Splitting the flow from my pump?

[JenH]

Hi everyone! Its been awile since I've been on here! Hope everyone has been well! I think Spring is getting closer and I want to start planning for finishing my pond and improving it. I had a heck of a time with the water clarity all summer. So I am wondering what I can do to help fix this without having to do any huge renovating (wishful thinking maybe?). My pond is pretty small, but I have a pretty big pump so that my waterfull looks full. My pump is 3500gph. My pond is around 500 gallons. I'm wondering if part of my problem last year was that my water was flowing though the biofilter/waterfall way to fast to be effective. So I was thinking of getting some sort of attachment to split the water from the pump. Half to go into the waterfall and the other half right back into the pond. I was also thinking of maybe getting the following uv filter that I can submerge and connect to the flow of water that isn't going up to my waterfall/biofilter. Would this be a waste of money or would it work? If I do this will it make my waterfall look weak?

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SP101A11709S3600009301P?sid=I0084400010000100600&aff=Y

Also, if overfeeding was the problem (I was feeding the goldfish a couple large pinches of food twice a day, how can I decrease the feeding but still train my fish to be friendly? They always came to me when I started talking around the pond, or put my hand in, but now that I haven't fed them all winter they hide when I come close to the edge of the pond

Last question, If I have creeping jenny growing around the pond and some of it's vines are creeping into the pond will this interfere with the balance?

Thanks everyone for your help! Hoping I can enjoy the pond more this year and not have to work on it quite so much!

 

[pecan]

I am pretty new at ponding, but I have read on here that you don't want more than about 2000 GPH running through your filter. I have a large pump with a 2 inch hose outlet that I split with a common PVC T into two 1 1/2 inch hoses straight into my falls last year. This year one will run to the falls and the other will run into one of my new skippies I am setting up this weekend. All you need is the PVC T, some PVC glue and the two hose lengths to come out of the split. Easy Peezy

I don't feed my comets so I don't know much about overfeeding. They fend for themselves and do just fine.

As far as the creeping jenny getting into the pond, not a problem, more plant filtration. You just don't want it rotting in there. Pull it out iof it starts to die. I am planning on putting creeping jenny planted directly in my bog and stream this year.

 

[koiguy1969]

OVERFEEDING?..2 pinches...thats not anywhere near overfeeding as long as theyre eating it all and its not just sinking to the floor and rotting. i have 50 fish in 800 gals right now and feed by the handfulls 2x a day.the fish i have are 45, 3" to 6" koi... 5, 20" koi... and a 18" pieco. i run a 1,000 gph thru a DIY 55 gal upflow filter. myself, iwouldnt run more than 1500 gph thru a filter smaller than 100 gals. this allows sufficient "hang time" in the bio media, for the bacteria to do its thing. also faster flowing water naturally tends to keep things stirred up longer. keeping debris and biomatter in suspension longer. when this happens its more likely to find its way back to the pond. and recirculating fish wastes and other organics is worse than allowing it to sit on the ponds floor. because it breaksdown even faster, producing ammonia and nitrite quicker. now about a U.V ... U.V S are great for green water, but ONLY green water..if the waters brown its likely tannins from decaying plant matter. or maybe in your case with such a high turnover rate in such a small pond . any wastes in the pond never get a chance to settle and are in a constant state of suspension. you may find a fines filter to be of high value for your stuation. a simple laundry basket full of fiberfill (pillow stuffing) under the waterfall for a few days may make a dramatic difference in your waters clarity. or you could do it by splitting your pumps flow part to the biofilter and part thru a fines filter.

 

[JenH]

Well, when I put my goldfish in there I had 8 feeder pet store goldfish. So they are pretty small. I would go out there and give them a couple large pinches and after that they let anything go. I could go out there everytime I go out for a smoke and feed them and they eat. But I don't want to over do it and throw everything off. So I fed them 2x a day, like our other pets.....Speaking of feeding when I went out there today they actually came to my hand again like they used to before winter. I'm wondering if it means they are starting to come out of their dormant state and getting hungry. When should I start feeding them again? Again there are 8 of them and they look to be between 4-6" long now to the tip of their tails, I think they doubled in size over winter. How much would you feed them (I use regular goldfish flakes) I love feeding them and definitely don't want to starve the poor things!

I didn't have much problems last year with green water after my new installation finally cycled. The water was never clear though and after adding some oxygenating plants string algae started up. I have a huge mess back there now since winter was pretty mild I don't think the algae ever died and it seems to be taking over the whole pond. It's going to be in the 70's tomorrow and I am thinking I want to get this all cleaned up, or at least started.

How can I determine my water flow if I split the output of my pump? Would it just be 50/50? I bought a 3500 gph pump because the pond store here said they'd never build a pond with anything smaller then that if I wanted the waterfall to look decent, plus I got a sick deal on Amazon and someday want to make this bigger when we can afford to do so. I did the laundry basket with quilt batting in it several times last year and that was amazing, but obviously that can't be a permanent fix (looks pretty ugly sitting under my falls) How could I create a fines filter for the split off water to go into before going back in the pond?

I'm planning to get my fish out of there and dump in some algaefix then start cleaning the mess. Do a couple water changes and add barley bales to my water fall. Would my biofilter/mechanical filter in the waterfall work better if I first filled with the scrubbies and then added the quilt batting at the top to filter or should I do it the other way around...batting first then scrubbies. Would the batting be able to withstand being in there for a long time or would I need to change it frequently?

 

[pecan]

As I learned just recently about the hose split, if the hoses are the same size, same legnth and same elevation it will be 50/50. If one hose is longer or higher than the other than that hose will have less flow and if one hose is shorter and lower then that hose will have more flow. If the hoses are not the same legnth and elevation than I have no idea how to calcualte the flow...

As far as string algae I have learned on here it is good to have this time of year. It helps filter the water and gives the fish something to eat before the other plants in the pond have become established. It normally dies off when temps raise. As soon as your other plants become established I would just use a rake or toilet brush to twirl it out of the pond. I would not use alagefix in your pond. Once the plants are established and weather has warmed I would take care of any algea with barley and peat. Barley worked well for me last year. Peat helps with algae but can cause tea colored water.

I would put the batting on top since it will need to be changaed and your scrubbies do not.