Ducks in my pond. What can I use to filter water?

[Susan's Retreat]

I have a 2000 gallon pond which had nice plants and fish. My family got this bright idea to get three ducks. Now I have a pond with no plants, fish, ducks and dirty water. We are attached to the ducks, so the solution is not to get rid of the ducks and we can't drain the water and keep adding it, so I am looking for chemical filter ideas. We currently have a mechanical filter and a uv light. We are running both 24/7 and it is not doing it. Can anyone offer further help and or advice?

 

[Tula]

@RobAmy had ducks that visit his pond, perhaps he'll have some suggestions Personally, I would not use chemicals.

Welcome to our pond forum !

 

[MitchM]

Chemical filtration is only used for removing heavy metals, which is not what you need.
If you want to add chemicals to clear up the water, there are products to do that, if your water is green.

Your best solution is increased mechanical filtration plus increased water circulation, which will bring more detritus to your filter.

Welcome, btw.

 

[Lisak1]

I was going to say the same - it's not chemical filtration you're after. You need to remove the organic waste. Lots of plants would help, but you said you have no more plants. Does that mean the ducks ate them? So you now have more of a farm pond than a garden pond. I would focus on things the ducks aren't interested in, like cattails, grasses, reeds, etc. on the margins of your pond. Or perhaps a large bog filter separate from your pond where you can grow plants and the ducks won't bother them.

Can you share some photos? We can maybe help with other ideas if we see your pond set up. Where there's a will there's a way!

 

[RobAmy]

Ducks can be messy. Mine are all wild so they are not there 24/7 but I have had as many as nine at once. There is at least one there everyday for a few hours. I have a lot of mechanical and bio filtration, I have a total of 4 Savio filters with a total of 8000 plus gph going thru them. My pond is approximately 3500 gph. I have 2 areas with aeration also. Water movement I feel really helps with ducks. I have a skimmer also so I get a good push pull effect. They really leave my plants alone for the most part, they will disturb the lilies a little due to landing and takeoff.

Here is my layout

 

[Big Lou]

Welcome Susan.

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome! And ditto what everyone else said. It's good mechanical filtration that you want, as well as good water movement.

 

[Dave 54]

Welcome Susan from Plymouth in the UK @RobAmy should be able to help you out when it comes to ducks your in good hands there

Dave

 

[Susan's Retreat]

Thank you everyone for the great advice. First of all, my husband gave me bad information. I thought we had a biological filter but he convinced me that it was mechanical. I followed up on that with some additional research and I was correct. There is a first time for everything. I took the water to be tested yesterday and it was high in PH so the pond guy sold us something to bring the PH down and then to also add additional bacteria and some "floculant". We also tore the filter completely apart and gave it a really good cleaning. According to the pond guy, we need to do a partial water change tomorrow and then we should start to see some improvement. He also said that he also thinks that the ducks are keeping the bottom stirred up and that is part of the problem. We will see. I will try to take some photos tomorrow nite and post them. Thank you again.

 

[Big Lou]

Glad you are making progress.

 

[Susan's Retreat]

So I did everything they told me to do and it doesn't look any different. Had the water tested again and it is still high in PH so I added more of the chemicals to lower it. I am wondering now if by biological filter is not enough now and if I should by one of the pressurized combination mechanical/bio filters to use instead. What does anyone think? Anything I should know when looking at one. Any recommendations? I also heard that you can modify a sand filter from a pool to use. I have a feeling that most of the problem is from the ducks and the fact that I can have no plants in the water because they eat them and the resulting sun because of no shade. If that is the case, I will need to filter the water a lot more than usual. Is that correct?

 

[MitchM]

What exactly do you have for filtration now?
Do not add any more chemicals.
If you have any water test results, please post the numbers.
Also, can you post a picture?
You could possibly modify a pool filter. Here is one method:

 

[johan]

Filters can be both biological and mechanical - you might both be correct. For example I have a closed system Oase filter with pads inside. It removes waste mechanically by trapping it as the water goes through, but there are also bacteria in there that convert the waste so it's biological too. With large amounts of waste, the answer is really just more filtration as people have suggested. Good aeration has helped me too - it circulates the water promoting gas exchange (more oxygenated water), but circulating water also helps by avoiding no-circulation dead spot gunk buildup and so getting more water and gunk to go through the filtration cycle. Good luck!