10' x 12' pond 2,000 galls 4 foot waterfalls need filter help

[jayhoward1982]

Hey guys im a newbie to ponds i built my first pond a year ago.It is approximately 10' x 12' with 3 4" waterfalls coming down into the pond.Pond looks amazing but the only problem is i cant get rid of the dirty brown water look.I was thinking of building a DIY bio filter and hiding it under my deck using 2 55' drums.Anyone have much luck with method?And does anyone know how to get rid of green string string algate and black algae it covers my waterfalls.

Pond size:10' x 12'
depth:2ft
gallons approx 2,000
Skimmer:Little giant 5000 gal
Pump:Hydrive 6,000 gph
Waterfall wier:31' savio


Water is pumped from inside the swimmer 10ft up hill into my waterfall wier and falls down 3 sets of waterfalls 4' wide and directly into the pond.View attachment 6075

 

[addy1]

Sounds nice, charcoal can help get rid of the brown color, it could be from leaves etc.

The skippy type diy filters work great from what everybody has said here.

Welcome!

 

[jayhoward1982]

 

[sissy]

welcome jay and why is everything always greener in P.A. .I have not been back there for 25 years now .

 

[jayhoward1982]

even the water unfortunately actually its a hint of brown.Lol

 

[jayhoward1982]

You guys think i should go with a 2 55 gallon setup or just a single its gonna be placed under my deck out of view.Im going 10' foot up hill currently and just dumping into my waterfall wier.Also I would hate to redo all the tubing when i build my filter,Im running 2" line now,is there anyway i can splice into the 2" line,cut it before it goes to my wier and redirect it the the 55' gallon drum,filter out material and go back into my wier.

 

[j.w]

Jay
Cool looking pond and nice big waterfall :alieneyesa:

 

[jayhoward1982]

Thanks I apprecaite it,it took a long time to build I had to haul all the rocks to my house which was over an hour away.Thank god my buddy has over 100 acres of pennsylvania field stone laying around.I tried to dig it 4 foot deep but hit clay.The waterfalls are a nice touch to the pond with the 6,000 gph pump it is quite an impressive sound.Just need to get my water clarity better.

 

[addy1]

You guys think i should go with a 2 55 gallon setup or just a single its gonna be placed under my deck out of view.Im going 10' foot up hill currently and just dumping into my waterfall wier.Also I would hate to redo all the tubing when i build my filter,Im running 2" line now,is there anyway i can splice into the 2" line,cut it before it goes to my wier and redirect it the the 55' gallon drum,filter out material and go back into my wier.

Yes you can spice into the 2 inch line direct it where you want it to go. In working on ours we used the flexible couplings while setting it up, the black with the hose clamps. This way we could change things around without cutting the pipes all of the time.

If you are building one, why not build two, more filtration is better, you could have slightly different media in each one. Check some threads where they have multiply filters set up (I just have a bog) I don't recall, but I think some have them with different media in each one.

And that looks great!

 

[jayhoward1982]

a guy at work also just gave me a bran new swimming pool filter wonder if i could incorporate that into it

 

[sissy]

you can but those filters are usually expensive to run .My friend gave me one and I just tried out for a 2 month's and found my electric bill went up a lot and really did not do as good a job cleaning as my regular pump and home made filter did ..But to be honest it was an older filter style and not really a name brand either .I think the newer ones they make are much better ,but still not sure about energy efficient they are .I only have ever seen 2 that had an energy star rating and they are expensive

 

[sissy]

I have 2 filters one with just lava rock and the other with filter pads and lava rock .I think the lava rock one cleans better and is a lot easier to clean out ,at least to me it is .I just put water from my pond into it and use my dirty water pump to pump all the gunk out and then this way I can do a 10% water change at the same time .Water in water out

 

[lotusfreak]

nice work!!!!!

 

[jayhoward1982]

nice work!!!!!

thanks lotus freak!I bought lotuses last year the guy told them they should be fine to say in the pond during winter,i think he ws wrong they still havent popped up yet

 

[addy1]

Some lotus are tropicals some are hardy, the hardy should come back if the tuber does not freeze.