I was wondering how often should I back flush my 3200 gal pond? And when
doing so, how much water should I take out.


Another water question: I know ponds are not usually clear like a fish
tank. My last pond was a plastic insert and the water was fairly clear.
Now that I have a liner, it's no where near clear; its murky at best..
Any suggestions?


Thanks

Is that backflush the filter? or the pond? If it is the filter, we
could use some info about it: size, kind, media, etc. If it is the
pond, most of us drain some water and add some, but it is hard for me
to grasp what backflushing it would be. People vary about how much
they change water. Phyllis have been very slow to change much.
Mostly we add. Others seem to like a lot more...they will explain to
you why that is constructive.

Jim

Peter Pan wrote:
I was wondering how often should I back flush my 3200 gal pond? And when
doing so, how much water should I take out.

Our pond is now attached to the overflow of a water butt. When it rains
the pond is topped up with rain water and the excess passes through a
pipe into an underground soak-away. I've no idea at what rate the water
is being changed, the fish seem happy though. After about 1 month of
British summer weather (plenty of rain) there has been no change to the
ponds pH, which was my only concern.

Another water question: I know ponds are not usually clear like a fish
tank. My last pond was a plastic insert and the water was fairly clear.
Now that I have a liner, it's no where near clear; its murky at best..
Any suggestions?

I use filter wool for the final polishing step. In the past I may have
incorrectly called it nylon wool in this group, it's also advertised as
polywool so I guess it's polythene instead.

Anyway, pass the water through it, change or clean the wool every few
days, and continue until water is sparkly and clear. I need to redo out
pond soon. The last water polish was about two months ago and it's now
looking slightly less than perfect. Some people might include the wool
in there permanent filtration setup, but I find it clogs too easily and
causes overflows.
Here is some from a UK eBay shop
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=160261036136

Good luck with that.
David

http://tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafis...d=1276&cid=766


This is the filter I have.. there is a setting on it to "back flush" the
filter..I was wondering how often should I do this and how much water to
release when doing it?

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:50:51 EDT, Peter Pan wrote:

I was wondering how often should I back flush my 3200 gal pond? And when
doing so, how much water should I take out.

Most filters that I'm familiar with that back flush are pressurized. My
understanding and from working with swimming pool filters, you back wash
till it clears. Surely some directions came with the filter regarding this?

Another water question: I know ponds are not usually clear like a fish
tank. My last pond was a plastic insert and the water was fairly clear.
Now that I have a liner, it's no where near clear; its murky at best..
Any suggestions?

It takes a new pond a while to balance. How old is your pond? The liner
type doesn't have much to do with it. Unless cement that could alter the pH
and throw balance off.

What our club is finding locally with people, especially with fairly new
ponds, is the tossing away of money on chemicals that are a temporary fix
at best. We have been highly suggesting that it is cheaper to do small
frequent water changes. If there is a pond problem, do 10% every other day,
if there isn't a problem do 10-20%/week.

Personally I've found what works for me is to have new flow come in at the
top of my waterfall and out flow to the grass, after my pump. I equalize
the flow rate and do that for an hour/week with dechlor added. My biggest
problem has been pollen in the spring with a little yellow color due to
tannins, but I stepped up the water changes and it was gone in 2 weeks what
took more than a month before.

Many people with koi only ponds have gone to flow thru, where they have a
little fresh coming in and a little old going out 24/7. 1500 gallon pond
would probably have 6 gph change over.

Only thing it doesn't prevent is raccoons. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

One of the easiest means of getting crystal clear water is with a veggie
filter. What you want to be careful of in any cleaning (back flushing,
replacing water, cleaning any filter, etc.) is that you do so with water
that does not have chlorine or the like in it, which will kill off the good
organisms that you need. I used the flow of the filter, when I had one, to
tell me when it needed flushed. When the flow decreased to a noticeable
degree I rinsed the filter medium in pond water. Initially this had to be
done often until the micro-organisms established themselves and then less so
but it was still too often for me. I followed a suggestion from here that
has work very well for me. I put my pump in a 5gal bucket and fill the
bucket with lava rock. This pump sits in the main pond. I clean the bucket
once a year with pond water. The water from the pump goes into an upper
'pond' that has heavy rooted plants (water hyacinths normally) and the water
from this falls back into the main pond. My pond is green early in the
season but once the plants grown and the micro-organisms multiply it is
clear.

Donna


"Peter Pan" wrote in message
...
I was wondering how often should I back flush my 3200 gal pond? And when
doing so, how much water should I take out.


Another water question: I know ponds are not usually clear like a fish
tank. My last pond was a plastic insert and the water was fairly clear.
Now that I have a liner, it's no where near clear; its murky at best.. Any
suggestions?


Thanks

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:47:13 EDT, Peter Pan wrote:

http://tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafis...d=1276&cid=766


This is the filter I have.. there is a setting on it to "back flush" the
filter..I was wondering how often should I do this and how much water to
release when doing it?

You mentioned you have a 3200 gallon pond, how many of these filters are
you using on it? If only 1 that would be a good reason why pond is murky.

Back flush till waste water runs clear. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us