I think part of the problem with the media breaking down could be over boiling the media. Just a hunch
K1 Filtration for rays plug!
- Thread starter rudy
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Trical netting from Aquatic Eco is what I use. Gutter gaurd works but isn't available in the 3' wide pieces the stuff from Aquatic eco is. I say strainers are a joke cause of the massive amount of surface area needed to prevent media from sticking directly to the strainer. Instead I basically use an egg grate divider in the tank wrapped with trical - then a strainer of the drain in case it gets by the divider. The divider has so much surface area there is no suction so the media won't stick to the divider. Drain remains unobstructed and you get a better boil since there's no stuck media.
I have been running K1 for 7 years now I believe, NONE of it is "breaking down" You can smush it but it doesn't break.
Could differeing levels of water hardness possibly be the reason for breakdown? Soft enough water to actually absorb something from the k1? UV exposure maybe? Assuming you guys are talking name brand K1 and not one of the many cheap knock offs?
Do you mean over boiling as in moving bed, if so mine bately moves, it just sits in the flow. As to actual boiling I have never done that.
My K1 was given to me in a huge sack from a LFS so could easily be a knock off brand and I am doing actual K1 a dis-service, it could also be co-incidence that the Maidenhead aquatics branch I spoke to was using a knock off K1 too?
The splinters were about 5mm long and float to the top. A lot of the media only had the centre left when I took it out.
I believe that ALL plastics eventually break down, hence the high plastic pollution levels in our seas around the world.
The splinters were about 5mm long and float to the top. A lot of the media only had the centre left when I took it out.
I believe that ALL plastics eventually break down, hence the high plastic pollution levels in our seas around the world.
I do suspect you have a generic product. Do you have any pictures of your media you can post please? Please forgive me, I'm not trying to be too critical, I'm trying to learn. As there is potentially a lot at stake here for all of us. If this is going to happen in our systems soon, we should be prepared.
Could be knock of media or a bad batch. I worked in injection molding before which is not exactly the same extrusion process but I do remember from destructive testing that you can have a product that looks and feels exactly the same but one will fail and the other will pass testing
Great thread. I look forward to
DB junkie
additions.
My 1st foray into k1 will be for my indoor pond........so atleasy i dont have to worry anout it getting into my pump.... directly. The pump is in the pond.
I am also working on. A second traditional sump for a 180......i will be working in it about the same time! It is gonna be quite the learning experience.
For the traditional sump i plan on making an extra chamber just to catch any errant k1.....
I will look for the mesh desribed above.
DB junkie
additions. My 1st foray into k1 will be for my indoor pond........so atleasy i dont have to worry anout it getting into my pump.... directly. The pump is in the pond.
I am also working on. A second traditional sump for a 180......i will be working in it about the same time! It is gonna be quite the learning experience.
For the traditional sump i plan on making an extra chamber just to catch any errant k1.....
I will look for the mesh desribed above.
Actual Kaldnes K1/K3/BioChip media does not break down after 5 years, that is completely false. It would be very cost prohibitive for waste treatment plants/aquaculture facilities to run this media if that were true. Knockoff plastic media from ebay or other sources may be a different story, can't speak to the reliability of that.
I dont want to argue...my point is that I was fine for 5 years and I am saying AFTER not on the dot of 5 yrs old, I just know that I did not have problems in first 5 yrs, but between then and now which is around 8 years it has begun to break down.
I will get some pics up, I am stripping the sump out bit by bit to make sure the other media takes up the bio load, I stripped a load out last night (it is 100 gallons of water / submerged media) and I have found 2 sizes of media (it has 3 in fact but the large "cotton real size" (1 inch diameter) is fine and staying put.
The whole outer edge has come away from the inner part of the media.
As I was given the media by the LFS show I spent over £2k with on the tank I have no way of knowing what actual brand it is. He had just refitted the shop completely and this had come from his system, the age could be much older than the "nearly new" and we do not know the actual supplier. I will get the 2 types under a magnifying glass to see if any identifying marks but I doubt it will have a supplier name on it though!
Worth noting that I lost a ray within the last few weeks, the broken media blocked the waste pipe, I have no axe to grind and only reporting what I have found and when mentioned to a MA branch they had experienced pump blockages due to broken media too. If we all keep an eye on this type of media and look out for signs of breakdown periodically then maybe 1 ray need not die.
The whole outer edge has come away from the inner part of the media.
As I was given the media by the LFS show I spent over £2k with on the tank I have no way of knowing what actual brand it is. He had just refitted the shop completely and this had come from his system, the age could be much older than the "nearly new" and we do not know the actual supplier. I will get the 2 types under a magnifying glass to see if any identifying marks but I doubt it will have a supplier name on it though!
Worth noting that I lost a ray within the last few weeks, the broken media blocked the waste pipe, I have no axe to grind and only reporting what I have found and when mentioned to a MA branch they had experienced pump blockages due to broken media too. If we all keep an eye on this type of media and look out for signs of breakdown periodically then maybe 1 ray need not die.
