On 24 Jul 2003 14:10:41 -0700, (Tom La Bron) wrote:

Bill,

I too have been committed to bio-balls, but they have always worked
great, so I have never thought much about changing, until this year.
A place on the internet that has it cheaper than anyone for a spool of
the stuff and is right here in Oklahoma, has got Springflo and I have
been toying with the idea of using it. My commitment to bio-balls
still stands, but what I have thought of doing was putting the
springflo in the bottom of the filter and the bio-balls on top of the
springflo, this way I was still use the investment in bio-balls, but
maybe get some more bioactivity with the Springflo. I can go with
this setup because my filter acts like a wet/dry filter and the water
trickles down through the medium.

Tom L.L.


My pond was originally built with equipped with a 100 gallon stock
tank bio-filter, loaded with bio-balls. When the filter was initially
flooded and placed into service the buoyancy of the bio-balls became
immediately apparent. The bio-balls required a roll of stiff 1/2 inch
square plastic mesh covering the bio-balls with another layer of lava
rock on top. The first year the bio-balls did not foul because they
were not heavily loaded with fish waste and pond mulm.

In the following years, the fish reproduced and I added 4 KOI. This
complicated the maintenance of water quality and clogging of the
filter system.

Good fortune provided me with the Jan Jordan link
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/ and the plans for a four barrel filter
system. With the luxury of this set-up, clear and healthy water is
facilitated. Using the BZT aquaculture supplement seems to be keeping
the filter free of clogging. Nitrites are fairly low.

Early this spring I did buy an 1800 foot long spool of poly-twine,
like they use at Home depot to tie material to your roof rack.
Thought about trying this stuff for the bio-filter media, simply to
experiment. Since things are progressing so well, though, I'll suffer
along with the installed set-up.

Bill M.