Kaldness K1 Pond Biomedia + SUPRA Best Pond Filter Media

Kaldnes K1 Pond Filter Media Offers A Very High SSA

Kaldness K1 biomedia is a patented design from Europe that selectively targets the growth of beneficial nitrifying bacteria used in biofilters. It is ideally used in the Nexus Answer Koi Pond Filter. The biological filtration performance from this biomedia is unsurpassed thanks to its unique qualities. Kaldnes K1 has a high Specific Surface Area per volume of 800 m2 / m3 and it has been designed to be slightly buoyant in water. This makes it extremely easy to agitate with large amounts of air and large quantities can be agitated by air bubbles. Agitation of the biomedia is critical to the beneficial bacteria (Nitrosomonas/Nitrobacter) living on the surface of the Kaldnes K1.

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Air agitation is essential to pond water purification:

  • The wheel shaped biomedia needs a constant supply of oxygenated water. Large quantities of oxygen are needed by the Nitrosomonas & Nitrobacter bacteria ... 4.3mg of oxygen is required to convert 1 mg of ammonia to nitrate.
  • High oxygen levels ensures an aerobic state in the biofilter, therefore ensuring unwanted heterotrophic bacteria are unable to develop and grow.
  • The water returned back to the koi pond is saturated with oxygen which is beneficial to the ponds eco system.
  • The moving bed ensures that the wheel shaped bio-media constantly bump into each other, causing dirt and minute particles that are present in filter to be knocked off. Self cleaning media results in less disturbance or destruction of the beneficial ammonia oxidizing bacteria that occurs during filter cleaning.

Remember that Nitrosomonas/Nitrobacter nitrifying bacteria, that colonize the Kaldnes K1 biomedia take time to establish themselves. The less disturbance to their eco system the better your bio filter will work.

Kaldnes K1, SUPRA - water purification process, clean water systemKaldnes K1 pond filter media

Due to it being a non porous media the problems associated with other ceramic filter media such as clogging of fine pores is a thing of the past. Ceramic filter media are at a distinct disadvantage because the tiny pores that allow for such a large SSA (specific surface area) are easily blocked by tiny particles, floating algae and the beneficial bacteria. The net effect is an expensive marble, with a significantly small SSA to volume ratio.

Unlike many bio media manufacturers, who are reluctant to quote specifics in terms of their bio media's performance because these specifics can't be guaranteed given different pond conditions, Kaldness K1 biomedia will consistently produce the same results within different pond environments ... BUT you must Keep your pond as clear from solid waste as possible because solid waste gives heterotrophic bacteria an opportunity to cause problems.

Speed is critical to the water purification process if you want to Keep your fish alive!

Ammonia and nitrite levels quickly rise quickly in your fish pond during the warmer spring and summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in well stocked koi and goldfish ponds (koi are capable of eating three times as much as the same size gold fish). A smaller capacity biofilter, with less biomedia will eventually breakdown ammonia & nitrite levels to an acceptable level but at what cost ... expensive dead koi in the interim?

In the wild where koi live under natural conditions there is an extremely large volume of water. This means Koi living in the wild have a vast space in which to live and the levels of ammonia and nitrites they produce is negligible when compared to the volume of water surrounding them. In your koi pond the scenario is not the same and that is why it is critical to operate a clean water system. This means that your chosen biofiltration system needs to be able to quickly convert ammonia into nitrites and finally into nitrates. You can never have too much biofilter media but you can quite easily have too little.

What is Meant By Specific Surface Area (SSA)?

SSA (specific surface area) is the standard term used by various biomedia manufacturers to classify their product and is stated in terms of square meter/per liter of water. The higher the SSA the better because if a biomedia product has an SSA of 1 it can house 1 SQ meter per liter of Nitrosomonas/Nitrobacter bacteria whereas if it had an SSA of 8 then it could house 8 times as much.

Kaldnes K1, SUPRA - water purification process, clean water systemSUPRA (Alfagrog) pond filter media

Bigger Is Not Always Better! It is a combination of the pump flow rate (through your pond filter), oxygen levels and the SSA of the biomedia that determines the size of the bio filter to be used, and not the size of the pond.  The majority of retailers don't know this or don't advise correctly. Retailers offer big pond filters for big ponds and smaller biofilters for smaller ponds. Given that oxygen levels & flow rates are equal and that the water flow out of the pond filter is equal to that flowing in then a smaller biofilter with a superior pond filter media such as SUPRA will out perform a larger biofilter using plastic coils.

Supra Biomedia Specific Surface Area Per Liter

The table above shows a comparison of specific surface areas that various pond filter have ... the higher the better, as this will allow you to use a smaller filter to perform the same level of water purification. You can see that Alfagrog (Supra in the USA) is the clear winner. You will need has 20 times more volume of foam or 5 times more volume of Lava Rock to do the same job as a single unit of Supra ... Buying Supra compared to the other pond biomedia will not only save you money over time but will also be far more efficient at breaking down ammonia compounds.

Supra contains 100 times the biological surface area of conventional plastic media and is perfectly suited for use in all ponds and aquaria. From a space saving and cost point of view SUPRA is a brilliant low cost, high performance product. This obviously has cost & space implications. The popular Fishmate gravity filter models use Supra pond filter media as their preferred biomedia choice.

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