Need to clear water in 5 days!

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Thanks to Koiguy1969, DrCase and DrDave (and others) i'm well on my way to having a balanced pond! I've got 5 days until i have a small group of people over, so i'd like to clear up the pond as much as possible.

Here's what i've done so far or is in the works:

I've got 2 300gallon ponds. Each one is around 2' deep, has a 30 to 40 gallon feed pond that IS the waterfall (just plastic barrels with a spillway). I plan to turn them into skippies, but can't access the outside of them.

I've filled the bottoms of each with 2 bags (1 cubic foot) of lava rocks. (i coated them with beneficial bacteria)

I extended the output tubes of the current bio-filters (combo uv/bio filters) to the bottom of the ponds. These are both on Pondmaster Model 5 pumps (500 GPH at 0'. . .from the bottom of the pond, these are emptying at about 4')

I've also got pondmaster model 7 pumps (700GPH) in each pond. Right now the front pond is going through a UV filter and also emptying out at the bottom of the feed pond. The back pond, however, has a cascading fall that's about 6' high (making the total height off the pump around 8') and it empties into the basin that i'm using with the lava rocks. Is dumping this water into the top of the basin going to screw up what i've done with the other pump?

I plan on adding lava rocks to the tiny spill basins that cascade down the wall for some extra filtration.

The future, as i said, will yield skippies out of those spill basins. I'll add scrubbies, real pvc plumbing to the bottom and some hard plastic mesh to the top. I'll have to use the spillway for the outlet, so adding vegetation to the top will only make them go over the falls.

I've got plenty more beneficial bacteria and sludge remover. I plan on using both of those as directed on the bottle this afternoon.

I also plan on hitting up the local aqua place for some better pre filters. I've got one pre filter that pretty much never clogs and 3 that clog pretty much every day. I figure that will change once the pond is cleaner and more in balance, but i still would rather get better prefilters. should i put beneficial pbacteria on the prefilters?

Thanks!
-James
 

koiguy1969

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if you really want to clear up the water quick and there is alot of floating or suspended debris or fine particles.. take a milkcrate and fill it with pillow stuffing(fiber fill) and prop it under your waterfalls so the water spills into it it will filter out all the stuff in the water.. watch it and replace the stuffing when it gets clogged.
 

DrDave

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This got mine clear in 3 days. just toss a pump at the deepest part of your pond where the stuff settles and make sure you have some turbulace to stir it up. My pump had to be cleared a few times but it worked perfect.
 

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great idea! i've got a much larger pump that the previous owners were using for a waterfall. i suspect that pump won't get clogged the way these little pondmasters do. unfortunately, by the time i got to the pond store today, they were closed (close at 12:30 on saturdays!). so i didn't get any new prefilters.

i did stop at home depot, though, and picked up a bunch of 3/4" pvc and fittings to start my project. my one question, though, will the current biofilters that i have feed enough pressure down into the new skippy? i'd skip it alltogether, except that the UV is in there on those pumps and i want to keep that inline. any thoughts?

-James
 

DrCase

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A few pics would help us see just what you want to do..it sounds like it will work ,,but i would like to see it..you only got 4 days left
 

lindsayanng

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I will tell you exactly how it's gonna work.

You're going to do all this work and bust your butt cleaning multiple filters and buying all this stuff, you're going to have people over in 5 days and the pond will look exactly the same. Then, miraculously 3 days after your get together, it will be crystal clear.

That's what happened to me. I had a mothersday party and desperately wanted to show off my hard work. I did everything you said 2 WEEKS in advance. No change. Until 3 days after my event. No clue what spurred it but it was so clear you could read the lettering on the pump that was 4 feet down!

Murphys law
 
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HA you're right. For pictures, check out:
backyard%20011.jpg


That's just the one from the back pond. If you notice, the combo uv/biofilter dumps into that spill pond. . .and then that waterfalls into the fish pond. then you'll see to the left, the water spills down from the wall and into the spill pond. I'm just wondering if i put rocks, etc into the spill pond and make it a skippy. . .1) will that combo uv/bio filter have enough pressuer to feed it from the bottom? or should i go directly from the pump? and 2) will the water that spills into the spill pond from the left mess all that up?

the front pond has a similar setup without the water falling down the wall. both pumps there empty into the spill basin.

-James
 

koiguy1969

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you will o.k with the set up. as long as the little bio filter is higher than the pool, and it is. run a short tube and a long tube to the "filter pool" evenly spaced, as the water slowly fills the pool up thru the rocks (lava) it will get filtered. put a milk crate or laundry basket filled with pillow stuffing($3.00 @ walmart) under the waterfall to catch any floating particles and fill the small basins too. just like we talked about... if you stretch a string across the spill way to the fish pond you can have floating plants like hiacynths on the top of the filter pool.. it doesnt even look like you need the string, the spillway is just not very deep.hiacynths and lettuce shade the pond and filter water of nutrients that feed algea.
 
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Just a comment. . .

Microbe-Lift products are pretty much the WORST smelling stuff i've ever inhaled! LOL.

Added 10 Ounces of the PL to the back pond and 3 ounces of the sludge remover (which quickly turned the pond dark).

I've also got a small crate filled with batting catching the waterfall.

The front pond i've done a little differently. I've added scrubbies (5 of them) to fill up the biofilter and put 2 ounces of the microbe-lift PL in there. The basin is filled with 1.5 cubic feet of lava rocks and there's a small crate catching debris from there. then i've got a second large pump in the pond that's running to a large 1 cubic foot crate filled with batting. that's just filtering debris. it's doing well so far.

i also had to do a 30%+ water change today as my uv filter for the front pond decided to start leaking. . .BAD. got another one from lowes tonight as i don't feel like messing around with it.

more updates, pictures and questions as i go!

-James
 
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Still workin on it! The back pond is now brown (I assume from the sludge remover. . .it was brown). I'm hoping that's VERY temporary!

It's already almost 11 here. . .I'm done for the day except to check on the water levels around 2am to make sure i don't wake up to dry ponds and dead fish! I'lltry to post some pictures then that i took this afternoon of the setup. you guys can criticize then! :bowdown:

-James
 
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Ugh. . .well, although the pront pond is looking clearer every hour, i've been losing water! about an inch an hour! So i shut off the pump to the bio-filter (falls) and left the one in the middle of the pond still pumping through the batting. It's 2am and i'm not going to troubleshoot where the leak is.

UGH!
 

koiguy1969

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what brand sludge remover did you use? tetra pond is a powered bacteria..does not discolor water unless there is so much sludge being dissolved that... did you scoop out as much as possible? i should of told you about the pl gel smell ...rotten eggs!! but it works. and your pond guy who sold you the other stuff, i dont about him. did you paint on the pl gel? and do it on dry media. i'm wondering if you used to much sludge reducer the stuff is made for rock bottom ponds that cant be vaccuumed for maintainence. good luck
 
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Yeah. . .but not microbe lift. A different brand. . .I also got the Microbe-lift pl that i put in there.

I think you confused me with another poster, though (I read his posts too!). I wasn't sold anything by my pond guy. The sludge remover that I put in was brown from the start and the brand is microbe-lift (just like the PL). I believe it's microbe lift SA.

Anyhow. Time to head outside and find my leaks! I hopw those poor suckers inthe front pond survive the crazy water changes from yesterday. Probably a total of about 200 gallons all through the day (first refill at noon, last at around 2am)

-James
 

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