The Zakki Cubed

The Zakki Cubed is designed to be an economical entrance into the high efficiency world of koi pond shower filtering.  This type of filtration is known to be the most productive kind of biological filtration due to the massive amount of air can is supplied to the nitrifying bacteria that reside inside the shower filter.  That concept is the only thing in common with the other shower filters available today.

Deepwater Koi Innovations is known for designing the most efficient shower filters available when total space used is accounted for.  We pack as much biological filtering power as possible into a small and aesthetically pleasing filter.  There are many design features that make the Zakki Showers better than all others but one of the most important features is the water distribution manifold used on top of the shower.  Here is a short video that shows how well the distribution manifold works at spreading out the water over the media below.  It also shows how well the water flows through the Rio Media and aerates the water with our divider trays...

While the Zakki Cubed has a different distribution manifold than the standard Zakki Showers, that doesn’t change the fact that we distribute the water incredibly well before it makes first contact with the media below.  If you can evenly distribute the water over a greater distance you can increase the total water flow rate without overwhelming the bacterial colony in your shower media.  The distribution manifold in the Zakki Cubed breaks the water up into at least 300 individual streams of water which drastically increases the surface area of water that is in contact with the air.  This allows for great aeration inside the shower for maximum efficiency.

The media used inside the Zakki Cubed is an extremely strong and resilient ceramic material called Wave Point Media.  These blocks are 12” x 12” x 2” thick and have thousands of pores that allows water and air freely flow through the blocks.  The walls of these pores are where the nitrifying bacteria colonize and convert ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate.  The total surface area for the bacteria to colonize is mind blowing when compared to other types of media available.  While there is no way to be 100% accurate in surface area calculations on this type of media you ca be safe to assume around 50,000 square feet in one cubic foot of media (six blocks).  That is actually how much media the Zakki Cubed holds and is how the name was chosen.

We also design all of our showers to have as much open air space as possible inside the shower enclosure to encourage as much air exchange as possible with the water, media and bacteria.  There is a 1” air gap all the way around the media stack and there are divider trays that separate the Wave Point Media after two blocks.  

The divider trays helps to re-aerate the water before it falls down onto the next layer of media.  Our divider trays have more holes than the upper distirbution manifold because as the water travels vertically through the media, it also is traveling horizontally through those internal pores.  When the water exits the media block our divider trays help to keep the water spread out as much as possible and there are at least 1,450 individual holes in each tray so you get maximum aeration between layers. 

Our shower filters are so effective at biological filtration that you do not need multiple shower trays, stacked on top of each other, like with other designs.  This not only makes the entire shower look better, but it also reduces operational costs due to less head pressure on your water pumps.  Multiple shower trays create extra head pressure and a more powerful water pump is needed to move the water.

As with all Zakki Showers we recommend having great mechanical filtration before the shower to avoid any particles being trapped inside the Wave Point Media.  This type of mechanical filtering can be bead filters, Sand and Gravel filters or Rotary Drum Filters.  While sieves are good pre-filters we believe that they allow too many particles to pass through the screen, but it is up to the customer to make that decision.  Using a sieve could require extra cleaning of the Rio media that would not be necessary with adequate mechanical filtering.  The customer shoukd periodically check the media to make sure the water is not pouring around the blocks, but actually passing through the blocks.  If it is pouring around the blocks, then your media has been clogged from inadequate mechanical filtration before the shower, and you need to remove the media for some cleaning.

Based on previous testing we are comfortable stating the following performance numbers.  Depending on how fast you can send the entire volume of your pond through the shower filter PER HOUR (also referred to as turnover rate).

The Zakki Cubed can process the following amounts of koi food per day…(using the INCLUDED Wave Point Media)

1.5 lbs of food per day with 4 times turnover rate ----  625 gal pond flowing at 2,500 GPH

.75 lbs of food per day with 2 times turnover rate ----  1,250 gal pond flowing at 2,500 GPH

.5 lbs of food per day with 1 times turnover rate ----  2,500 gal pond flowing at 2,500 GPH