A spring of improvements

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Without really even consciously thinking about it I've made a series of improvements to my pond's filter system this spring that I should have done long ago.
The first improvement is in my last filter tank where I have a homemade clarifying filter that removes fine particles from the water before going back to the pond. It consisted of a bucket converted into a sort of canister wrapped in quilt batting.
The canister sits inside a barrel with a gravity fed inlet pipe running inside and the water filters through the canister that is wrapped in quilt batting and the filtered water is pumped out back to the waterfall and back into the pond.
It sort of looks like this.
full

The basic design works well, but the problem was the quilt batting filter material. Although it worked very well for filtering the water the quilt batting itself was not very durable. It tended to stretch and thin over time and would start to fall apart after repeated washing's, so after years of putting up with that I finally purchased some new material (Aero-Flo) material. This material is much stronger and does not stretch and was designed to be washable. It works much better. Here is a picture of what it actually looks like in the tank. One in the water and one ready to go in when the other one needs washing. The concrete block you see is just there to just help hold the canister in place so the slip fit intake pipes don't come apart.
20160521_1533221_zps1rry6iwy.jpg


The next improvement I already mentioned in a another thread was sort of actually started last year when I purchased some floating media to turn my biological tank from a static media bio-filter into a "moving bed" bio-filter. It also has been working well and because the moving bed media is self cleaning it means less maintenance, and by all accounts is a much more efficient biological filtering system then static submerged media.
20160521_1533311_zpsfi78dp9v.jpg


The final improvement is one that I kick myself the most for not doing long ago.
It has to do with the bucket you see on the bottom right and the tiny little lever you see in this next picture. The little lever I'm talking about is on the left side of that wooden table with the red arrow pointing to it.
20160521_153509_zpsetc9sbev.jpg

The white tank is my cone shaped settling tank. The bottom of that settling tank is below the ground level and looked like this before being installed and plumbed in.
full

The idea of this tank is that solids from the pond gravity flow into this tank and settle and concentrate at the narrow bottom of the tank. After enough waste accumulate you open a valve and allow the concentrated waste solids at the bottom of the tank to drain out. I had previously rigged some drain line to come up back up and out of the hole so that the waste water could drain into a bucket at floor level, but the valve was still located down in the hole near the bottom of the tank, which meant that to access it to open and close the valve you had to lay on the ground and reach down into the hole in the floor. Something that was not really very comfortable to do.
Long story short, I finally installed a gate valve and hooked up an extension rod to it so the gate valve could easily be opened and shut simple by pulling on the little lever on top of the table, while standing erect like a human. ;)

Wow! What a difference. Before I use to put off draining the waste from that tank because of the contortions involved in lying down and reaching down in that hole. Now, every time I go in there I get an urge to pull that lever and flush out what little wastes may have accumulated. (y)

Here's what it looks like down in the hole. You can see the red handled PVC valve I use to have to reach in and turn before, but just leave open now because the gate valve works as the main shut off valve. You can see the extension rod, attached to the top of the gate valve with black tape and zip ties, extending up and to the top right of the picture.
20160521_1535341_zpspjdgmucm.jpg


Anyway, a few little improvements have made my pond maintenance a lot easier, even enjoyable. :D
 
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sissy

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It looks almost like lowes reusable furnace filters .I have had mine for years .But helped some others by giving them some from my filters to help there ponds get established .You know looking at trhat and thinking I should give it a try .I have some rectangular 6 inch high buckets or whatever the guy called them .I could put it on the sides and the bottom .They held sauerkraut at one time
 
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It looks almost like lowes reusable furnace filters
Yes that's probably exactly the same stuff, although they do advertise it as having a multitude of uses,, including pond filtering. I actually ended up purchasing a 36 ft long 16" wide, 1" thick roll from these guys which has a bit of a story attached to it.
They don't display shipping costs in their shopping cart when you order, so I called them directly to get a shipping cost quote. The woman quoted me about $20 for shipping to my address in Canada which sounded pretty reasonable so I placed the order. A couple days later I get an email telling me my order has been shipped, BUT,,, the shipping cost was $66.50 :jawdrop: for a product that only cost $55.42. Well, I was a little annoyed to say the least, but didn't think there was much I could do about it at that point since the order had already been shipped. However, I did tell them about my grievances by filling out their online contact form, not really expecting them to do much about it at this point. To my astonishment they called me less then 5 minutes later apologizing for the mix up, and told me that the shipping costs are actually $66.50 but that it was their mistake for not quoting me the correct amount before I made the order, and that they would make it up to me by reimbursing me the difference. Then they sent me this email "
I want to apologize again that the shipping cost was more than what we quoted over the phone. We will credit your card $46.50 to make up the difference.
Please continue to either call or e-mail us if you need a shipping quotation prior to placing an order.
Greg"

Ten minutes after that call the package was delivered to the door, making it the fastest delivery time I've ever experienced coming from the US to Canada. Obviously they had spared no expense in the shipping, however this was not something I needed air delivery on and at my doorstep in two days. :p
I would certainly order from these people again, although I'd just make sure I request a more economical shipping method. (y)
 
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sissy

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good gosh a whole case of it here at lowes only cost about 30 dollars.That was not something that I would like for sure .How true I am cheap and wait for sales that include free shipping for 49 dollars or less of stuff I have to buy .Last time I got free shipping from webbs for any amount I bought .Seems like they made the decision for you .I like webbs because I usually get in in 2 days since it is close
 

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