Don't you just love it.. Please be sure to post pics of yours..Yes! When I first joined! This pen is the inspiration for what I am currently building
Hi! I just came across this thread trying to solve the same problems. I have 3 geese, 5 black-bellied whistling ducks and 3 rouens. I have 2 250 liter molded plastic ponds and am at the point where I need to figure out a better solution for the cleaning. My issue is water waste as I'm off the grid and only have rain collected water that I have to share between us and the bird pools.Sure, the swirl filter is essentially a bucket in which you pump water into the bottom of the bucket at an angle. Because the pipe is angled, the water will "swirl" up to the top where a bulkhead fitting will be and flow into your bacteria stage. The poop, being heavier than the water, settles at the bottom and needs to be cleaned out weekly.
Confusing? Hold on here's a picture, it sounds way more complicated than it is.
This is the inside of the bucket. As you can see the water exiting the contraption will have no choice but to swirl. You don't have to have one as elaborate as this, even a pipe with a single 90 or 45 elbow will do.
This is the output of my bacteria filter showing what the bulkhead fittings look like. The swirl has an identical output.
Simple gravity moves the water from one stage to the other. The swirl filters output (on the left) is piped to the bottom of the bacteria filter (on the right)
Some notes:
The swirl filter operates better when the water moves slowly otherwise it won't be as effective. Oversize your bulkhead fittings so you reduce the pressure, but not the flow, in your swirly.
Now that the solid material has been filtered out, your clarification filter should need less service.
Put a drain (using a bulkhead fitting) in your swirly, that way you can drain the detritus and reduce the cleanings required.
Drain:
