I need help with a few things, pump questions and green water

[Valerie reddick]

I have green water and my pumps keep stopping on me. I have cleaned the debris from the bottom and my plants are all in containers filled with pea gravel on top so the dirt doesnt get in the pond. I have a 1200 gph and a 600 gph pump with a bio filter in the middle on a cinder block at the deepest area of the pond. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks valerie

 

[ididntdoit99]

Do you have a prefilter? WHat is the model of your pumps or can oyu post a picture?
if there is no prefilter and your pumps are sucking up stuff, they can clog.

 

[Valerie reddick]

No I do not think I have a prefilter? I have beckett pumps and beckett biofilter with the 5 filters and then the 1200 and 600 gph on either side of the biofliter.

 

[Valerie reddick]

I thought about putting the whole thing in some kind of bag or container to try to keep out the gunk, is that adviasable?

 

[JohnHuff]

Why are the pumps stopping? Do you mean electrical or are they getting so clogged up that they stop pumping?
How do you mean the pumps on either side of the biofilter?

The Beckett biofilter with the 5 filters is a prefilter. It should pick up a lot of the loose stuff before it gets to your pump but it should only be attached to one pump. You must be talking about this thing:

http://www.amazon.com/Beckett-Corpo...3?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1337195375&sr=1-3

Also, it would be helpful to know the size of your pond and what you have in it and why you have 2 pumps.

 

[Valerie reddick]

Yes thats it. I have a pump on either side of that. My pond is 91/2 ft by 71/2 ft by 3 1/2 ft in the deepest part. I have 3 ccontainers of plants and 4 koi, 5 goldfish, 1 algea eater. The first pump was a 600 gph and it wasn't enough circulation of the water so I bought another 1200 gph. The 600 one is going to 2 spitters and the large pump is for the center fountain.

 

[27goldfish]

If they are submersible and before the bio filter, it could still get plugged with gunk. The do make mesh bags for pumps, but you may be able to make one for each pump cheaper than buying 3 of them.

 

[Valerie reddick]

So i should not have a pump on either side of this bio filter?

 

[JohnHuff]

You definitely should not have 1 pump on either side of the filter! Think of the pumps as your lungs and the filter as a breathing mask. You want the breathing mask to be before your lungs. I'm not sure I understand your pump setup entirely. Are your pumps acting in series through the biofilter?

You still haven't mentioned why your pumps are stopping.

 

[Waterbug]

UV filter is 100% effecting against green water. 10,001 other ways, hit and miss at best, many are just plain crazy.

 

[sissy]

The filters he has are those foam tubes I am guessing of course and they suck in on them selves and stop the pump from working.You can burn out your pumps with them .Looked at the sight a expected it was them and it was .They are more for light duty

 

[sissy]

you also said the bio filter is in the middle of the pond ,are you talking about the foam .There is a good pond store in Greensboro I go to it is about an hour to get to Greensboro from my house .Darn whats the name ,it is around where big lots is i know that

 

[sissy]

That is to large a fish load for those foam things koi produce a lot of waste .I have koi.Those foam things are not a bio filter

 

[JohnHuff]

That is to large a fish load for those foam things koi produce a lot of waste .I have koi.Those foam things are not a bio filter

The foam things are not biofilters per se, but that Beckett filter has a compartment underneath where it holds bioballs ergo, why Beckett calls this a biofilter providing mech and bio filtration.

 

[Valerie reddick]

Sissy, yes thats what I have the one with the balls in the bottom under the 5 filters. I sure did not intend on spending a ton of money on this pond, I did everything myself and have tried to find materials to use that did not cost me. Like my brick around it was given to me and I got a rubber roofing for the liner. Then I read they can be toxic. YICKS!! But if it were would I still have fish from last fall in there?