Three prototype models have already been put to the test on three separate Koi ponds in different parts of the UK.
The first review (detailed below) has equalled the reviews submitted earlier for their bigger brothers.
Although they are tiny in comparison to the other models – (holding only 22 gallons/100 litres of water), these units can filter up to 1,500 gallons/6,800 litres of pond water and can handle flow-rates of over 750 gallons/3,400 litres per hour.
They are hand-built to the same high standards of the larger units and operate in exactly the same way.
E1 gravity-fed model – 484.00 + VAT = £580.00.
E1 pump-fed model – 517.00 + VAT = £620.00
For full product information please visit the ERIC One product page
Eric 1 trial test……
Hi all,
On the 29th December 2012 I installed my 605 gallon QT/grow on pond in my filter room, the pond was first run with a 3 stage filter, which in all intents and purpose was doing a fine job no problems or issues although filter was vastly over specification for the pond and took up considerable room for this small pond…
So after seeing results of a pump fed Eric One I decided to take up the challenge of trialling the gravity version.
I collected the Eric1 January 19th 2013 from JBR plastics, on arrival and seeing the filter for the first time my instant thoughts were, my God its tiny!
Then thinking to myself I’ve made a grave mistake in doing this trial, no way would this filter cope….
Anyway I said I would do the trial so placed the filter into my van, then continued on my way home – wondering how this tiny filter would ever cope.
On arrival home I first made myself a cuppa and then set to remove the existing filter still panicking about the Eric One capabilites.
So by 3pm the Eric One was plumbed in and ready for action…..
In all the time of retro fitting the Eric One, the auto feeder was still feeding the 10 koi in the pond every hour, 60grams a day of koi pellets 47% protein plus 40grams of cooked prawns in the evening – a total of 100gr a day of high protein food.
After leaving the Eric One to do its job for the first 24 hrs, the amount of muck this tiny brush box collected was immense. Hardly any had passed through just the odd fine.
On dumping the brush box I found the 2” woosh was not quite enough to totally clean the brushes as majority of the waste was at the top of the brush box, but this brush box is so tiny it takes less than 3 minutes to remove hose down and replace so no big deal for me.
The bio section containing 3 air bars and 3 eMat cartridges are just a marriage made in heaven, in this gravity fed unit I had no visible muck settlement also no fines in the pond.
I tested the parameters Monday morning straight from the brush box ammonia of 1ppm, nitrite 0.1, this give me the impression that the filter had kicked in almost immediately.
As a few days went by panic setting in as parameters start to rise continuing feeding not once stopping ammonia rise to between 4-8 ppm.
By the middle of the first week when the pond water started to go a bit cloudy, this is when I really paniced and phoned PW for advice, he said ‘Don’t worry it will be fine’.
He was right, two days later ammonia started to decrease where by Sunday 27th I had ammonia checked by a Hanna meter which read 2.70ppm.
Happy days, in all this time of high ammonia and also nitrite rising to 3-4ppm the Koi never showed any sign of stress and were still eating the same amount of food every day.
First week over, all’s well and no issues whatsoever – I’m only changing 46-48 gallons of pond water a day by dumping the filter twice a day due to the amount of food waste in the brush box.
Second week didn’t start well, as I had forgotten to switch the pump back on after the Friday evening clean!
As I tested the ammonia on the Saturday morning the reading was 0.33ppm the morning previous was 0.14, I knew instantly what I had done, this error then put the maturation back 12 hours in my eyes, but the Sunday morning test had shown 0.13ppm.
The nitrite still rising to above 5, nitrite was that high that as you were putting the drops in the colour was changing immediately this continued further until the ammonia finally reaching 0.00ppm on the Hanna checker on Monday 4th February.
In all this time the koi did not show ANY outward signs of stress…..
3rd week Monday morning the nitrite had a sudden drop to 1ppm – happy days, no change in the koi, this followed for the next few days no significant drop in nitrite 0.02 ppm max.
New batch of food ordered for the koi of a higher protein level of 51% started feeding Wednesday evening 20 grams this subsequently caused a rise in ammonia reading to 0.02 Thursday morning but no alteration in nitrite.
The continuation of feed rate has continued every week raising the limits only seeing slight water parameter readings for a few days then settles down again.
The feed rate has trebled since fitting the Eric One…
6 weeks on, filter has now matured nicely, all the koi have shown signs of growth with no ill effect. Some a lot more than others – have had to move 1 Koi out of the grow on as it’s out-grown the tank from 50cm to 59cm in 7 weeks, with NITRATE still being above 100ppm and yet growth of this proportion is so unexpected…..
Conclusion for me, I have purchased the Eric One and now plumbed in permanently, I’m very, very happy and it will be staying put…….
Many thanks to Peter for giving me the privilege of trialling his filter, plus experience of dealing with such high water parameters, its taught me a lot….
Regards
Mark