CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!
- Thread starter combatwombat
- Start date
TheFishGuy
( Insert something funny )
The pond is looking so good! I think it is great that the young one is getting used to the water, swimming is such an important and often life saving skill.
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
1. Weird quirk about this variable speed pump: it does NOT restart after a power failure.
Have had a few of those while working on electrical only to realize several hours later that I need to turn it back on.
Workaround is to use the app to set a schedule that runs daily from midnight to 11:59pm. If power is restored when pump is scheduled to run, it will restart. App is a dumpster fire, though.
2. Finally got the sub panel terminated in the main panel.
This house is constantly occupied and I’ve been too tired to stay up late when everyone is asleep, so I’ve been waiting for my shot to kill the main breaker and finish up work in the main electrical panel.
Was getting impatient and came up with a way to do it live, but decided against that. Had to move a few circuits around to make space.
Got careless at the end and misidentified my neutral as one of my ungrounded conductors. Cut it short before realizing my mistake. So, have to relabel the wires, which you’re allowed to do on anything bigger than #6. Lucky me. Will put some heat shrink over then on both ends and call it done.
Now to pull the individual circuits and get the extension cords out of my way.
Have had a few of those while working on electrical only to realize several hours later that I need to turn it back on.
Workaround is to use the app to set a schedule that runs daily from midnight to 11:59pm. If power is restored when pump is scheduled to run, it will restart. App is a dumpster fire, though.
2. Finally got the sub panel terminated in the main panel.
This house is constantly occupied and I’ve been too tired to stay up late when everyone is asleep, so I’ve been waiting for my shot to kill the main breaker and finish up work in the main electrical panel.
Was getting impatient and came up with a way to do it live, but decided against that. Had to move a few circuits around to make space.
Got careless at the end and misidentified my neutral as one of my ungrounded conductors. Cut it short before realizing my mistake. So, have to relabel the wires, which you’re allowed to do on anything bigger than #6. Lucky me. Will put some heat shrink over then on both ends and call it done.
Now to pull the individual circuits and get the extension cords out of my way.
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Yes, agreed. Electrical is probably my favorite trade to DIY, though. And I enjoy reading and understanding code. We’re allowed to DIY electrical here.
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Ha. Unnoticeable at the moment. I pulled up an area of liner with a lot of patches the other day and it was totally dry, so that’s encouraging.
The weather has been very hot and dry lately, so I’ve had to add water occasionally as the reservoir gets low. Hard to tell right now leak/evaporation. Will measure again in the fall.
I was a fool to think I could make it all summer with a 2500 gallon reservoir, though. Think I’ve refilled it twice already, and will need to again soon.
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2021
- Messages
- 549
- Reaction score
- 657
- Location
- Tampa, FL
- Hardiness Zone
- 9b/10a
- Country
Is the variable speed pump new? I'd call to get a replacement if you can, as the doesn't restart sounds like more than a weird quirk to me.
The only time a pump of mine didn't come back on after a power failure was when some internal part of the impeller didn't get enough power to overcome some defect thing. I wasn't willing to put up with a pump that needed a wollap on the side to knock the impeller loose. (What sort of manufacturer suggestion to avoid the warranty was that?!)
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
It’s a known limitation of the pump due to the electronic controls. I agree that it’s certainly less than ideal, though—poor programming. The fact you can’t set a schedule to run 24 hrs/day and have to turn off/on is also pretty poor UX.
Overall, it’s a very good, time tested pump (very popular on koiphen) but the manufacturer bolted on some electronics and an app that are half-baked at best.
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Well, we suddenly have crystal clear water.
Picture doesn’t do it justice. Y’all know how it is. I can count the pea gravel sitting on the sand 4.5’ deep.
Don’t know the cause of our good fortune. I did turn the pump up a few hundred rpm a few days ago. That’s the only correlation I can make. Haven’t made any other changes. Still no plants. Kid/mom go swimming almost daily. Been hot/dry/windy.
Also noticed that my little bubbler fountain is splashing a bit outside the liner. Only noticed it in just the right sunlight.
Picture doesn’t do it justice. Y’all know how it is. I can count the pea gravel sitting on the sand 4.5’ deep.
Don’t know the cause of our good fortune. I did turn the pump up a few hundred rpm a few days ago. That’s the only correlation I can make. Haven’t made any other changes. Still no plants. Kid/mom go swimming almost daily. Been hot/dry/windy.
Also noticed that my little bubbler fountain is splashing a bit outside the liner. Only noticed it in just the right sunlight.
It’s that old, ancient remedy we call “time”.
When do the fish go in?
When do the fish go in?
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Once I convince the wife they aren't scary to swim with. I have two really good avenues for that:
- Get my toddler to start asking for them.
- Show her some fish needing "rescue."
They have teeth but they are not able to BITE they only use them as crushers in the back of the mouth. I'm in the pond all the time only the turtle decided to take a nibble. The fish come up because you disturbed the bottom and kick up food. Others seem to enjoy a gentle touch as they swim by.
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Telling her that they nibble and have teeth would be a mistake. lol
Then you definitely don't want to mention that they are poop machines. But that matters little once the bio film gets going and becomes slick the ladies will usually call it quits then
YShahar
Enthusiastic duct-tape engineer
Ha! A bit of biofilm isn't going to deter the dedicated pond swimmers among us!
And hey, people spend good money for "fish pedicures" and "icthyotherapy"; getting nibbled on by tiny fish is actually kind of fun! Just need to make sure the nibblers aren't overly toothy.
Some how and I realy have know idea who Mrs wombat is , but I get the feeling she has never had discussions with the girls about plastic EXPLOSIVES.
So I would have to assume her idea of a fish pedicure from Cws words that you two maybe on opposite sides of the spectrum.
Willing to bet while trying to convince her for a dip. Teeth , barbs, nibble, swarming and poop aren't part of the conversation.
TheFishGuy
( Insert something funny )
looks stunning!!
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,739
- Reaction score
- 2,653
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Trying to get into the habit of exercising every valve on my property at least once per year so that they’ll still work when I actually need them.
That now includes 9 valves in the pond. Still kicking myself a bit for putting some of them in the pond in hard to access locations. If you’re reading this and still designing your pond, don’t do that! Put them right at the edge if you can. And on the edge you access most frequently. Or even outside the pond.
But if you’ve already screwed up like me, build yourself one of these for about $10:
Just like a meter key for your house water, but for pvc ball valves.
Requires about 5’ of pipe, a tee fitting, a coupling, and some glue. You only need to glue the vertical joints where the torque is applied.
Stick the coupling on the end and cut a slot in it the width of your valve handles and 1/2 the depth of the coupling. Glue it on with the slots matching the orientation of your handle so it’s easier to seat onto a valve you can’t see well.
This thing will turn very stuck valves without breaking the handles, which is a common problem for pvc valves.
Most of my valves are 2”. My local hardware store didn’t have any hard 90 fittings in 2”, so I went with 1.5” pipe and a reducer coupling
That now includes 9 valves in the pond. Still kicking myself a bit for putting some of them in the pond in hard to access locations. If you’re reading this and still designing your pond, don’t do that! Put them right at the edge if you can. And on the edge you access most frequently. Or even outside the pond.
But if you’ve already screwed up like me, build yourself one of these for about $10:
Just like a meter key for your house water, but for pvc ball valves.
Requires about 5’ of pipe, a tee fitting, a coupling, and some glue. You only need to glue the vertical joints where the torque is applied.
Stick the coupling on the end and cut a slot in it the width of your valve handles and 1/2 the depth of the coupling. Glue it on with the slots matching the orientation of your handle so it’s easier to seat onto a valve you can’t see well.
This thing will turn very stuck valves without breaking the handles, which is a common problem for pvc valves.
Most of my valves are 2”. My local hardware store didn’t have any hard 90 fittings in 2”, so I went with 1.5” pipe and a reducer coupling
Is your bog gravel completely under water? What is the depth of the water over the gravel? How many inches of extra space do you have between the top of the water level and overflowing out the sides of the bog (if your current outflow was blocked)?