Ultima Filter Testimonial

[kendragon]

I've been maintaining this pond for over 20years. It is equipped with a Aqua Ultraviolet UV and filter running on a 1/4hp koi pond pump and a 1hp backwash pool pump.
Early last year the filter was acting up. Upon opening it up, I discovered that over the years the filter collected coarse sand inside and was not able to pass it during backwash. During normal operation it is a down flow filter and during backwash it is up flow. The sand is too heavy to make it to the top to exit. Well, the filter was a quarter full of sand and some media had also broke into pieces. There is no way I was going to separate them from each other. I decided the empty the filter and run it empty and rely on the japanese filter mat in the sump.
It was a disaster! There was constant mulm in the stream and worst, the water was thick and foamy. This went on for 6 months and seemed to be getting worse.
Bit the bullet and refilled the filter with 6 boxes of new media. Within a week the pond was clear and free of any mulm. Way easier to maintain than washing mats and vacuuming the pond. Water quality and appearance are now exceptional.

FILTER


BACKWASHING MEDIA


JAPANESE FILTER MAT
Weighs almost 75 pounds when pulled out for cleaning


POND WATER WITH NO ULTIMA MEDIA
Foamy

POND TODAY

 

[pacu mom]

Ken, could you please compare Ultimas with Biowaves. If you were setting up a pond, which would you use?

 

[kendragon]

Ken, could you please compare Ultimas with Biowaves. If you were setting up a pond, which would you use?

I would lean towards the Ultima.
It is designed to be a mechanical and biological which uses a smaller media. Head pressure is good. Internally it has a swirl system for backwashing and tumbling of the media. Customer service and quality is also good.
The BioWave has a larger media mainly designed for koi ponds. It requires a prefilter and a air blower for cleaning is suggested. To me it doesn't trap as much resulting in little backwashing but water clarity is not as good. If water clarity is what one seeks then the BioGlass filter is pretty good but requires frequent maintenance as one would expect.

 

[pacu mom]

Thanks Ken!

 

[kendragon]

A little history of the Ultima.
When first released over 20 years ago, the filter was named Predator. It had plastic beads a little bigger than grains of rice. It was great for water clarity but after a few months it would compact the beads into a solid mass. Lots of complaints. A new media was developed to replace the beads which is todays Ultima. The filter shown above was actually purchased as the Predator and converted.

 

[Troy1015]

Dloks

 

[kendragon]

Super clear water. Can you spot the HiFin shark?







This stream runs the full length of the house. Filtered water from the Ultima returns at the foot of the Tsukubai water basin. Clean water washes everything in the stream into the pond.

 

[cigars]

Man that is super cool, very beautiful

 

[nzafi]

How do you determine when to backwash the filter? I believe you said you almost never do it but I can imagine not doing it often when heavily stocked.

 

[kendragon]

How do you determine when to backwash the filter? I believe you said you almost never do it but I can imagine not doing it often when heavily stocked.

There's a pressure gage on the filter.