Kaldnes Media Experiment

Dan Undewood of SeaHorseSource.com mentioned liking a biological filtration method referred to as 'Kaldnes Media'.  This thread is dedicated to him, and his constant sharing of valuable information.  His mention was the first we had heard of it.  A google search turned up a bunch of information, including this: www.raingarden.us/kaldnes_bio.pdf
 
It sounds like it might be the best media to use for biological filtration in a fish-farming application.  The self-cleaning feature is a great selling point.
 
We're starting this thread to document our experiences with it.

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Whats the best thing to do when you hear about a new idea?  Buy a ton of it:


Bean, the cat, figures there are about 6 cubic feet of media in the box.
 
When one first gets the media, it floats.  After a few weeks it becomes neutrally buoyant because of the bacteria which attach to it. This is a picture of the media after a few weeks of aging. 

 
We are trying it both as a replacement in a running system, and as new media in freshly started systems.  Right now we will show the replacement one, and will add photos of the fresh-starts soon.
We wanted to try it in place of our current Live Rock filter, as our LR takes too much cleaning.  So we put the kaldnes media in line with the system for a few weeks, and then today, switched the LR with the kaldnes media.
 
Here we are taking the media out of the 20H.  A fish-net works great.

 
Then we took the Live Rock out of the sump of the same system.  There were a few bio-balls in there too I guess :-)

 
We forgot to take any pictures of the buckets that we put the media in.  Will try and add some tomorrow.  Basically they are just 5gal buckets with holes drilled in them.  We found specific airstones that work best for this, will post photos of them soon also. 
The media can be used in any shape container, but seems to 'tumble' best for us in a round one.  It calls for .5cfm per cubic foot of media.  We split 1 cubic foot up into three 5 gallon buckets, and used 1 airstone in each bucket that was advertised to flow .2cfm.  They seem to work perfectly, so we'll add information about them soon.
 
It is advertised as being able to deal with 1/3lb of food/day/cubic foot.  However many people say it works well even at 1lb/day/cubic foot.  We feed less than a pound a day to all our grow outs combined, so this particular biofilter should be greatly oversized.
 
Here's a bad, sideways, video of the media after we placed it in the sump.  The lighting is dim underneath, sorry!

 
 
 

This looks like it has the potential to be a great thread!  Thanks for starting it, Midnight Mariculture.  I saw a post by Dan about this media on another forum, and have been contemplating getting some Kaldness media for my new breeding room build.  I'll be watching this thread closely for useful pointers on how to successfully use this filter media in high-density applications to process high bioloads.

Where did you get the media?
 

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Thanks for sharing!  I have also been wondering about this media after seeing Dan's posts about it. 

 
http://www.aquaticeco.com...ies/1797/Kaldnes-Media

some one i used to know had a huge koi tank in their basement and he had used these in his media reactor. but his reactor was about two diameter and 5 feet tall! lol. I heard it worked well, but rumors have it that that tank is no longer in operation. :/

Ok, so you bought 6CF but used 1CF split into three 5G buckets, right? What size is the system you're using that amount for? Just trying to wrap my head around the necessary quantities needed at $50/CF.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

That is some potent stuff. 1 cubic foot will handle .3 lbs of food fed per day, the box above 2 full pounds! That's a lot of waste processing in a small space. And koi have no stomach so I am not sure how the uptake % would differ between koi and marine fish.

Anyone have the link to Dan's Koi pond forum build plans?

im sitting here laughing and shaking my head as i read this thread
 
me and my partner were just discussing putting the entire salt and fresh rooms on fluidized bed filter made with K1 media
 
actually we decided to go this route due to the high rate of conversion from ammonia to nitrate
 
i will be starting a build thread for the systems in January when i finally get moved out to MO and get a chance to get the tanks all sat up.

Hello everyone...
 
This is the media we are using at our facility. John has done extensive research on filter design
and seems to have hit it on the head as our systems are working fantastic. I will ask him to stop in here and put up a few pics and details of our build. I believe you can see a few pics on our facebook page if you like.
Im not sure if its ok to put the link up as we are a business. Please remove this if it is inappropriate check
Reef Imports & Hatchery. Im sure he will gladly answer questions and help with your projects.

Sissy
President of the Fish Hoarders Association

What would really be space saving for me would be if i could make this in a section of the sump, and not have to have it above the sump or separate from the sump.  I have little floor space and not that high for ceilings.
 
Rarely do I have more than 1000 fish on the system, and they don't eat anything close to .3 lb of food daily.
1 cubic foot will more than address my needs.

Great participation!
It would be great if you could tell us a little about your designs sissy.  We couldn't find too much about it's use in marine systems, and any input would be greatly appreciated.  I couldn't find pictures of it on the FB page, but I will look again.
 
Tal,
We are using 1 CF for 240gal of grow out.  People mention 1CF working for 1lb a day of food (its advertised at 0.3lb/day per CF).  We don't have exact numbers, but we feed close to 0.25lb a day to
240gal when the fish get really big.  We wanted the filters over-sized though.  The 6CF is for all our current grow outs, if we like it. 
 
Kathy,
I believe a quarter or a third of a cubic foot would be the same ratio of fish to media as we are doing for the grow out you mention.  We chose the Kaldnes over bio-balls for the specific reason you mention, it can be used in sump.  We will add some pics of different sump-conversion ideas asap.

Hope this works Linda - Here is a video when it was first hooked up:  http://www.facebook.com/v...eo.php?v=2267020280774 and pictures of how it is plumbed - http://www.facebook.com/m...49664836122&type=3
 
I'm very happy with them.  The grow-out system is a 225 gallon drum and has 300 liters of media.  The broodstock system is a 65 gallon drum with 100 liters of media.  The air manifold was bought from Aquatic Ecosystems along with the airstones (1/2" MPT).  It requires a good sized air pump to work properly (the further down the manifold is in the water; which needs to sit approximately 3" above the bottom of the container the larger sized air pump required.
I make my own food and feed very heavy.  Keep in mind if your food contains a high amount of protein, you'll need to increase the amount of media (not go solely on the weight of the food you are feeding - i.e., 1/4 lb, 1/2 lb, etc..)
Another tip: The water entering into the Kaldnes filter should be pre-filtered to remove large particles.
 
It works like a charm!

Sissy
President of the Fish Hoarders Association

I am using this on my broodstock tanks now. I put individual filters in each compartment  instead of in  the sump. This way if my return pump goes I will still have filter in the tanks. I am going to try this in my growout also.

I still can´t see the advantage of this product.They are small plastic pieces like bioballs,but light,so they can be tumbled like a bead or sand fluidized filter.
If we want to have the biofilm well oxigenated,I wonder why don´t we just put them in a wet-dry,as any other trickling media?

I think the advantage Luis is that they should never need to be removed for cleaning like bio balls and other media. And with the tumbling action it probably shears off the bacteria so its constantly keeping a thin, young, healthy population of bacteria. And by stirring them you are exposing them to more water to process. Just a thought.

Mike Meadows
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thecoralshoppe
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCoralShoppe?feature=mhee
 

I hate to row against the flow and if you all are so satisfied with it,it ought to be good
But still...they are small plastic pieces,designed for maximum surface and flow,same as any other bio balls,bio wheels etc.
A bioball tower never clogs nor need to be cleaned if water entering it is mechanically filtered.
The self cleaning action you describe belongs to the fluidized filters,which use much smaller particles (sand grains)which offer a very high surface/volume ratio.

Those were my thoughts too. I've been tagging along to see if anyone thought the same, or had specific details on how this product differed.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Guys, this isn't something new. This product has been around for quite some time on the freshwater side. There is a reason it has one of the highest Bio filtration rates of anything out there. And that is the reason why why koi and aquacuture facilities use this product. Also bio balls , no matter how well you mechanically clean the water going to them, get fouled. Mostly from bacterial populations growing and dying off. In this process with them being moved around, it increases the surface area being exposed to freshwater polluted water.
 
I don't think this thread was meant as an "hey everyone go get this product", it was meant as "hey look i'm trying something different and it works great for high bio load uses" !

Mike Meadows
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thecoralshoppe
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCoralShoppe?feature=mhee
 

I believe a large difference between bio balls and K1 is the surface area difference. If you were to compare a cubic foot of each the surface area on the K1 would be much more than the bio balls.

 
Seaweed is correct! The other reason the Kaldness K1 media is different from the regular bio balls is when the bacteria colonize the media it becomes neutrally buoyant and will actually flow through the water with very little effort. The bio balls will lock together and will always float to the top.  The way our systems are set up we basically have a fluidized wet dry as the K1 is constantly being hit with oxygen and water. It is self cleaning this way and also has the advantages of keeping your 02 levels elevated as well as your ph that can become a problem with a heavily stocked system.. Our filters took roughly 6 weeks to fully colonize and settle in. We seeded them with sponge filter bacteria as well as a few
commercial products. We like this media as you can build a very simple filter (any size) with a little elbow grease and a trip to home depot. There are quite a few you tube videos on it as well. There is one person who made individual filters out of 2 liter bottles for their tanks. I dont want to hijack this thread but I also dont mind helping out fellow reefers. Please let me know if anyone has questions as I will gladly answer via pm or email. 
 

As stated earlier I think this is more of a "we're trying it this way" thread, that said being a fan of everything plankton this really piques my interest as a pseudo bacteria reactor.  As the media tumbles around it will disturb the bacterial colonies thus releasing some into the water column.  Fills my head with all sorts of ideas for alternate setups for the azoox world.

Pelagically yours,
~J      

glad to see this is finally taking off. Im running my Brood stock and growout systems on K1 in custom made chambers. Currently running 5Litres on my broodstock, 500litre system. 8-12litres on growout, when fully stopped (have another bank of tanks to bring online) which will bring it up to 1000l and 50g per day feed. With the addition of a good bed of cheato im confident when the system is loaded it can handle the it.
main benefit is they dont really need any cleaning or maintainence. media does break down eventually but tends to take about 10 years and is accelerated with UV/sunlight. as meantioned above bioballs interlock and don't self clean.
 
The Farm i work on has been running fluidised beds for approximately 8years on the RAS (recirculated aquaculture system) trout/arctic charr hatchery. we run 2 large units both 4metre diameter 4.5m deep. heavily aerated we're able to feed up to 100kg per day.
can snap some pics if required

 
I've been using this in system builds for over a decade   We built project Goodfish using fluidized beds filled with these.  We used these at Cortez Marine and I have used them in various other facility builds.  Awesome stuff, but man if you spill a bag, it takes FOR EVER to clean up... a shop vac is a must for this :lol:

Do you have any pictures of the chambers you keep the K1 in?
Thanks
Mark

I have been doing reserch into this as well, and I must say I cant find any bad reports on it.  I had some bio balls at home already, so am using this in a trickle filter, but as mentioned before I need to clean them (by giving them a hard shake) even though I have mechanical filtration before the trickle filter.   If these mean one less job to do (the hard shake) then I am all for it.  

Proud member of the first dedicated breeders site in the UK
Marine Fish Breeders Club - UK
H.Zosterae - 60 DPS

i would love to see pictures at the farm and also the custom designed filter you use.

I'd be interested in seeing a picture or diagram of how you did this, it sounds like it might be something I'd try.
 
Thanks,
 
Jeff

I got the basic idea from this video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YNwrTeHNHs .
I am very happy with how they are working.
Thanks
Mark

Check out the Bashsea bio-reactor.  They are using a (pretty) black Kaldnes-type media in an air injected reactor.  I WANT!!    Not very financially economical for us breeders though.
 
http://bashsea.com/index.php/products/bio-reactor

I'm going to set one up this weekend. I watched the link above and followed that link to their store: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/tynevalleyaquatics/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562
Looks like the K1 media is much cheaper in the UK.
 
Edit- Decided not to wait for the weekend. While searching for the right sized bottle I stumbled on one that works perfect when using 3/4" PVC... The 1.75L Castillo rum bottles fit right into the elbow! I might add a little bit of teflon tape to make it even tighter but you might not have to.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

I have experience with this media.  Used it in a Low Space Bioreactor for Koi in a large aquaculture set up.  It worked alright, but I wasn't thrilled with it.  Great with ammonia, but not so great with nitrite breakdown.  It depends on the application but I would predict high nitrate levels from this biofiltration a problem for marine applications (most at least).

We'll see what happens. Here are the parts, except for the sponge.

 
And assembled...

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Pretty cool Tal!!  Awesome find on a fitting bottle too, that is very sweet.

Well, it wasn't quite as perfect as I'd hoped but I have it in the sump now. I'm not sure if I'm getting enough flow. How long does it take for the media to become N buoyant, a few days or more than a week?
 
On a side note, a few pieces escaped during install and ended up in the return pump area. They seem to be tumbling pretty well in there with the water flowing over the baffle... would that be a potential area to keep it?

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

If I remember correctly, it takes a couple weeks for the media to become neutrally buoyant.  I think the bacteria that grows on it helps weight it down.  It takes a bit of time for the bacteria to grow.

Ok, thanks

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Yes, that is absolutely correct.  Plan on it taking the same amount of time as it does to establish a biofilter in the first place.  The only "advantage" of Kaldnes is that it is self-cleaning like a fluidized bed biofilter because it is neutrally bouyant, and will tumble with the use of an airstone or 2.  In effect, it is no different  (or not much different) than an old wet-dry filter, except for needing less space (but much more space than a fluidized bed biofilter).

I've been running mine for about a week and and most of the media is tumbling but I dont see a change in color yet and there are still some that are just sitting at the top. I also had to take some out as all of it was sitting at the top to start and not tumbling at all.

-Adam