Bakki shower
Encyclopedia
Bakki showers are a type of trickle filtration.
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, ceramic is placed in trays and the water pumped to the top of the filter and trickles through the media, eventually flowing back to the pond.
Momotaro Koi Farms developed the bakki shower with stainless steel trays. Since that time many "DIY bakki showers" have been designed with variations on the them. Plastic and fiberglass boxes or crates have been used with success.
In all it's simplicity there is a lot of higher chemistry going on between the bio film and the water column. The biochemistry is better explained in this book : Biology of the nitrogen cycle By Hermann Bothe, Stuart John Ferguson, William Edward Newton
This method of off-gassing and aeration is used widely in aquaculture.
Origins
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.Biofilms and algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
grow on the rocks and feed on the nutrients in the stream, essentially filtering the water. In the case of the Bakki shower, ceramic is placed in trays and the water pumped to the top of the filter and trickles through the media, eventually flowing back to the pond.
Momotaro Koi Farms developed the bakki shower with stainless steel trays. Since that time many "DIY bakki showers" have been designed with variations on the them. Plastic and fiberglass boxes or crates have been used with success.
In all it's simplicity there is a lot of higher chemistry going on between the bio film and the water column. The biochemistry is better explained in this book : Biology of the nitrogen cycle By Hermann Bothe, Stuart John Ferguson, William Edward Newton
Advantages
The advantages of this type of filtration are:- Conversion of nitrogenous wastes
- Off gassing of CO2Carbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
maintains pHPHIn chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline... - Oxygen is reintroduced
This method of off-gassing and aeration is used widely in aquaculture.
Filter media choices
The choices of Filter media vary greatly. Each filter media has different properties and therefore different performance. Here are some photos of different types:External links
- http://www.bwkoi.com/BaWaKi-Shower-Pond-Filtration-sc-161.html
- http://www.bakkishower.co.uk
- http://www.cermedia.com/
- http://www.bactitwist.com/
- http://www.jaegerenvironmental.com/
- http://www.koiusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=354:hit-showers&catid=128:march-april-2009&Itemid=1