I have two ponds connected. Two waterfalls. A 750 gallon per hour with a
debris screen. Bottom pond is 8 ft round x 2 ft deep. Upper pond is approx.
8 feet long x 2 feet deep x 3 ft long. About 30 normal goldfish pets. Two
lilies and one big pot of cattails in the bottom pond. Two lilies and a
bunch of volunteer Arrowhead in the upper pond. I have zero problems with
fish kill, water clarity, oxygenation, or water Ph etc... Not bragging. I
also have no problem in the bottom pond with sediment. I have not cleaned or
emptied the bottom pond in 12 years. I run the pump 24/7 365 days a year
from 10 below zero to 100+ degrees. Ahhhhhhhhh Kansas. The sediment collects
in the upper pond. Sediment, mulm, yuck. Whatever. Anyway, I scoop out of
the top pond this mulm, to a tune of about 5 to 10 gallons a month. I put it
in my garden or compost pile. This sediment thing has worked great for me
for a long time with low maintenance. Just thought I'd give a heads up. This
is a great group! You should all be very proud. Wish we could post pics
here. Someone would ruin it though. Good job Ponders!

Smitty,

It is nice to have you here.

You set up sounds great. The upper pond (veggie filter?) seems to be
working very well. Jim set our system up in a similar manner. Our
berm ponds collect the muck and the lower pond never needs cleaning.
Have you ever run something like hyacinth or water celery in your
upper pond? Ours grows like anything all summer.l Jim throws out
bushels of hyacinth (that he describes as reprocessed fish waste). He
also sends celery and hyacinth to other ponders.

Jim and I both enjoy the group a lot.

Phyllis

Hi, Smitty.

Can you explain more about how this works? Or maybe send me a photo
by private email? The upper pond is sort of a settling tank? I am
wondering if I could retro fit something smaller into my existing
pond.

Thanks.

Joan
___________________


I have two ponds connected. Two waterfalls. A 750 gallon per hour with a
debris screen. Bottom pond is 8 ft round x 2 ft deep. Upper pond is approx.
8 feet long x 2 feet deep x 3 ft long. About 30 normal goldfish pets.

[snipped for bandwidth]

Joan, our setup can be seen on our pondsite. (Click to see our
profile, it is posted there.

I hope Smitty can post his.

Jim

In article om,
Phyllis and Jim wrote:

Joan, our setup can be seen on our pondsite. (Click to see our
profile, it is posted there.

I hope Smitty can post his.

Jim

Where is your profile? Many of us read this group through newsreaders.
TIA!

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/pwp-jameshurley

Oops. Sorry. I didn't think about the newsreaders.

The profile is on groups.google.com.

The address above, however, it to our pondsite!

Jim

but why not pots of flowers in the veggie filter? for me, that is the
only place for those annuals in baskets that would need to be watered
up to twice a day. I sink about bottom 1 inch into water and they
self water all summer long. the celery and cyperus over grow the
flowering pots by the end of the year, but it is nice to see glorious
colors in the veggie filter. Ingrid

On Fri, 11 May 2007 20:10:33 CST, Phyllis and Jim
wrote:

home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/pwp-jameshurley

Makes sense to me to put pots in if you want! They would draw
nutrients as they fed. And they would be pretty. My sysetm seems more
utilitarian.

Potted growth would serve us less effectively. Our veggie filter/
ponds are 18" deep, so we would have to elevate the pots. Using pots
instead of floating plants would cost us a lot in efficiency. The
floaters' leafy growth covers the surface of the filters entirely
(total footage: 84 sq ft) Floaters also give us the roots of the
plants as mechanical filters and bacterial surface. At this stage, we
only have 16 sq ft that is not covered be hyacinth or celery. The
celery has done so well that I will begin to take hunks out (I use a
carving knife to slice out 2 x 2 hunks). The hyacinth have covered
their ponds and are about 6" tall. Now they will go up and down
rapidly (tops and root systems). In another couple of weeks, I will
begin to toss some to facilitate new growth. By the middle of summer,
I will toss more than a bushel a week.

Jim

Hi Phyllis,
Thanks for the welcome. The only thing I don't like about the hyacinth is that the roots clog my pump. It does however reproduce like crazy. I really don't know that much about the celery. Anything I put in my pond has to be hardy. The cat tails that I have have been in a 5 gallon bucket for 10 years. When they escape I just pull them up and bury them in my alley. Yeah Phyllis, I got em growing in my alley. I keep the pump about 6" under the top of the water in the "unfrozen" months and towards the bottom in the frozen months. I just can't keep that floating stuff in the upper pond. Always ends up in the bottom pond or clogging my waterfall and pump. How do you you and Jim handle that?

Smitty

P.S. I replied to the group. Is that correct, or do I reply to you directly?


"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message s.com...
Smitty,

It is nice to have you here.

You set up sounds great. The upper pond (veggie filter?) seems to be
working very well. Jim set our system up in a similar manner. Our
berm ponds collect the muck and the lower pond never needs cleaning.
Have you ever run something like hyacinth or water celery in your
upper pond? Ours grows like anything all summer.l Jim throws out
bushels of hyacinth (that he describes as reprocessed fish waste). He
also sends celery and hyacinth to other ponders.

Jim and I both enjoy the group a lot.

Phyllis