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A place for Koi enthusiasts to swap their top hints and tips
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- James Pond
- Super member
- Posts: 1426
- Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:10 am
Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
Hi all
There seems to be more and more questions about K1 and Easy pods etc etc these days, so I thought a nice step by step picture guide may help a few people decide they can make their own static K1 filter [:D]
PLEASE NOTE: The words are mine but the photographs are not – they were taken by Lisa at Cuttlebrook Koi Farm – her other half Mark makes these filters for their ponds, so you know they work well.
Firstly you need a chamber – a large water butt, vortex, or in this case a plastic barrel.
Cut a 4″ hole in the side – this will be for gravity feed (for pump fed cut the hole to the size of pipe you are using) and a 1.5″ hole in the bottom for drainage.
Now fit a 1.5″ flanged tank connector to the bottom, but ONLY the outside piece you see here – don’t fit the inside flange as this stops crud exiting the chamber. Then fit a 90deg bend and length of 1.5″ pipe coming out from under the barrel, then fit with a ball valve (if using the black ABS solvent weld you will need to use reducing sleeves on the ball valve at 55p each) – this will be the bottom drain, allowing you to completely and easily drain all the water and muck from the chamber when cleaning. (if you’ve got a vortex with a drain already in place, skip this bit [:D])
At this stage also fit the tank connector for your bottom drain/pump feed, as it’s awkward to do later!
Next you need something to fit inside the barrel – in this case a plastic bin. Wilkinsons have a range of sizes and 50L bins can be had for less than a tenner. I use this size on my own pond with around 30L of K1 and it does a great job.
Cut holes in it to allow a length of 4″ pipe to slide inside it and out the other side (note: the 2nd hole hasn’t been cut in this pic)
Then cut lots of slots in the bottom and lower 1/3rd of the sides of the bin, and in the section of pipe that sits inside the bin, to allow water to flow through. You can drill lots of 8mm or 10mm holes if you don’t fancy yourself with an angle grinder. [:D]
Now you need to mount the bin inside the barrel. Use tank connectors on the pipe to suspend the bin nice and securely. You’ll need to cut a hole in the barrel to allow the water to exit the chamber through the tank connector at the top of the picture. You can either have the pipe from this feeding into another filter or directly back into the pond (if using this as a gravity fed stand alone chamber, you will need to reduce the 4″ exit pipe down to the pipe that fits your pump)
Note the bottom drain feed is also connected up in this picture.
Add an air ring into the bottom of the yellow bin to allow easy cleaning of the K1, fill the bin 1/2 to 2/3rds full of K1 and thats it!
The way it works is the water enters the large barrel and flows up through the slots in the smaller bin . It then has to pass through the K1 and into the pipe via the slots cut in it. It then exits the filter through the pipe.
I would recommend you have further fluid K1 after this chamber to give even more biological filtration, though the Easy pod doesn’t seem to need it – and that’s basically what this is, a home made Easy pod.
The sealant I always use for this kind of work is Den Braven Polyflex – it’s a black mastic and very good – much better than silicone IMO. It’s available from Koi Kit’s online shop and probably others, though Koi Kit is post free.
An accurate costing of the whole thing:
2 4″ tank connectors – £15
Length of 4″ pipe – £15
1.5″ flanged tank connector – £3
1.5″ ball valve and reducing sleeves (if needed) – £12
1.5″ pipe and 90 bend – £5
Plastic bin – £10
Large tube Den Braven – £7
Plastic barrel – free if you’re lucky, otherwise Wilkinsons do a 210ltr water butt for £20
30L K1 – 50L from Ebay for £25.
Total cost around £100, though i’m sure a lot of people have at least some of the bits already lying around, and I bet some of you have most of them [:D] You can do this in a day and save yourself £300 on the cost of an Easy Pod.
I think that covers it, any questions please ask, also if anyone has anything to add to the post that they have improved on or I have missed/gotten wrong then feel free.[:D]
Rob
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- [Deleted User]
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- Judyangee
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- Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:46 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
Fantastic post to help out others.
There really should be a section just for tips and helpful advice where posts like this could be easily accessed. Otherwise this is going to get lost in back pages.
Maybe admin can make it a sticky 
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- rick
- Super member
- Posts: 6393
- Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:00 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
a good idea to have a hints-tips section , one thing make sure the barrels are fish safe as some can be toxic or had toxic contents in them
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- James Pond
- Super member
- Posts: 1426
- Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:10 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
ORIGINAL: rick
a good idea to have a hints-tips section , one thing make sure the barrels are fish safe as some can be toxic or had toxic contents in them
Good point Rick.
Another thing to add – you can make your own air ring using plastic 15 or 22mm speedfit pipe from B&Q/Wickes or wherever. Just bend it into a circle to fit the bottom of the bin, then fasten the 2 ends together by pushing them into a 3 way speedfit connector. The pipe to the air pump goes into the other part of the connector and up out of the bin. Use 90 degree connectors if needed to take the pipe to the air pump.
Finally drill 1mm holes at 15-20mm intervals around the circle of pipe and away you go. Total cost – less than a tenner.
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- noddy
- Senior member
- Posts: 871
- Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:53 pm
- Location: Leicester
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
Great post that mate,thanks alot.
Been looking to make my own for a while now and im gonna have ago at this,thanks again.
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- Daran
- Super member
- Posts: 1181
- Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:16 pm
- Location: Ramsgate Kent
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
Great thread !!
I’ll give it a go.
Cheers Daran.
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- Gazzeruk
- Junior member
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:13 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
so u could link 2-3 of these together, k1, fluid k1 then jap mat? if so which order? and u use the 4inch pipe to connect them all?
nice thread 🙂
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- MrJosh
- Junior member
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 5:56 pm
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
nice one
I will think about trying this.
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- djsmgibbs
- Senior member
- Posts: 691
- Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:40 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
excellant post, clear and consise instructions – very well done. Now I truly know howe to make a homemade easy and when the time comes I shall do so.
Thank you
Donald
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- Termite
- Junior member
- Posts: 364
- Joined: Fri May 04, 2007 8:20 pm
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
Have to be honest – if I hadn’t got an Easypod I would do this . . .
Termite
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- martinoneill
- Starting member
- Posts: 80
- Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 12:00 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
cheers some much for this post ive been asking this question 4 ages now lol, just going to print it all off lol thanks
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- James Pond
- Super member
- Posts: 1426
- Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:10 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
ORIGINAL: Gazzeruk
so u could link 2-3 of these together, k1, fluid k1 then jap mat? if so which order? and u use the 4inch pipe to connect them all?
nice thread
Yes you can link as many together as you want. For fluid K1 just connect the 4″ outlet pipe from the first tank to the 2nd with a tank connector. Theres no need to add a bin inside and no need to extend the inlet pipe inside the tank.
Just have a slotted/drilled 4″ pipe as an exit the same as in the first chamber but without the bin on it.
You don’t need a bottom drain – make an air ring that fits all the way around the bottom and nothing will settle in the tank due to the constant movement provided by the air.
Personally I would not bother with jap mat, you could easily fluidise 80L+ of K1 in one of these chambers, and if you have a large pond I would just add further fluid K1 chambers.
If you really wanted a final ‘polish’ then you could add another static K1 chamber the same as the first at the end, this would pick up anything that got through the first chamber – but IMO you don’t really need this. R
Remember adequate turnover of the pond (at least every 2 hours) will put the water through the filters sufficient times per day for the first chamber to remove just about all the fines anyway.
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- rigger1971
- Super member
- Posts: 4367
- Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:40 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
thanx m8 nuff said!!!!
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- Mr Chippy
- Super member
- Posts: 1304
- Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:46 pm
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
BRILLIANT good clear pictures and instructions one of these on the skimmer seems a good idea and something I can make in the dry in the garage.
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- James Pond
- Super member
- Posts: 1426
- Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:10 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
ORIGINAL: Mr Chippy
BRILLIANT good clear pictures and instructions one of these on the skimmer seems a good idea and something I can make in the dry in the garage.
These are perfect for a skimmer, I have a smaller version on my own skimmer and it takes a huge amount of muck out of the pond.
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- Gazzeruk
- Junior member
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:13 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
ORIGINAL: James Pond
ORIGINAL: Gazzeruk
so u could link 2-3 of these together, k1, fluid k1 then jap mat? if so which order? and u use the 4inch pipe to connect them all?
nice thread
Yes you can link as many together as you want. For fluid K1 just connect the 4″ outlet pipe from the first tank to the 2nd with a tank connector. Theres no need to add a bin inside and no need to extend the inlet pipe inside the tank.
Just have a slotted/drilled 4″ pipe as an exit the same as in the first chamber but without the bin on it.
You don’t need a bottom drain – make an air ring that fits all the way around the bottom and nothing will settle in the tank due to the constant movement provided by the air.
Personally I would not bother with jap mat, you could easily fluidise 80L+ of K1 in one of these chambers, and if you have a large pond I would just add further fluid K1 chambers.
If you really wanted a final ‘polish’ then you could add another static K1 chamber the same as the first at the end, this would pick up anything that got through the first chamber – but IMO you don’t really need this. R
Remember adequate turnover of the pond (at least every 2 hours) will put the water through the filters sufficient times per day for the first chamber to remove just about all the fines anyway.
thanks for taking the time in sharing your experiance and info, been a real good insight.
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- ilovekoi
- New member
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:36 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
great stuff, i have one noobish question to add, im thinking about using gravity fed, so
this will be placed slightly lower than my pond? so my question is what stops the water overflowing?
or is that down to my pump on the other side sucking the water back out into the pond?
and also the yellow box with the pipe in the middle, thats how the water leaves the butt??
im asking so many questions because this is the only bit that stumps me, and i wanna
crack on before autumn comes
and dont even get me started on the skimmer
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- djsmgibbs
- Senior member
- Posts: 691
- Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:40 am
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
if you are gravity feed that the filter and the pond must be at the same level.
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- alan_t
- Super member
- Posts: 7870
- Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:03 am
- Location: bristol
RE: Step by step home made K1 filter – picture guide
tbh, you would need something after the fluid k1 to help polish the water.
i have two pieces of jap matt wrapped around my exit and this stops any of the fines that gets through the static k1 chamber.
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