on doing over Easter was changing the pipework to larger diameter, solid pipe and making more holes in the spray bar section to reduce the frictional head.

The second thing I was thinking of doing was reducing the static head too. My thinking was that if I took my current shower [url=http://www.koiquest.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... 3&start=15]DIY shower[/url] and split the current single stack of three into two stacks of two I would reduce the vertical head by almost a third as they are only just above the water level now.

I know this won't make an enormous difference but it certainly can't hurt, can it? Will reducing the fall height of the shower really effect it's performance and reduce the amount of gaseous exchange? I know Mike's website says the higher showers are better but surely, in this case, this will be offset by a better turnover and it will also reduce the time between passes through the filter for all the water in the pond. It will also be more cost effective in the running costs per amount of water moved.

What do you all reckon?

[brother of feeeshpond]

Ed
1st thing I would do is use a grinder or similar to put slots in the spay bar instead of holes.
So whilst your at it, you may as well up the diameter of the pipework & get rid of all unnecessary bends
What dia you on at the moment ?

[eds]

What dia you on at the moment ?

Just 1.5". Thinking of upping it to 2" solid pipe throughout and reducing the length of the pipework to reduce the friction head further.

Are slots much better than holes then? I would have thought nice large holes would be just as good?

[Gazza]

Hi Ed,

Upgrading to the 2" pipe will give you about 20% increase i think it is and with the shorter run i reckon you will see the increase in the flow

I use holes in my spray bars and drill them smaller at fist and then add more and test it each time so i get it spot on

[Bob Hart]

Ed,

With lower output pumps I dont think you'll gain anything from increasing the size. With more powerful pumps I have proved that an 18% increase is possible by going from 1.5" to 2".

I use 2 x Aquamax 5500's on my shower and just use 1.5" pipes as I dont think I will gain from any increase. I also use 8mm holes, 2 rows drilled about an 1" apart so the water sprays outwards on each, holes roughly 1.5" apart.

[eds]

I agree Bob; I'm not sure the increased diameter will make much difference with my relatively low flow. I will reduce the pipe length as much as possible though and try increasing the hole sizes as they do block with algae at times and this will certainly help. Or I'll turn the holes into slots.

What do you guys reckon about lower the height of the shower though? I think this will make a noticeable difference to the flow rate as Oases aren't that great at higher heads are they? I think that the increased flow might offset the reduction in drop and aeration, what do you all reckon?

[Davej]

Hi Ed

I would stick with the three tier, I suspect that whilst you will get a bit more flow by reducing the height, the benefit of this will be offset by the water cascading through less media, less gassing off etc.

If a short shower was as effective as a tall one I guess the likes of Mike S would be marketing one

Regards

Dave

[benyiii]

Hi

I believe some people have built ponds with very wide two tier showers for the reason you mention. Its mentioned that the reason for 4 tier showers is that its vital for the water to gain velocity. I questioned this about two tier showers and he thought that surely the water doesnt reach much velocity anyway as it is constantly slowed down by hitting the media and so the extra flow outweighs perhaps a slight loss in velocity by having two tier showers.

It would be nice to see bellow water line showers take off which can be as many tiers as you want the filter bay to be deep, as then you would have zero head and could run something like an optimax 20,000. That would completely remove the expensive running costs argument. However whether or not being in a sealed unit (except the top) would remove the benefits remains to be seen??

Ben

[Andy H]

Would below water line showers be full of water anyway?

[eds]

Hi

I believe some people have built ponds with very wide two tier showers for the reason you mention. Its mentioned that the reason for 4 tier showers is that its vital for the water to gain velocity. I questioned this about two tier showers and he thought that surely the water doesnt reach much velocity anyway as it is constantly slowed down by hitting the media and so the extra flow outweighs perhaps a slight loss in velocity by having two tier showers.

My thoughts exactly Benyii. The water can't fall much faster than it does as it comes out of the spray bar surely? I think I'm going to try it as while each bit of water will be flowing through less media on each pass I will have exactly the same amount of media as before in two towers.

It would be nice to see bellow water line showers take off which can be as many tiers as you want the filter bay to be deep, as then you would have zero head and could run something like an optimax 20,000. That would completely remove the expensive running costs argument. However whether or not being in a sealed unit (except the top) would remove the benefits remains to be seen??

Ben

Maurice is planning some kind of gravity-fed shower. However you'll still have a head to pump back as the static head will be the difference between bottom water pool and the surface of the pond now, rather than from the surface of the pond to the top of the shower - you've just reversed the head!

[benyiii]

Hi

No it wouldnt be full of water because you ensure that the amount gravity feeding through the spraybar is equal to that being pumped out to ensure all the 4 tiers of media media is not submerged so that it is still a shower. I imagine a sort of clear side where you can check the bottom tier is not submerged.

As far is the head is concerned if you wanted you could just have return at the bottom like a stream flow sort of design and have nearly zero head. Even if you have the returns at the surface its completely different to pump bellow water line through a little bit of pipework (friction head) than to lift it 1.5m above water line to top of shower. Im sure you could use oase optimax pumps.

20,000lph for 120W sounds alot better than the 20,000 lph Im getting over mine for 340W (two aquamx 16,000s). Then they could all easily be run with sufficient flow. But I can only see them as being sealed units with 4 tiers inside to ensure that if the pump stops the water does not leak out as it fills. Whether or not this would remove all the gassing of benefits that showers are so good at achieving I would be intersted to hear?

Regards

Ben

[eds]

Well I've gone ahead and re-done my shower in two sets of two tiers rather than one set of 3 tiers.

I found a lot of dirt when taking it apart. The dirt in the shower amongst the BHM was bad, but the dirt inside the cage of the Oase pump was terrible! The bottom half was full! I must remember to clean this out more regularly but I never thought this would happen in a shower. I put this down to having too many fish in there now and not enough flow through the shower, but I'm surprised by the amount in the pump cage.

Anyway the BHm was taken out and washed in water from the QT and redistributed into the four containers. I think I've now got enough space to get nearly another box in there but hopefully the larger gaps will mean less dirt collects in there at the moment!

Anyway the pictures after the change. The two showers are now side by side and both pushing water across the centre. Two aeration bars provide plenty of circulation at the ends too. I've used 1 spray bar each side and then put two bends at the end left open so the extra water simply pours back into the shower with absolutely no restriction that can increase the head.

[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2149.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2155.jpg[/img]

And some pics of the fish. They were eating better than ever after the change, possibly as they hadn't been fed since yesterday!

[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2154.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2150.jpg[/img]

[Gazza]

Hi Ed,

I would think the dirt is there as you said due to flow,could you not put another pump or up-rate one of them to help

[eds]

Hi Ed,

I would think the dirt is there as you said due to flow,could you not put another pump or up-rate one of them to help

I could, but am trying to optimise what pump flow I have rather than add extra watts! It's been working well, apart from the dirt. In fact it was working pretty well with the dirt in there so I'm not too worried about it, will just have to keep a check on it!

[eds]

Recently it became apparent that despite the changes I did above my QT system wasn't working as well as it has been. The alterations I made in the spring have helped but I don't think the flow was good enough. So at the National I bought an Aquamax 12,000 to treble the flow.

At the start of the holidays though it was clear that while this has really helped (the green water cleared in a couple of days) it hasn't completely solved the problem.

After investigating the filter it was clear that there was a lot of dirt in the shower, especially the bottom tiers where the BHM is just sat on the base of the container. These bottom containers also sloped backwards so there was some water in there where dirt settled out. So I needed to make sure that all the BHM was not on a solid base. How I've done this is to make a couple of new tiers and then the ones I've already made will slot into the base boxes giving me an open space underneath. I've also used bricks on the frame to tilt the shower trays forwards so the water doesn't collect.

Onto the pictures!
First how it looked before,
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2448.jpg[/img]

Second a few shots of the inhabitants,
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2449.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2450.jpg[/img]

This time I've decided to simply drill 60mm holes rather than make a filter grid base like last time for ease and as the grid tends to collect blanketweed. It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference.
First hole drilled,
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2451.jpg[/img]

All the holes drilled and waiting for the edges to be trimmed off neatly with a craft knife,
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2452.jpg[/img]

And then all set up again with extra holes drilled in the spray bar too,
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2453.jpg[/img]

And a close-up of the bricks which support the back of the trays much more evenly.
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2454.jpg[/img]

You can see the double tops of the two original tiers now stacked together with the new boxes now maiking up the upper tier.

Hopefully these changes will mean I have no more dirt settling out and everything runs fine. And even better (apart from the new pump) it's only cost me about £10 for 5 boxes to be delivered to my house! Only problem is I still need another 10kg of BHM!!!!