"DavidM" wrote in message
...
Since pulling out two large iris plants the pond has taken on a very
cloudy consistency. They must have been planted in soil, which is very
rich in clay in our part of the UK.
I was advised in here to use Alum as a flocculant/coagulant, so I've
bought a tub of what I imagine contains Alum form the pond shop. I'll see
whether it works this weekend.

As an alternative, I was thinking about precipitating the positive clay
particles using an electrical charge. In theory they should lose
solubility once the charge has been removed, but applying that charge is
the tricky bit. Has any one seen a filtration system that charges the
water in a controlled and fish safe manner. I'm picturing a large tank
with slow moving water and a couple of electrodes at 12volts potential
difference. Nothing dangerous, and well away from the fish.


--
DavidM
www.djmorgan.org.uk

David

I've never seen electrical filtration of the form you are proposing - some
form of electrostatic would seem to be apossible way forward. Magnets
(electro or permanent) could also possibly work. There used to be some units
available fitted with magnetic cleaning which might do what you need. Can't
find any specific pond equipment ATM, but you should be able to find magnets
which are supposed to act as water softeners when attached to your mains
water supply - these may be capable of modification to do the job.

I once had a couple of commercial units which were filled with Siporax
sintered glass media and had magnets in the outlet from the filter - these
worked beautifully until they clogged up (they were designed to fit on the
input of a smallish pump) which seemed to be about every hour IIRC!

UV is supposed to flocculate algae - I don't have any information on clay
particles. Some combination of systems may be the answer!

Peter
--
Peter & Elizabeth Corser
Leighton Buzzard, UK