Pump Filter Suddenly Clogging Quickly

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I had inherited a pond of roughly (by my estimate) 5-7000 gallons, with 7 koi, 36 large goldfish, and a problem population of feeder fish the previous owner had introduced years ago that can breed faster than they can be eated/caught. I live in the northeast, and replaced about half of the pond water this spring, mainly to drain the 4ft deep pond enough that I could scrub off the 1-2" thick accumulation of string algea that had grown on every rock since very late in the fall. I re-filled the water slowly over a two week period, while adding water de-chlorinator and checking the nitrates (low, but not zero) and Ph level (around 7-8). The water temperature is in the 50's and I am slowly re-introducing food to the fish. It's a different brand from what I used last year, if that means anything. The only thing I have added to the water is a bacteria promoter gel to the filter to help kick-start the good bacteria, and some barley straw extract. The pond has two "bio-filters". One is a filter that is at the very top waterfall that is supposed to be a breeding ground for good bacteria (which I have been told should be zero maintainance), and the other is a long slender path along the side of pond which is shallow and filled with plants, and a second smaller pump drives water through the root systems to be filtered by the plants. The fish seem to be acting normal, nothing strange I can think of. I have some cattails in the smaller pond that have started growing, and water lettuce along the stream. I have lots of lillies, but none of them have grown yet enough to get to the surface.

Last summer and fall, I would need to clean my 12"x12" filter for my 5500gpm pump roughly every 7-10 days. Since I have turned the pump back on in in the spring, it only takes about 8 HOURS for the filter to get clogged with a thick dark green slime. I had an algea bloom after I changed the water, which lasted a couple weeks - I assumed that was why the filter was clogging so fast - but it has cleared up to CRYSTAL clear about a week ago, and still I am changing the filter every 8-10 hours.

Any ideas for why the pump filter has gone from 7-10 days to 8-10 hours between cleaning between now and last fall? The filter is a new filter I put in in the spring, but it's been going for over a month now, and still doesn't seem to change anything. Another strange thing, is that my smaller pump only pumps maybe 1/4 to 1/10th of what the larger one pumps, but that filter has not needed cleaning ONCE in the more than a month that the pumps have been back on.

The pic below is what the pond looked like last September. I would be open to any ideas - Thanks!
 

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sissy

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there may be no good bacteria yet and you may have to add some .Could be also maybe your bog is clogged up with stuff ,I know I have seen on here where some back flush them to clean them out .I don't know much about bogs though.But that is all I can think of .I grow plants in my filters but they have just been put in and I am starting with a new pond since something chewed through my liner and also we have had lots of rain here .What kind of filter are you talking about .Is it a filter mat
 
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The green stuff is most likely dead string algae, or some kind of macro algae anyways.

Why one pump clogs and another doesn't I can only guess because there's not much info and no pics. So my guesses are...

Different kinds of pre-filters on each pump.

Pumps input are in different locations so drawing in different amounts of debris,

Larger pump is pulling in more water so more debris. There would be a ratio of pre-filter size to pump flow.
 
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I have a lot of floating particulate algae, I believe is decomposing string algae. My pumps are not clogging, but man, my skimmer filters and doing a great job of catching the stuff....it is a pain, but figure it'll die down as it clears out.
 
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You have very little filtration for a pond of that size. In particular, you need more mechanical filtration. There are lots of ways to do this, but in the short run, you should try sissy's quilt batting solution.

Sissy, what is a good link where you describe how you use quilt batting?
 

sissy

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*I soak mine first in peroxide and water and easiest is a crate with you pump hose running into and mine sets in my filter but any shallow area is good as long as it is stable .A rock in the bottom of the crate helps with that .i also put a piece of furnace filter on top to catch the bigger stuff .I also sometimes like in this pic put furnace filter under the quilt batting
 

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I don't know how much quilt batting after the pump will help a prefilter that is clogging up. A small amount I'm sure but I doubt it sill be significant. I'm not saying don't use quilt batting. It does work. But the debris has to get to it first...
 
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Thanks for the reply's everyone, but I think my problem (fingers crossed) may be solved.

I went to clean out the filter for the other pump today (even though the other pump is smaller, the filters are the same size) and after I cleaned that filter out I noticed that it was much lighter than my other filter. They both look the same, nice and clean, after I spray them off, but the one that clogs is heavier. Either the filter is just a dud that was made too dense, or possibly when I filtered right after scrubbing the pond rocks, the muck was just too much and it got stuck in the middle of the filter so I can't see it.

This was about 6 hours ago, and usually by now the filter is starting to clog, but I just checked it and it's running fine. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes. In the mean time, now I think I'm having issues with my pump :-( but I'll start a new thread for that...
 

sissy

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once you clean there will be lots of stuff floating around .Keep your fingers crossed .I know when I went to a bigger filter my quilt batting was really dirty because I stirred up a lot of stuff in the little plant filter pond .That's why the quilt batting in the pic was so dirty .Since that last spring I have had to replace the liner because something chewed holes in my other liner over the winter
 
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Stuff comes and goes. One filter can be fine for years and then you get some algae die off, the stars aline, and your filter gets overwhelmed. That's kind of the problem with mechanical filters in general...when you have a lot of crap in the pond and a good way to move that stuff to the filter you still have to clean the filter. Even a sieve can be overwhelmed by string algae. So you can have a dozen people saying filter X works great, but for that 13th pond there's a big problem with filter X.

And that goes right back to the type of pond. A higher end Koi owner would never allow string algae to ever build up enough to overwhelm a filter. Compare that to a Water Garden and some plants where there could be a lot of string algae and other organic stuff.
 

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