Hello everyone I am new here but wanted to tell my story.
I have a raised pond. 8ftx5x2.5 with an additional part that was the bog filter/ pea shingle about 25% the size of the main pond.
I have had this for 18 years and never cleaned the bog filter or pond out, well finally the pond turned a disgusting mixture of soup. On testing everything was in balance. The bog filter worked from the beginning though the water was never really clear. Non cleaning over the years was the problem.
A new start.
I did not wanted to go back to pea shingle as it was a pain to haul out and clean etc so though i would try a trickle tower filter. So I built a copy of this with some adaptions.
At the bottom I added on a sump with a man hole cover type thing at the bottom which i can open to let the gunge out. Also where the water exits I added a filter of probably 500 microns. Now I tried this at the top of the tower so the water flowed onto it and it blocked in 20 mins or so. So i tried it where the water exits, the filter sits slightly recessed/ verticle in the tower so the water level covers half of the filter and the water drops down onto it, What seems to be happening is as the debris builds on the filter the downward movement of water washes of the debris/ algae into the sump. I have been testing the water for clarity as it exits and it is as clear as tap water, absolutely no sediment. I left the glass for an hour or so and no sediment at all.
I have not tested the pond water yet for ph, nitrates etc.
The pond is in full sun. you can see algae starting to form in the pond but only here and there and it clears as the sun goes down. So far it is completely maintenance free. Obviously you have to open the sump hole cover to let the gunge out every so often.
It is not the prettiest filter but I quite like it now especially as it is doing a good job.
I have a raised pond. 8ftx5x2.5 with an additional part that was the bog filter/ pea shingle about 25% the size of the main pond.
I have had this for 18 years and never cleaned the bog filter or pond out, well finally the pond turned a disgusting mixture of soup. On testing everything was in balance. The bog filter worked from the beginning though the water was never really clear. Non cleaning over the years was the problem.
A new start.
I did not wanted to go back to pea shingle as it was a pain to haul out and clean etc so though i would try a trickle tower filter. So I built a copy of this with some adaptions.
At the bottom I added on a sump with a man hole cover type thing at the bottom which i can open to let the gunge out. Also where the water exits I added a filter of probably 500 microns. Now I tried this at the top of the tower so the water flowed onto it and it blocked in 20 mins or so. So i tried it where the water exits, the filter sits slightly recessed/ verticle in the tower so the water level covers half of the filter and the water drops down onto it, What seems to be happening is as the debris builds on the filter the downward movement of water washes of the debris/ algae into the sump. I have been testing the water for clarity as it exits and it is as clear as tap water, absolutely no sediment. I left the glass for an hour or so and no sediment at all.
I have not tested the pond water yet for ph, nitrates etc.
The pond is in full sun. you can see algae starting to form in the pond but only here and there and it clears as the sun goes down. So far it is completely maintenance free. Obviously you have to open the sump hole cover to let the gunge out every so often.
It is not the prettiest filter but I quite like it now especially as it is doing a good job.
