Anyone else have their filter inside?

I've been trying to find/negotiate a place for my barrel filter, but there
really are not any good options.

But I realized that the basement entryway is only about 15' from the pond.
This is basically a 8x4 concrete room where the outside stairs turn to meet
the basement entry door. It even has it's own drain. This is where I ran the
electrical conduit to the pond. The downside is that I have to dig up the
patio stones again, although I may tunnel (water drill) this time.

One problem I see is that the top of the barrels would be below the level of
the pond, unless I raised the barrels. Raising the barrels is probably safer
from a leak perspective, but it would mean having 500 ponds 4' off the
ground. A couple of other pros I can think of are having the aerator/heater
inside during the winter.

Any one else done this? Any cautions/ideas?



Bill Stock

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:49:12 CST, "Bill Stock" <> wrote:

>I've been trying to find/negotiate a place for my barrel filter, but there
>really are not any good options.
>
>But I realized that the basement entryway is only about 15' from the pond.
>This is basically a 8x4 concrete room where the outside stairs turn to meet
>the basement entry door. It even has it's own drain. This is where I ran the
>electrical conduit to the pond. The downside is that I have to dig up the
>patio stones again, although I may tunnel (water drill) this time.
>
>One problem I see is that the top of the barrels would be below the level of
>the pond, unless I raised the barrels. Raising the barrels is probably safer
>from a leak perspective, but it would mean having 500 ponds 4' off the
>ground. A couple of other pros I can think of are having the aerator/heater
>inside during the winter.
>
>Any one else done this? Any cautions/ideas?

IMHO, you want those barrels level or somewhat above the pond level, else
any overflow (think heavy rain) is gonna happen at the barrels...... and
then the drain in the floor gets clogged.... and it is omg time. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

having drained my pond with various filters that got plugged up in
unusual and various and creative ways, I finally got the point and my
filter, if it overflows drains right back into my pond.
Murphy's rule is: the further from the pond the greater the number of
opportunities for leaking and overflowing outside the pond.
Ingrid

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:49:12 CST, "Bill Stock" <>
wrote:

>I've been trying to find/negotiate a place for my barrel filter, but there
>really are not any good options.
>
>But I realized that the basement entryway is only about 15' from the pond.
>This is basically a 8x4 concrete room where the outside stairs turn to meet
>the basement entry door. It even has it's own drain. This is where I ran the
>electrical conduit to the pond. The downside is that I have to dig up the
>patio stones again, although I may tunnel (water drill) this time.
>
>One problem I see is that the top of the barrels would be below the level of
>the pond, unless I raised the barrels. Raising the barrels is probably safer
>from a leak perspective, but it would mean having 500 ponds 4' off the
>ground. A couple of other pros I can think of are having the aerator/heater
>inside during the winter.
>
>Any one else done this? Any cautions/ideas?

500 lbs. is not very much. With good bracing and support a filter
would work fine.
Always keep everything above pond level.


Randy

<dr-> wrote in message
news:466d6c39$0$1346$. com...
> having drained my pond with various filters that got plugged up in
> unusual and various and creative ways, I finally got the point and my
> filter, if it overflows drains right back into my pond.
> Murphy's rule is: the further from the pond the greater the number of
> opportunities for leaking and overflowing outside the pond.
> Ingrid

Thanks, I'll have to build in a few safeguards, but I think it will work
out. I get a hundred gallons of filter space and I don't take up any
pond/garden space. I may reach Koi-dom yet. :-)

"randyinaloha" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
>
> 500 lbs. is not very much. With good bracing and support a filter
> would work fine.
> Always keep everything above pond level.
>
>
> Randy

More like a 1,000 pounds, but even that's not too bad. I've got some posts
and plywood I was thinking of using for my filter box that should do the
trick.

"~ jan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:49:12 CST, "Bill Stock" <> wrote:
>
>>One problem I see is that the top of the barrels would be below the level
>>of
>>the pond, unless I raised the barrels. Raising the barrels is probably
>>safer
>>from a leak perspective, but it would mean having 500 ponds 4' off the
>>ground. A couple of other pros I can think of are having the
>>aerator/heater
>>inside during the winter.
>>
>>Any one else done this? Any cautions/ideas?
>
> IMHO, you want those barrels level or somewhat above the pond level, else
> any overflow (think heavy rain) is gonna happen at the barrels...... and
> then the drain in the floor gets clogged.... and it is omg time. ~ jan

LOL, yeah the other brain cell flickered after I wrote the original message.
Even though the barrels are water tight, it's probably best to keep the tops
above water level.

I was checking this out tonight and it appears that I will have to keep the
barrels tight to the ceiling to do this. Although it's a little hard to tell
by looking. I'll have to dig out the water level to be sure where the water
level lies in the 'filter room'. On the bright side, it's even less than 15'
from the 'filter room' to the middle of the pond.

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:18:48 CST, "Bill Stock" <> wrote:

>I was checking this out tonight and it appears that I will have to keep the
>barrels tight to the ceiling to do this.

Define tight? (Imagining Bill trying to clean filters with only 2" of
clearance.) ~ jan

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

"~ jan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:18:48 CST, "Bill Stock" <> wrote:
>
>>I was checking this out tonight and it appears that I will have to keep
>>the
>>barrels tight to the ceiling to do this.
>
> Define tight? (Imagining Bill trying to clean filters with only 2" of
> clearance.) ~ jan

Tight, as in take them off the shelf to clean them. But I'll put a drain
valve on the bottom so I can flush them. I'll also use flexible hose for the
last connection so I can take them apart fairly easily.

Not ideal, but I want my Koi. I think moving the tree and tunneling for the
drain will be big chores compared to digging the pond.

On Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:22:18 CST, "Bill Stock" <> wrote:

>Not ideal, but I want my Koi. I think moving the tree and tunneling for the
>drain will be big chores compared to digging the pond.

I'm sure, there is something less "fun" about digging the filter.

Today DH & myself dumped the wheelbarrows as DS dug the hole for the lily
pond filter, thankfully only a 2 barrel filter. Still the hole looks
monstrous and we've still got about 1/4th to go.... at least I'm hoping it
is only 1/4th. He dug down and found the bottom drain pipe, so we know how
deep it needs to be now... deep. The ground where it is going is much
higher than the ground around the lily pond. Definitely some retaining
walls will need to be put in place. Fortunately it is pure sand, we went
from 1/3 done to 3/4 done in about an hour. Then my work force complained
about some business they needed to keeping running.... so I had to let them
break for the day. <s> ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us