A Water Trough for Many Pond Functions

[DavidWH]

Update - that took way to long to post.

The fish were moved outside in the spring. It was a rough move. Despite my hard work building a biofilter in the garage and incorporating as many of the same bio-components as possible, I found that I had to largely rebuild the biofilter after the move. It was back to large daily water changes, only this time there was much more water. The fish struggled and I was at the water changes day and night. It was exhausting. I set up a temporary life support system, pulling from the bottom drain trough, with a pump going into my barrel filled with K2 and back into the pond. I had lot's of aeration everywhere. The system slowly came together.

Also, speaking of aeration. Don't hook a Medo 80 to a single bottom drain aerator. It looked like a Vegas fountain water show. I was laughing so hard that it took me longer than it should have to turn it off. I'm not sure how I didn't break the bottom drain.

Just when I thought I was turning the corner with water quality, the wife and I took a vacation to go kayak fishing in Florida. My old Florida friends that I grew up with and I, caught 4 kingfish, 1 mahi, 1 barracuda and after a 45 minute exhausting fight, I could see the massive tuna on my line circling in the water, just before a big shark stole it Old Man and the Sea style. Later I realized, I should have been scared when he hit my kayak, but at the time, I just wanted to fight him for the fish.

The good news is the kingfish and mahi were delicious. The bad news is I had told my mother, who was at my house in the pacific northwest watching the kids, dog and koi, about my plan to add mosquito eaters or goldfish to eat the mosquito larvae growing in the parts of my pond system with slow moving water. It was an off-hand comment. I didn't explain quarantine procedures. I should have explained quarantine procedures.

As you may have guessed, Mom added goldfish to the pond to help me while I was away. She wanted to surprise me. And I was surprised. She poured them in, PetSmart water and all.

I can't stay mad at mom. She's mom.

The ich showed itself within days of my return. I tried to save them, but I lost some of my favorite, individually selected fish in the process. My platinum ogon, my big lemon hariwake that I had from the beginning and my favorite sanke with sides that looked like they were painted by Japanese brush strokes, were among them. I treated with salt at .45%. It worked and saved the rest. I will give more details about this process later if anyone is interested.

Fast forward months later, and everything is going great. The koi are healthy and eating like puranas with their mouths wide open anytime I come close to the pond. They recognize me from other people. I find that entertaining.

The waterfall and pond still need landscaping and finish work that will be complete in the spring when the flowers come it. I think it came out good for a first waterfall build. I built a sandbag ramp to get the stones to the top. It was still some heavy lifting.

The trough also still needs finished. The original plan has been modified over time. It's still going to be a water garden, but now I have another trough in the center where I will add a fountain and spigots that flow into the lower level. The filter is in the back. The filters and plumbing will be covered by a wood platform that will swing open on a hinge and will have bonsai on top so you don't know that the whole thing is a hidden filter. There is a bog filter with gravel in the top trough making it's way through some buried pvc pipes. At the moment, it's working great as a filter with plenty of very lucky feeder PetSmart goldfish to prevent mosquitoes.

Updated pictures of fish and other components to come.

It's still working.

 

[cas]

Sorry to hear about your fish loss. Glad you came back and updated us on your progress. I like your waterfall.

 

[DavidWH]

I should add that instead of coating the troughs, I let them weather outside. This seems to have worked.

I'm also still using the 55 gallon barrel as a biofilter, though now the lid is on and it's pressurized. The intake line is pulling from the trough behind the filters with a submerged 2,400gph pump. Water is then gravity fed from the bottom drain into the trough. The 2,400gph pump output goes to the center of the barrel and 90s down to the bottom, where there is a T with two shower drains to prevent K2 from entering the line when the pump is shut off. The barrel is about 85% full of K2. The water moves up the barrel through the K2 and out the exit pipe at the top. This goes to the biofalls to join the main 8,200gph pump and a smaller 600gph pump that moves water through a uv filter and barrel filter. The main pump is pulling most of it's water from the skimmer. I put valves in to regulate the flow from bottom drain and skimmer. One additional 400gph submerged pump circulates water through an additional barrel filter before entering the trough bog filter.

I'm thinking about making a video to show the whole process.

I left space for a 330 gallon IBC tote biofilter in the future if it's needed as the fish grow. For now, the 55 gallon is doing the job.

 

[DavidWH]

I should add that instead of coating the troughs, I let them weather outside. This seems to have worked.

I'm also still using the 55 gallon barrel as a biofilter, though now the lid is on and it's pressurized. The intake line is pulling from the trough behind the filters with a submerged 2,400gph pump. Water is then gravity fed from the bottom drain into the trough. The 2,400gph pump output goes to the center of the barrel and 90s down to the bottom, where there is a T with two shower drains to prevent K2 from entering the line when the pump is shut off. The barrel is about 85% full of K2. The water moves up the barrel through the K2 and out the exit pipe at the top. This goes to the biofalls to join the main 8,200gph pump and a smaller 600gph pump that moves water through a uv filter and barrel filter. The main pump is pulling most of it's water from the skimmer. I put valves in to regulate the flow from bottom drain and skimmer. One additional 400gph submerged pump circulates water through an additional barrel filter before entering the trough bog filter.

I'm thinking about making a video to show the whole process.

I left space for a 330 gallon IBC tote biofilter in the future if it's needed as the fish grow. For now, the 55 gallon is doing the job.