Did so much work on my pond today...

[JohnHuff]

Me and my son started out replacing the old filter. And that's what we did first. We think the leak is around there. To replace it we created a bucket filter which is simply a bucket filled with floating bioballs. The incoming water splashes down into the water aerating it and moving the bioballs around. The bucket has an outlet at about the middle and an overflow around there as well.

Next, we decided to clean the prefilters for both pumps as this is the first time we've started the big pump in about a month.

Then we decided to install a second filter downstream of the bucket filter. That's a sand/pebble/stone filter where water flows over it. The filter was already made, it was just a matter of installing and leveling it.

Only 3 paragraphs, but the devil was in the details. Took us quite a while to drill the correct holes and sand them smooth, and even to find the right drill bits and parts.

Anyway, the next thing is to wait and see if it leaks anywhere.

 

[addy1]

Neat! I put a tiny filter on my deck pond sure made a difference.

 

[Mmathis]

You know, I have noticed something about pond work -- you can never start out to do just one thing. It snowballs!! I can say I'm going out to feed the fish. Two hours later, Hubby will come out and say, "I thought you were just coming out to feed the fish...."

Hmmm, maybe I should have a T-shirt made that says, "I'm only going out to feed the fish. It's a POND thing, you wouldn't understand...."

 

[JohnHuff]

Yay, this morning my pond is at the same level!!! I guess I found the leak, which is where the old filter outlet was. The old filter outlet spilled into a small pool at the top of the waterfall and weirdly enough, the outlet came out under the pool. I guess over time, since we had to unscrew the filter every time we cleaned it, we moved the outlet enough that it enlarged the hold where it came out.

 

[j.w]

Glad you fixed the leak and got two filters installed now because of it! I'm still collecting plastic bottle lids to add to my filter falls. Have quite a few now. Water will swirl in from below and move them all around in a circle. Will put a plastic screen on top and call it good.

 

[JohnHuff]

Water level dropped about an inch this morning. Not sure if that was just evaporation. To be sure, I went to Home Depot and bought some PVC elbows to adjust the water flow out of the bucket filter.

Also dropped by Petco and couldn't resist two Shubunkins that were on sale. Absolutely beautiful, one was black and red, the other black/red/grey/white.

 

[j.w]

So do you have good luck w/ fish from Petco? I have always bought mine from Petsmart and never tried Petco.

 

[JohnHuff]

So do you have good luck w/ fish from Petco? I have always bought mine from Petsmart and never tried Petco.

I go to both. Sometimes I get them from one, sometimes the other.

 

[JohnHuff]

So we did some more work on the pond today. My son did most of the work while I directed. Again, it just started me with noticing that the pre-filters needed to be cleaned, then we did some more work.

So, first we cleaned the pre-filters which were pretty full despite water flow being good. Next, we added more bioballs to the shower filter. Lastly, we added more bioballs to the moving bed reactor.

Looking back, I don't know how our fish survived before because our biofiltration capacity is so much higher than when I first inherited the pond. When I first inherited the pond, there was no man made biofiltration, just mechanical filtration supplied by filter mats in an external filter and biofiltration supplied by plants.

I didn't start adding biofiltration until I removed the mats from the external filter and replaced them with bioballs instead. I'd made different biofilters for fun but nothing permanent, always dismantling them at the end of the season. I'm glad that I now have permanent biofilters but until then, I guess the plants and the bacteria covering every available surface in the pond had been doing the conversion.

Which brings up a theoretical question. Since algae and bacteria grow in response to appearance of nutrients, shouldn't ammonia and nitrites be always close to zero in water gardens (without UV)?

 

[addy1]

Mine always read zero........when I test, which is seldom any more.