Not a pond newbie, just a pond filter plumbing newbie

[Dragonfly ranch]

I’m having problems this year with floating muck algae. I need some feedback on my current plumbing and what changes I plan to make. I have a laguna submersible solids handling pump 4250, which sits at front of boat pond up on a brick, which splits between a 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank bog that waterfalls into pond and a Laguna pressure filter 3000. Filter out line goes to about middle of pond and flows out thru an upside down plant basket. I had no idea where or what to put it. Bog manifold made of 1.5 inch pvcpipe that goes up and over stock tank wall connected to 1.5 inch kink free tubing.

I think it’s about 1000 gallons, maybe a little more. Pond depth is about 17 inches, clear water to bottom. Never have green water but get string algae in spring and around plants in plant baskets but usually not the floating muck algae I have this year. I have to feed yellow bellied slider turtle everyday, so all fish eat too. I have 8 large goldfish (3 shubunkins and 5 feeders), a few smaller goldfish offspring, a few rosy reds, and lots of mosquito fish (all descendents of original mosquito fish caught in Mojave river during springtime years and years ago), no frogs at the moment. I think the hot cold, hot cold, repeats this spring confused everything.

Last summer I used an old puppy gate to separate the front and back of the boat so I could put plants up front that Toby Turtle couldn’t destroy, he has the big area at the back. I enlarged the puppy gate holes so the goldfish can get thru. This front part is where the majority of the floating muck algae is. I purchased an Oase aqua skim in pond skimmer that I will put in this front part. It will connect to Tetra solids pump 3000 which will then connect to Laguna pressure filter 1000. I will move my Laguna pump to the other side of the puppy gate (where the other filter sends the water back to pond). I think this should get all my water circulating much better and the skimmer should suck all the floating muck thru pump into filter.

Which finally brings me to my question. What do I do with the water returning to pond from both of the pressure filters? Budget for doing thIs is smaller than small so I pretty much just need to have the water coming from filters thru tubing under water with rocks to hold it on bottom. Any ideas, suggestions wanted. Hopefully I’ve given all info needed.

One last thing I’m sure someone will ask me, no I have never tested my water. Picture with current and new plumbing diagram to follow.

 

[Dragonfly ranch]

• Sorry, not good picture. Current set up, red is pump and plumbing to bog and filter, blue is filter outlet to, yellow is upside down basket for return water.

New setup: yellow would become current laguna pump, red circle will be tetra pump and new inpond skimmer, skimmer will go to 1000 Laguna pressure filter outside at the front of boat with return line going where
Hope this makes sense, thank you very much. Pictures of fish, etc later. Thank you everyone.
How do I post a picture.

 

[Robert Micheal]

PVC unions and ball valves definitely make future maintenance much easier, especially if you ever need to remove the filter or pump. I learned that lesson the hard way after rebuilding part of my setup. Once you get the plumbing sorted out, it's also worth paying attention to the smaller creatures that show up in a healthy pond. Snails often appear naturally, and understanding What Do Snails Eat can help you decide whether they're actually beneficial or becoming a nuisance. I found this guide useful. Good luck with the plumbing projectit gets much easier once everything is laid out!

 

[Dragonfly ranch]

I’m having problems this year with floating muck algae. I need some feedback on my current plumbing and what changes I plan to make. I have a laguna submersible solids handling pump 4250, which sits at front of boat pond up on a brick, which splits between a 50 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank bog that waterfalls into pond and a Laguna pressure filter 3000. Filter out line goes to about middle of pond and flows out thru an upside down plant basket. I had no idea where or what to put it. Bog manifold made of 1.5 inch pvcpipe that goes up and over stock tank wall connected to 1.5 inch kink free tubing.
I think it’s about 1000 gallons, maybe a little more. Pond depth is about 17 inches, clear water to bottom. Never have green water but get string algae in spring and around plants in plant baskets but usually not the floating muck algae I have this year. I have to feed yellow bellied slider turtle everyday, so all fish eat too. I have 8 large goldfish (3 shubunkins and 5 feeders), a few smaller goldfish offspring, a few rosy reds, and lots of mosquito fish (all descendents of original mosquito fish caught in Mojave river during springtime years and years ago), no frogs at the moment. I think the hot cold, hot cold, repeats this spring confused everything.
Last summer I used an old puppy gate to separate the front and back of the boat so I could put plants up front that Toby Turtle couldn’t destroy, he has the big area at the back. I enlarged the puppy gate holes so the goldfish can get thru. This front part is where the majority of the floating muck algae is. I purchased an Oase aqua skim in pond skimmer that I will put in this front part. It will connect to Tetra solids pump 3000 which will then connect to Laguna pressure filter 1000. I will move my Laguna pump to the other side of the puppy gate (where the other filter sends the water back to pond). I think this should get all my water circulating much better and the skimmer should suck all the floating muck thru pump into filter.
Which finally brings me to my question. What do I do with the water returning to pond from both of the pressure filters? Budget for doing thIs is smaller than small so I pretty much just need to have the water coming from filters thru tubing under water with rocks to hold it on bottom. Any ideas, suggestions wanted. Hopefully I’ve given all info needed.
One last thing I’m sure someone will ask me, no I have never tested my water.



◦ Sorry, not good picture. Current set up, red is pump and plumbing to bog and filter, blue is filter outlet to, yellow is upside down basket for return water.
New setup: yellow would become current laguna pump, red circle will be tetra pump and new inpond skimmer, skimmer will go to 1000 Laguna pressure filter outside at the front of boat with return line going where
Hope this makes sense, thank you very much. Pictures of fish, etc later. Thank you everyone.


 

[GBBUDD]

If your pond is a 1000 gallons and your having issues with floatong algae/ my take is your not using enough flow. And or your skimmer is to small or too deep. If the opening to the pond is not pulling from the surface and is set too deep that needs to be adjusted.
Lets say your weir opening/ skimmer intake is 10 inches wide but you can see the wayer going into the weir is 3 inches deep. This to me says the openi gbis not wide enough. The shallower and wider the draw the more it gets off the surface. The more is removed before it has a chance to get water loged and sink to the bottom creating nutrients for algae.

 

[Dragonfly ranch]

If your pond is a 1000 gallons and your having issues with floatong algae/ my take is your not using enough flow. And or your skimmer is to small or too deep. If the opening to the pond is not pulling from the surface and is set too deep that needs to be adjusted.
Lets say your weir opening/ skimmer intake is 10 inches wide but you can see the wayer going into the weir is 3 inches deep. This to me says the openi gbis not wide enough. The shallower and wider the draw the more it gets off the surface. The more is removed before it has a chance to get water loged and sink to the bottom creating nutrients for algae.

Thank you for answering. I just bought an Oase aquaskim in pond skimmer which will be connected to a Tetra solids 3000gph pump inlet and outlet to a Laguna pressure filter 1000 and then go back into pond. I’m not sure of the best way to set up the flow back into the pond. I will provide pictures of pond with details of my current plumbing and what I want to change as soon as I can figure out how to put pictures on here. I am not at all tech savvy so this may take a while. Any help on that front would be appreciated As well.

 

[Meadowlark]

Have you considered reducing the amount of nutrients added to the system?

Excess nutrients are generally the cause of that algae.

 

[GBBUDD]

Thank you for answering. I just bought an Oase aquaskim in pond skimmer which will be connected to a Tetra solids 3000gph pump inlet and outlet to a Laguna pressure filter 1000 and then go back into pond. I’m not sure of the best way to set up the flow back into the pond. I will provide pictures of pond with details of my current plumbing and what I want to change as soon as I can figure out how to put pictures on here. I am not at all tech savvy so this may take a while. Any help on that front would be appreciated As well.

Pictures are easy videos are a little more entailed.
Pictures . Below the screen where you respond or just typing youll see to the bottom left the attach button. Click on that and look for the picture on your pc or phone. Click.on it and select select or add at the top of the page. It then loads to the web page and type whatbyou want and click on post on the bottom right.