To any pond keeper filtration is always at the forefront of there mind, what’s best, how big, what style?. So many questions and enough answers and options to fill a library, so here is an insight to one particular type the Bakki Shower or trickle filter as they are sometimes known. So what is a Bakki Shower? commonly showers are made in set widths such as 30cm, 60cm and 90cm but can be made to any size by us just drop us a message and we can discuss this with you. Coming in two or three tiers with mesh bottoms to allow water flow and all coming with a lid and wier that lets the filtered water return to the pond via gravity. Fitting the filter is very easy all you need is a stepped hose connector or 40mm solvent weld pipe there are also fitting kits that contain all you need to get going.
First developed by the Momotaro Japanese Koi farm, the Bakki Shower attempts to simulate natures way of filtering water. Similar to a mountain stream where water cascades over rocks. As always nature finds a way to filter water but that’s not to say we can’t replicate it almost perfectly. The Bakki Shower is probably the best filtration method for removing nitrate from water as well as having the capacity to deal with huge volumes of ammonia and nitrate, for there size they are hard to beat by any other filtration system when it come to biological filtration. For a more in depth look at the history of the bakki shower here is a link to the wikipedia page.
As well as the Bakki Shower filtration benefits they also add a large amount of aeration to the water which is always good and the fact the water falls from the wier in to the pond it creates a flow as well which most koi seem to love.
The only downside to bakki showers is that they cannot deal with solid waste very well, in fact they are useless at it without extra help from foams or Filter Wool in the top tray under the spray bar or some type of pre filter like a pressurised filter system feeding the Bakki Shower.
Therefore trickle filters are ideal as a stand alone system in the sense of having there own pump and pre filter separate from your main filtration like an EazyPod type system.
So what is the actual process of the Bakki Shower?
Well biofilms and algae grow on the rocks and feed on the nutrients in the stream, essentially filtering the water. In the case of the Bakki Shower, media like bacteria house, Alfagrog (ceramic type) or pumice and even stones if you are on a really tight budget is placed in trays and the water pumped to the top of the Bakki Shower and trickles through the media, eventually flowing back to the pond via the weir.
The advantage of the Bakki Shower is that the water becomes highly aerated as it cascades down which helps to gas off some of the ammonia instead of it being converted to nitrite and then to nitrate by the normal nitrifying bugs (nitrosomonas and nitrobacter).
The two main media types used for Bakki Showers are Alfagrog or Bacteria Home so here is a little look at them.
What is Alfagrog?
Alfagrog is a porous foamed ceramic material, which is lightweight, strong and inert.
It's high surface area makes it the natural choice for colonisation by micro organisms in biological filtration systems resulting in cleaner water.
What is Bacteria Home?
The rock is baked under very high temperatures. Bacteria Home makes high concentrations of good bacteria nestle in the microscopic pores in the rock increasing the mineral and redox values of the water. It also enriches your pond with oxygen.
So what are you waiting for? Get your Bakki Shower today and see the benefits for yourself.