Pondless waterfall cleanout drain

[Dregae]

I am planning an enclosed duck aviary with a pondless waterfall and stream installation and i am hoping someone will be able to help me out here.

If anyone has had any exprience with ducks you know they are the messiest animals around!!!! My concern with the pondless system is that over time i think the waste will build up in the water reservoir and would be difficult to cleanout. Possibly requiring the removal of all the gravel etc.
I have been looking at pond vault options and think the aquascape snorkel or centipede are my best options and would hopefully take alot of the waste over to the waterfall filter. However i still think the sludge will accumulate to a certain degree and was wondering if a botton drain like they use in koi ponds could be installed into the reservoir to allow a flush of the sludge periodically. Is this even feasible?

I will add that this is not going to be the only source of water for the ducks they currently have a large black stock tank that we fitted a bottom drain to so we can clean it out easy. The tank will be staying in the aviary we will just blend it into the landscaping with the waterfall and stream.

Thanks for any advice!

Grace e

 

[Lisak1]

Hi Grace!
We have a small pondless waterfall with an Aquascape centipede and vault. We also have two Aquablox in the pondless portion of the waterfall, under the gravel. These create empty space that allows more water to be stored in the pit than if we had filled it with gravel. The top of our pit is filled with 4" river rock - about 6-8 inches deep. So the illusion is a pit full of rock, when it's really just the very top that has rock.

Every spring we push back the rocks that cover the vault, lift the lid and pump out the water (using a small sump pump) that has accumulated in the vault over winter. We rinse everything out (the two pools that make up the waterfall and the rocks and gravel in the waterfall) and keep pumping until the water runs clear out of the vault.

I don't see why the same plan wouldn't work for you and your planned for duck aviary. I would use some type of matrix (like the Aquablox) to create water storing space in your pondless pit, rather than filling it with gravel. A pit full of gravel would definitely be more difficult to clean. Because you have ducks creating waste in your pondless waterfall you may need more than a spring clean out, but using the method I described it's really not all that difficult to do.

I hope that makes sense!

 

[Big Lou]

Welcome Grace!

 

[Dregae]

Thank you for the welcome!!

I had intended to use the matrix blocks I was just worried taking them out every few months would b a lot of work. Sounds like it's not to bad though.

I am still curious if there would be anyway to install a bottom drain in the reservoir.

Thanks so much for the reply and the welcome. I had a horrendous weekend and didn't get to answer promptly.

Grace e

 

[Lisak1]

I had intended to use the matrix blocks I was just worried taking them out every few months would b a lot of work. Sounds like it's not to bad though.

We never take our blocks out - we drop the submersible pump down into the pump vault, run clean water down through the rocks and pump it out from the vault. Hose the whole rock area down really well and you can get almost all the debris out that way. We don't even take most of the rock out - just the rocks covering the lid on the vault. I'll see if I can find a picture and post it in a bit here to show you what I mean.

You may also want to use a good sludge reducer additive - basically a bacterial treatment that helps to break the debris down faster.