My Skippy Filter

[mew5280]

After reading a bazillion accounts of DIY filter versions, including koiguy1969 who inspired me most, I built my own last weekend.

A little history... I inherited a rectangular above-ground 600 gallon pond 12 years ago when I bought my house. Not knowing much, I didn't do much, there was no filter, just a small pump with a fountain. In the middle were clumps of flag iris planted on plastic crates. 5 years later, the iris were so thick we had to drain the pond and hack them out with a pick ax.

Here's a photo from 2003 when the water was clear

Here you can see how the iris have kind of taken over the pond (on the right)

Hacking out the iris

Clean pond

THEN the next Spring 2005....

The next year 2006....

SO I bought a Tetra bio filter, bought a bigger pump, covered the pond in as many plants as possible...

Realized that the fish were pro-creating WAY too much...

Drained the pond again and gave away 50 goldfish...

Had a clean pond again, only 5 goldfish, 2 koi...

The next Spring...YIKES

OK, I know that's just algae bloom and it went away but the water is still full of solids and not clear! Ever! Except the first week after draining and refilling.

We tried lotions and potions (I should own stock in Microbe-lift), all natural, never used an algaecide, tried the bio filters, always de-chlorinated the water before adding, the tetra bio filter never seemed to do anything. I tried using quilt batting in the top of the filter and changing it daily. Nope.

SO this year, it's the skippy filter. I used a 37 gallon Rubbermaid container at first, thinking the 70 gallon stock tank might be too big. I used 1.5" pvc pipe inside with the elbows turning in opposite directions, the water comes in at the top through a sanitary tee (I think that's what it's called) so there is airflow at the top in case of pump failure. On the back is a clean out valve. I used shower drains for both. I have the light tray at the bottom so there are about 5 inches for gunk to fill, then filled the rest with cut up filter media that was sold by the roll at my garden center but a bear to cut up. It was on super sale as they were trying to get rid of it so it cost about $20 and I still have about the same amount left over. My pump is a Tetra debris handling 2000 gph. The plants at the top are water lettuce and iris.

My hope is that the plants will take over the top eventually. The tub will show but for now I don't care if I can get my water clear.

It's been three days and the filter has some gunk in it but the water coming out is still green. I know it can take 4 - 6 weeks to clear BUT Hubby had an idea to experiment with clarifiers.

Filling two glasses with water from the filter, we added two different clarifiers; AccuClear and Pondzme, same concept, one is liquid and one is powder. Here are the results:

Initial pour

30 minutes later

one hour later (sorry the glasses switched but the one that is settling faster is AccuClear)

And 4 hours later

Sorry for that LONG intro but just wanted to introduce myself and if my water does not clear I would love to hear from you what I can try next. (can you tell I'm skeptical?)

I did add some AccuClear to the pond today, per instructions, 1/4 cup for the 600 gallon pond which is a much lower percentage than I used in the glass. Would you recommend using a clarifier during the start up of a new biofilter or not? I have added a good dose of Microbe-lift, the liquid, couldn't find the gel.

Thanks for reading, nice to meet you all. Mary

 

[fishin4cars]

welcome aboard, If it were me I would 1st, Do a 20% water change trying to suck as much as possible fom the bottom of the pond adding the accuclear if you want to at that time. I would add the water slowly with dechlorinator when filling. Second, Add a In-line UV light, Your size pond a 9-15 wattt would work fine.(only needs to be run while you have green water if that is all you are using it for, this saves the unit for a longer lifespan. Third, Backflush your filter weekly, Fourth get some Barley extract and/or Barely Bales and place them in the top of the filter. On the use of the Barley, Extract would start working right away, Bales work better for maintaining after the first couple of uses of extract and is cheaper to use. One more thing I would see if I could do is if possibly rig up a basket or plantting pot that would drain easily, fill it with batting material and allow the water to come out of your filter through the batting, i think this will need to be cleaned often at first but once you have the bloom back under control it could be eliminated or put less in so it wouldn't clog as fast. Now, this is just me speaking and my ideas if I were maintaining it and working on it myself.

 

[koiguy1969]

IF IT IS THIS TYPE OF FILTER YOU WERE USING..YOU CAN PUT THE OLD TETRAPOND FILTER TO GOOD USE AS A FINES FILTER WITH OR WITHOUT THE FLOCCULANT.. I USED MINE WITH ITS OWN PUMP TO REALLY CLEAN UP SOME MUCKY WATER ONE SPRING... FILL IT WITH FIBER FILL ON TOP OF THE 2 PADS THAT COME WITH THE FILTER.
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2494&d=1272387583

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2495&d=1272387583
NOTICE THE WHITE HOSE...EXTENTION FOR WATER RETURN AND I CUT AND MADE A SUPPORT GRID FOR THE PADS AND FIBERFILL TO SIT ON JUST ABOVE OUTLET
******** AS FAR AS YOUR FILTER IS CONCERNED I WOULD CUT THE PEICES OF FILTER MEDIA SMALLER AND ADD MORE. ALSO IMHO 2000 GPH IS A PRETTY HIGH FLOW FOR THAT SMALL OF A FILTER
KEEP US POSTED...GOOD LUCK.

 

[mew5280]

fishincars: I did a small water change but have to laugh because I filled a 35 gallon container with hose water and added the dechlorinator than accidentally, because it was so heavy, dumped the whole thing at once into the pond and all the stones on the side of the pond fell into the pond because the board is not (yet) nailed down. Not quite 20%.

Also, how do I backflush this filter? Do I turn the pump off and then let the water out the back by opening the valve?

koiguy: Yep, that kind of filter. So did you NOT use the bio balls in it? Just the pads and fiberfill with some support under it?.

This is when I had first put it in. I had a 900 gph pump so the water was trickling out. Later I bought the 2000 gph pump to keep the water flowing since it would start to slow as more gunk built up, before I knew I had to change/clean the filter pads so often.

And yes, after reading everything I realized the 2000 gph pump might be too much. I could try to put a regulator on it or use the 900 gph pump instead?

Why would cutting the media smaller help? Just curious. And since this came on a roll, I assume it was meant to be used in large pieces so do you think it's a good media? I notice most people use scrubby pads.

 

[vertigo72]

A few things.. a skippy or any other biofilter will not do much to counter algae. A bio filter will help convert toxins like ammonia (produced by your fish mostly) in to nitrites and finally fish-harmless nitrates. Thats good for your fish. |And plants, as nitrates are essentially plant fertilizer. And there is the problem. If there arent enough plants to assimilate the nitrates, then algae will blossom. When I saw the first pic where you took out all those iris, my first thought was: O-Oh. Iris are great filter plants. I would just have thinned them, and you can simply cut them. As often as you like, I cut mine at least 3x per year. The more you cut, the more they have to grow thereby assimilating nitrates.

Anyway, I agree with the above poster, try an UV light now to get rid of the floating algae until the pond finds a new balance.

As for backflusing a skippy; you dont. You shouldnt have to touch it, other perhaps than draining it if you installed a bottomdrain. Your filtermeda looks great on sight, just give it time to mature. It takes weeks or months before it starts working properly.

 

[koiguy1969]

cutting your media into smaller squares will allow you to put more in... more in, more surface area... more surface area, more bacteria,...more bacteria , beter bio activity. and the smaller peices allow less channeling between them. and no for the fines filter you dont need bio media...just the 2 mats and the fiberfill. when the ponds clear you can run your tote filter from the tetrapond one. as i did on my first pond.....you will see it in this video
[ame]

 

[koiguy1969]

I would use a U.V as well...just till its clear, then you could put it away for the season....should have mentioned this in last post.

 

[fishin4cars]

Also, how do I backflush this filter? Do I turn the pump off and then let the water out the back by opening the valve?

Not much of a way to back-flush that filter. I was talking about the blue one that has the back-flush valve on the back. On the 900 gph pump your probably not getting 400gph to the filter if that due to head height. I would use the 2000 and put a valve in the line to reduce the flow some to the filter, This extra valve would be a prefect place for a Uv lite to go as that water would be going slower past the light and do a more effective job and it would allow you to do both the Uv and the filter on one pump.

 

[mew5280]

NOW I know that Iris are great filters. The problem is, they had grown completely across the pond preventing water flow and the fish couldn't swim across because they were planted on top of plastic crates. And we couldn't separate them in the pond because it was one huge clump. However, I wish I had known to save more of them. Now I can't get the ones I have to grow more but I have them in pots. Why are they so expensive at garden centers? $11-16 for one plant. They grow wild, I'm thinking of finding some wild ones.

UV Filter. I guess I'll go look for one but the water is always that green color, year-round, does the algae float in the water year round like that? We get a lot of sun here though, over 300 days and we're closer to the sun at elevation 5280.

 

[mew5280]

fishincars: The blue filter is a skippy so one person says backflushing not needed but you're saying it is? I was thinking I would use common sense and if the filter starts getting lots of gunk, I will empty it using that back valve and rinse the media in pond water.

 

[fishin4cars]

backflushing a filter is simply removing the build-up of Muck at the bottom. You can simply take a clean five gallon bucket with pond water, place the pads in the bucket and throw all the gunk and muck over to some yard plants, THEY LOVE IT! then put the pads back in, when your moving the pads out of the bucket let them rinse their selves out, don't squeeze them or try cleaning them just pick them up and let what Muck runs out run out and put them right back to use, A good running filter should not be clean, but at the same time you don't want to be breaking down Muck, that is 100% waste that is plant food. Good bacteria don't live well in muck so getting it out of the system allows the bacteria to be more effecient in what they are needing to break down. also the more plants that grow in the pond the less problem with algae. both are eating nutrients, If the larger plants eat most of the nutrients the algae cells naturally die back because they have been out competed for their food supply.
The UV light kills the free floating algae cells. Some ponds benefit by just a week or two of use, some need them for longer periods, that's where the pond will give you the answer, once it has cleared for a week or two you can turn it off until needed, disconnect and stop use once there is a chance of freezing, best if brought inside to keep it from freezing and cracking during the winter.

 

[koiguy1969]

regardless if its an absolute neccessity or not, flushing the filter is a good thing..removing excess bio matter lessens the work load on the bacterial colony. and when you flush and replace the water removed your doing a small water change as well. you can flush with the pump off and when its empty turn the pump on with the flush drain open to keep going till you drain the amount of water from your pond you wish to change. with a smaller filter like yours it would be even more beneficial. my 9 watt tetrapond U.V clears my water (1200 gals) to crystal clear in 3 days..then i run it for an extra 4 or 5 days. then its job is done for the year!

 

[mew5280]

Great info, thanks so much! I will keep you updated on the progress.

 

[addy1]

Good luck, welcome to the group, that is one good first post lol, and experiment of pond clearing agents!

 

[j.w]

mew