On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 02:52:58 GMT, "Ann in Houston" wrote:

Jan, this newsreader gets hard for me to follow the responses. Did you see
my explanation to Ingrid about the drain and washing out the gravel from the
top? What do you think of that.

Today I saw it. )

There are a lot of ponders down here that
have this set-up, as promoted and taught by our premier pond nursery in the
area. They've had one on their beee-yootiful display pond for about five
years, and I think they clean it at the end of each season. I'm not really
sure. I think I'll ask them.

I'd like to hear their answer, I'd also like to know if they check their
KH, and/or do check it and need to add buffer. Do they tear it down/clean
it each year? If you tear a gravel filter down every year, no problem. It
is people who have used (in our area lava rock was the choice) rock and
don't clean them well enough or not at all, that had problems the following
years.

As far as a filter that you had to clean weekly, that would have been due
to an undersized filter. I only clean my bio-filter pads once/year, takes
about 20 minutes per chamber, not counting pumping water out time and shop
vaccing the bottom of the chamber, and one of those chambers runs all year.

If I could do something different to my system though, I'd have a vortex
pre-filter, where the solids fall due to the slow circling of the water and
than one just opens a valve to drain it off periodically. My pre-filter can
go 6 weeks or more without cleaning, and I don't have to touch it when it
is in winter slow circ mode, but when I do clean it, it takes about 45
minutes. One of our club members did a demo of his vortex, and I was sold,
took all of 5 minutes and he did nothing more than open a valve and shut
the valve.... but alas and alack, I definitely alack no money to put one in
anytime soon. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~