New Pond Owner - Equipment help

[koiguy1969]

AM i correct that your back pond is 3 tiered... upper mid then lower? if so do you have fish in all tiers? if not you could make the top pond a bio filter the second fill with plants for a veggie filter and keep fish in the lower.

 

[mingus2112]

the back pond has a (probably 30 or 40 gallon) basin that the biofilter dumps into now and then spouts into the waterfall. not sure that i can easily get to it as it's cemented together, but perhaps i can do something with it as is? let's say i can get to the top of it, but not the bottom or sides. it has a spout that empties out the top as the waterfall.

-James

 

[mingus2112]

This is the basin i was talking about:

I can't really get to the bottom of that.

Also found a pressurized filter in the garage (no media inside it) that i could use for one of the ponds. . .not sure if that will help.

-James

 

[koiguy1969]

more filtration will always help.. stuff the pressure filter with media and use it.in the picture it looks like there is three basins, looks like theres one above the filter too. if not the two little filter dump pipes could be extended to the bottom of the basin. put a bag of lava rock(or 2) for media that the water can rise up thru and cover the top of the water with water hiacynths and water lettuce for veggie filtration, as they grow toss some in the lower pond. they will grow prolifically.

 

[mingus2112]

the two little filter dump pipes could be extended to the bottom of the basin. put a bag of lava rock(or 2) for media that the water can rise up thru and cover the top of the water with water hiacynths and water lettuce for veggie filtration, as they grow toss some in the lower pond. they will grow prolifically.

That's a cool idea! So if I filled that basin with Lava rocks and put plants on the top. . .then extended the spots (with hoses) all the wat to the bottom. . .then that could act as a filter! right? If i'm doing that on that pond, i've got a similar setup on the other pond. . .but with a smaller basin. could work there as well!

in the picture it looks like there is three basins, looks like theres one above the filter too.

Ah. . .i see what you mean. They're actually little tiny, real shallow and probably less than a gallon. The second pump for that pond runs around the back of the wall, up through a UV filter, and then down through a bunch of poorly hidden shallow basins.

Thanks for your help so far! I'm getting a lot out of this!

-James

 

[mingus2112]

And. . .

Just thinking out loud. . .

If I could put lava rocks in the bottoms of the tiny basins on the way down the wall there. . .that could help as well...right?

-James

 

[koiguy1969]

if there is enough of them fill them with lava rocks..the rocks will still get colonized with bacteria and do some filtration.

 

[mingus2112]

i think there are four of them. This is the closest thing to them that i could find on lowes' site (where i suspect he bought most of his stuff):
Polyethylene Streamlet Cascade

Would this be good for lava rocks? I don't know if there's a difference:
Lava Rocks at Home Depot

 

[koiguy1969]

evey little bit helps... put the rocks in...as the water flows thru it will get some filtration both mechanical and biological. a bag of lava rocks is about $4.00 couldnt hurt. are you adding beneficial bacteria to the ponds? if not please do.. it will speed up the process and its cheap too.

 

[mingus2112]

I'll i've added so far is this:
Pond Start

I add that to the water i'm adding when I need to add water. While the water was sitting and waiting to come up to around the same temp as the pond i'd add some of that pond start and then pump the water up by the waterfall to mix with the pond.

It's tough for me to get to a pond store as they're all closed when I'm out of work. I don't see any bacteria at home depot or lowes so i guess i'd have to mail order. How/where would I add it safely?

-James

 

[koiguy1969]

thats a start but get some bacteria... meijers sells 'organica pristine pond' thats what use as maintainence...i start out with microbe lifts pl gel filter innocullant. but just get the pristine pond since your pond is already up and running..meijers, walmart, even some kmarts carry pond supplies.........you just pour it right in the pond.. the bottle will tell you how much

 

[mingus2112]

thanks! i'll check out k-mart and walmart tomorrow as i have those nearby.

-James

 

[mingus2112]

looks like i can easily get my hands on something like this:
Laguna Bio Booster

And then order a larger bottle of the other stuff online.

-James

 

[koiguy1969]

that should do it.......... if they have it or you can get it coat your lava rocks in pl gel from microbelift its the fastest filter bacterial colonizer you'll find.

 

[mingus2112]

thanks for all the quick responses koiguy! I'm sure you have better things to do than to walk a newbie through this stuff and I appreciate your time. My end goal is to have those nice home-made bio-filters, etc and do all of this right, but right now i have to use a "band-aid." The ponds weren't the only disaster area in this house when we moved in. We're about 1/3 of the way through overhauling the back yard. They thought it was their weird frog-filled paradise.

Here are before pictures:

From the ponds look up towards the house:

From the upstairs window looking back:

And now it looks like this:

and

So you can see why I can't devote all my time to the ponds. The pond overhaul will be NEXT season!

-James