"gng" wrote in message
...
I took out most of the plants over the weekend as the fish seemed to need
more room and were hanging at the waterfall. I still have 3 large water
lilly plants left, about 1/3 of the water surface covered.
Could you define pre-filter and perhaps give me a brand name? I use a
basket in front of the filter to stop the algae and misc plant junk.
A prefilter is a filter that is installed on the intake side of the pump. It
catches particles in the water before the water is pumped into the main filter.
Those particles (plant material, loose algae, and suspended solids, fish mess,
etc) are digested in the pre-filter. The water coming from the re-filter is
clearer, and contains much less solids, but still has dissolved organic
nutrients. This water is then pumped into the main filter, where the bacteria
will break down those nutrients, and use them in their digestive process. The
end result is clearer water with less overall nutrients. And the main filter
never gets overwhelmed with muck. My pre-filter is shown at the following link:
http://www.pondexpress.com/detail.aspx?ID=94
My main filter is an old jazucci pool filter, adapted for use in the pond. I
gutted it, drilled a hole in the bottom, inserted a connector through the hole,
and then connected a stainless steel basket strainer to the connector on the
inside, and a 90 degree elbow on the outside. To the elbow I connected another
male connector, then fitted it with a clear rubber hose. The other end of this
hose connects to the pre-filter at the fitting shown in the picture at the link,
above. The prefilter sits on the bottom of the pond, while the main filter sits
beneath my waterfall:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/r/o/rockcat/filter/filter.htm (thiese pictures were
taken in spring after the spring algae bloom had cleared up)
Note the clarity of the water. The pre-filter contains a net bag full of small
porous lava rock (about 20 lbs) for biofiltration, and is sitting on top of
plastic thingys to keep it off the bottom, and to allow the muck to settle to
the bottom of the pre-filter, and a course matt filter above that for
mechanical/biological filtration. The water in the pond is 45 inches deep. My
main filter is completely submerged beneath the surface of the water (and
beneath the waterfall, and the pump is mounted inside the main filter housing,
submerged about 15 inches below the water surface. This is a suction system,
instead of a postive pressure system. Either way you do it, your pond will
benefit greatly from the use of a pre-filter. If you have a positive pressure
system, you just have to figure out how to connect the prefilter to the intake.
Now that summer is in full swing, and all normal spring algae blooms are way
behind me, the water stays crystal clear. The only thing I ever clean is the
pre-filter (which I drain and rinse about once every two to three weeks). I
made a hook on the end of an old coat hanger, and just reach down to grab the
pre-filter hose to retrieve the filter from the bottom. The perforated top
screws off, then I set the filter in a tub, pull the hose off, and let the
filter drain. While it is draining, I stir up the water inside the filter and
then pull the foam matt filter out and rinse it, put the whole thing back
together and sink it back to the bottom. The whole process takes about five
minutes. The resulting waste water I use to fertilize the plants in my yard.
And just for kicks, here are some more recent pictures of the pond, the fish,
and some of the plants. I don't have any pictures of the filter, but will post
some whenever I see that it needs maintenance (it's been running for two years
without needing any cleaning or flushing):
http://bellsouthpwp.net/r/o/rockcat/pond/pond.htm
I hope this helps.
Oh, and my main filter is half-filled with rounded, course quartz gravel (about
100 lbs), but I understand that porous lava rock works better. Some day I might
change it out, but as of right now, if it ain't broke, I don't fix it. The pump
is rated at about 1300 gph, while my pond is 4'x12' by 45 inches in depth. For
larger ponds, your can simply upscale it. One thing I am about to add is a
small tertiary treatment system: If you look at the last picture of my second
link, note that the water from filter shoots up into a small bird bath bowl at
the top of the waterfall. The bowl is tilted slightly to allow the water to
flow down the rocks in the direction that I want. I'm going to change this. I
have a large clay pot that has two tiers of three holes around the side. plan
to connect the outflow of the filter to the bottom of this pot while it is
sitting in the bowl. The pot will be 3/4 filled with porous lava rock which
will be the final scrub for the water as it fills the pot, the water flowing out
the holes on the side, and cascading into the bowl and down the waterfall. I
also plan to plants some water plants in the pot (Iris at the top, and maybe
some flowering wetland vines, or something (I really haven't decided yet). When
I finish this part, I will post a link to a pitcure of it. I would really like
to get some input of what plants to put in it.
P.S. Some have suggested that I would have a pH crash using quartz in the main
filter, but I don't a problem because the waterfall is made of limestone, and is
partially submerged in the pond. The limestone helps minimize pH crashes. Just
don't let the pump go off (like it did on me a few wekks ago during a really
heavy thunderstorm, which knocked out the power for two days). If it is off for
a substantial amount of time, CO2 will build up in the water, and stress or kill
your fish, and likely kill off the bacteria in the filter. I used an airpump
with an airstone to aerate the water (I used a UPS from my computer, but ran out
of juice after several hours, and had to borrow one from my brother).
Fortunately, the electricity came back on about the time the CO2 was starting to
rise back up. I now have a power inverter that converts 12 volts DC from my car
battery to 120 volts AC, so if it happens again, I'll be ready for it.
" George" wrote in message
.. .
"gng" wrote in message
...
Wow, I have off this ng for a long time. This is Gary from San
Diego/Carlsbad area. To you long timers, I used to go by Wallygator and
AbbeyRoad a long, long time ago. Here is my pond question that I hope
someone can answer.
I have a 2500 gallon pond with Sequence 1/4 hp, and Aqua Ultra filter
and UV
It was installed a few years back and was wonderful until this year. As
the
fish have grown, the filter has clogged and now it is a quite a
challenge to
keep the pond crystal clear. In fact, the pond used to be swimming pool
clear, but is not closer to city park pond - meaning about a foot of
visability.
Local pond stores are telling me to upgrade both filter and pump. The
are
recommending the 1/2 hp Sequence 7200 and the larger Aqua filter that is
made for a 4000 gallon pond. I totally understand the supersize
concept,
and if cost were no object that is a good solution. But here are my
questions:
1. I was thinking of just upgrading the pump for now to get better
flow
for the waterfall. Any problems you can see with keeping the existing
"undersized" filter and just backwashing daily?
2. The current filter is pretty clogged. I could take it apart, but
that
is a huge mess. Do you believe the pond store that is telling me that a
1/2hp pump will blow out all the poop and eliminate me mucking with
this? I
am trying to avoid taking the filter apart unless I have to.
Any other advice? Thanks all,
Gary
Add a pre-filter on the intake side of your pump, and clean it out
regularly,
then add a biofilter somewhere on the output side, after the main filter
but
before the waterfall, and add more plants to the pond if you have room.
Can you
post a link to some pics of your pond? I think that if you have to
backwash
daily, you have too heavy a load in your pond. Additionally, backwashing,
especially daily, will not allow beneficial bacteria to colonize your
filter.
Adding a pre-filter with regular maintenance will help prevent the main
filter
from excessive build up of muck.