Thanks for the remark about the lights. I will get Jim to look into
that. He put them in around the deck. The pond will be a great
additon.

Phyllis

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the remark about the lights. I will get Jim to look into
that. He put them in around the deck. The pond will be a great
additon.

Just make SURE you get the ones without the holes in them.. you can usually
see them in the package.. I think the last ones I bought were from Target.

The different colored lights will give you some interesting effects... I'm
partial to blue and green though.

I picked up the rubber bungie cords at walmart...and ended up having to
return them and get smaller ones.. 15" ers did the trick, and the black
rubber looks good on the black filter.

I managed to clean the muck out of the filter... oh how many times I've read
"I just cleaned out the filter" and never REALLY realized what a mess it
actually is! I've say 30% of the 50 gallon container was that dark green
muck! And half of those damned cut up foam cubes slipped down, and kept
blocking the drain!

I yanked all those damned things out, and now only have the large air
conditioner sheets. Out of curiosity, what procedure does everyone use to
clean out their filters?

This is what I ended up doing:

Pulling out the filter sheets, laying them on a "stonehenge" rock setup, and
using the hardest setting from my hose to hose them clean... 10 sheets took
an hour or so to get mostly clean!

Left the drain open on the filter, and left the pump on, so it could help
wash that gunk out the other side. Used the hose to assist, and also to kick
up the gunk so it's flow out the drain.

I can only HOPE that since this was the first main use of the new filter,
that future cleanings will be less often, and less crap will be caught up in
the filter. I can't imagine that much work ever 6 days or so!

I'm also VERY fortunate that my home is on a mountain, so all this still
drains downhill... if I was a flatlander, I'd have a new mini sewage pond
right now!

--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

Gary,

Congratulations on the working filter! Just think what is NOT in your
pond any more!

I suspect most folks have a similar experience cleaning out the
filters. Our berm ponds collect the muck and can be drained through
2" bottom drains by opening a valve. Easy work. We then flush with
pond water. Our upflow barrels are similar. Valves to drain and
flush the strapping tape with pond water.

Folks with screening as the filter medium have to pull it out and wash
it. Easier than blue mats.

Does your barrel drain at the bottom? You might end up with screen to
filter and drain to empty.

Keep us posted on the cleaning rate.

Jim

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
ups.com...
Gary,

Congratulations on the working filter! Just think what is NOT in your
pond any more!

Yep.. today it was even clearer then yesterday.

Folks with screening as the filter medium have to pull it out and wash
it. Easier than blue mats.

Screening? uing actual screens for filtering instead of the blue mats?

Does your barrel drain at the bottom? You might end up with screen to
filter and drain to empty.

Not on the very bottom.. on the side near the bottom. There's about 1 inch
left after it drains,. but I can just turn the pump on, and fresh pond water
will circulate inside to help flush that last little bit out.

BTW I DID manage to snag two new milk crates for supporting the filters...
they won't fit if placed upside down normally, but if you rotate them
slightly, they fi perfectly, without putting pressure on the improvised
bulkheads.. I'm sure when the water pressure inscreases, the sides bow out
some,and the clearance on them is fine.

Keep us posted on the cleaning rate.

Will do.. the rubber bungies look great on the filter, and seem to be
holding the lid down nice n snug, without putting too much stress on the
lips.

This will be the first Saturday in ages where I could just feed the fish,
and enjoy the pond.. course now that I can see down, I want to brush of the
rocks n such that got covered in dark green muck.. I know the filters can
suck that out now.

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:35:13 CST, "Gareee©"
wrote:

I yanked all those damned things out, and now only have the large air
conditioner sheets. Out of curiosity, what procedure does everyone use to
clean out their filters?

In my filter I have the 1" thick, approx. 2X3 feet open cell foam. Only
cleaned 1/year. DS made a rack with pvc and wire fencing. An A frame when
open that collapses flat to store. Since we have a nice power washer, we
use that to clean the foam. 16 sheets takes about 15 minutes.The pre-filter
full of vinyl screen door stuff is just spread out on the lawn and sprayed
with a spray nozzle. The spraying part only takes 5-10 minutes, but doing
the whole cleaning process, especially by my slow old self takes 45 minutes
to an hour, from getting stuff out thru putting it all back. Luckily I only
have to do that 4 times/year. Now the D.pond it has to be done
once/month.... and I've let it go about 2 weeks longer than normal. DS
helps and we'll be cleaning the pre-filter tomorrow on it.

I can only HOPE that since this was the first main use of the new filter,
that future cleanings will be less often, and less crap will be caught up in
the filter. I can't imagine that much work ever 6 days or so!

Yes it will get better... and 6 days isn't bad for the first few times
around. ~ jan

------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:35:13 CST, "Gareee©"
wrote:

I yanked all those damned things out, and now only have the large air
conditioner sheets. Out of curiosity, what procedure does everyone use to
clean out their filters?

In my filter I have the 1" thick, approx. 2X3 feet open cell foam. Only
cleaned 1/year. DS made a rack with pvc and wire fencing. An A frame when
open that collapses flat to store. Since we have a nice power washer, we
use that to clean the foam. 16 sheets takes about 15 minutes.The
pre-filter
full of vinyl screen door stuff is just spread out on the lawn and sprayed
with a spray nozzle. The spraying part only takes 5-10 minutes, but doing
the whole cleaning process, especially by my slow old self takes 45
minutes
to an hour, from getting stuff out thru putting it all back. Luckily I
only
have to do that 4 times/year. Now the D.pond it has to be done
once/month.... and I've let it go about 2 weeks longer than normal. DS
helps and we'll be cleaning the pre-filter tomorrow on it.

Cool.. that explanation lets me kno wit' snot just me, but the filters were
so thick with muck, that it just took longer here. Might pick up some of
that vinyl door screening. it's pretty cheap if I recall.. do you have it
stretched on a frame of some kind?


I can only HOPE that since this was the first main use of the new filter,
that future cleanings will be less often, and less crap will be caught up
in
the filter. I can't imagine that much work ever 6 days or so!

Yes it will get better... and 6 days isn't bad for the first few times
around. ~ jan

Yeah I figure 2-3 nasty clean outs, and all should hopefully be well for a
longer period.

Today I just enjoyed what visibility I had, and fed the fish,, they are
eating like monsters now!

--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 00:09:58 CST, "Gareee©"
wrote:

Cool.. that explanation lets me kno wit' snot just me, but the filters were
so thick with muck, that it just took longer here. Might pick up some of
that vinyl door screening. it's pretty cheap if I recall.. do you have it
stretched on a frame of some kind?

Just wadded up in crinkled folds. I have to use some hardware cloth to hold
it down so it doesn't float into the bulkheads.

Today I just enjoyed what visibility I had, and fed the fish,, they are
eating like monsters now!

That is WONDERFUL, well... the visibility, I'm a little worried about your
monster-like fish appetites. ;-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

"~ jan" wrote in message
news
Cool.. that explanation lets me kno wit' snot just me, but the filters
were
so thick with muck, that it just took longer here. Might pick up some of
that vinyl door screening. it's pretty cheap if I recall.. do you have it
stretched on a frame of some kind?

Just wadded up in crinkled folds. I have to use some hardware cloth to
hold
it down so it doesn't float into the bulkheads.

I'm suspecting it's finer, so catches smaller particles?

Today I just enjoyed what visibility I had, and fed the fish,, they are
eating like monsters now!

That is WONDERFUL, well... the visibility, I'm a little worried about your
monster-like fish appetites. ;-) ~ jan

They are eating like a full 16 oz cup of food daily.. course there are about
40-50 of them now, and if I don't feed them, they just hack away at the
plants.

We still need to cull the 5 or 10 biggest out, and take them down to the
local aquarium for credit. We've kind of lost interest in the inside
aquarium, so not sure what we'll do with the credit there. Might look into
converting our indoor tank into salt water, so we can have seahorses....


--
Gareee
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 10:51:05 CST, "Gareee©"
wrote:

I'm suspecting it's finer, so catches smaller particles?

Just like bug screening, mainly used in my case to catch the big solids,
the fines get caught by the bio-filter and break down.

They are eating like a full 16 oz cup of food daily.. course there are about
40-50 of them now, and if I don't feed them, they just hack away at the
plants.

Wow, plant hacking good indication. Don't forget peas.

converting our indoor tank into salt water, so we can have seahorses....

Now that would be cool. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

For the winter shut down I turn off flow to the veggie filter, pry the
plants out, then use a wet dry vac to suck the muck out.
with the bucket filter I pull the bunched green mosquito screening,
the stiff filter material, the polyester blanket out.
I empty the contents of the bucket on plantings.
fill the bucket, plunge various filters in the bucket, empty onto
plantings. drape filters over one of those expanded metal mesh
outdoor chairs and turn the hose on them. I am not too fussy about
getting em that clean.
Ingrid

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:35:13 CST, "Gareee©"
wrote:
Out of curiosity, what procedure does everyone use to
clean out their filters?