Best use of money...

[buckry]

I was looking at skippy's for one reason and one reason only. It seems like every single person with a pond has one, and everywhere I turn on the web it says to build one. I figured with that kind of following it must be the most effective way to do it. I was just following the popular skippy cult.

 

[addy1]

lol buckry, can't help you with the uv, I am like sissy, no green water, no algae to speak of, string, slime or floating (in the big pond) One pump, maybe 20 feet of pvc (not counting the skimmer line) . Perfect water every time I test it.

So do you need a uv to have clear water?, nope I don't, sissy doesn't, but you might.

Those that have skippy type filters, like them, not sure it is a cult, but it could be

 

[Waterbug]

I've decided I'm just going to go to Home Depot right now and buy this:

http://www.homedepot...=uv%20clarifier

That's super cheap, super easy, and if it clears things up I can take it out and put it in the garage until the next time this happens. It's not quite big enough for my pond, but I guess that just means it will take longer, it should still eventually kill off all of the algae. Anyway, it's an experiment, I'll learn something from this regardless of how my pond looks in 2 weeks.

Your guess on it just taking longer is a good guess, but probably wrong. This is why UV filters really don't work very well in Water Gardens. There is something about just wanting to wing it and hope for the best.

As for being cheap, yeah, pretty cheap. That is what Home Depot is all about.

Properly sized unit from good manufacturer like Aqua UV is cheaper I'll bet. Their 8 watt is about $100. Yeah you don't get the pump but you already have that. And if the pump dies you don't have to throw out the UV too.

 

[buckry]

Can't really compare apples to oranges, but it doesn't seem like Aqua is that cheap, definitely not cheaper. I was looking at a $200 tetra branded version that I figured I'd put inline with my skimmer. Maybe I'll go that route after all. Didn't leave for Home Depot when I wanted, got too late so I just came home instead. Yeah, maybe I'll go back to the Tetra one, it's the right size for my pond, and it sounds like that's more important than I first guessed.

 

[brandonsdad02]

I started off with a skippy filter when I first built my pond last year. It worked great and I had clear water 99% of the time. I had to shut my pond down last winter because I didn't make it deep enough for the fish to make it thru the winter. This spring when I upgraded my pond, I made it deeper and bigger. I was still using my skippy. I had the pea green soup water and went out and bought a UV light. It took 9 days to clear my pond. I used quilt batting the whole time to get the really fine stuff out. I had it in the water after it went thru the skippy where most of the bigger stuff is collected. I have my pump in my skimmer box, where the large stuff is collected, then it runs to the skippy, then it went thru the quilt batting. I only ran my UV lights for about a month total. I didn't have to do anything different to my set up for the UV lights. I have a build thread in the DIY section that explains it better with pictures to go along with it. It was working, but I kept seeing all these threads about bogs and did a lot of reading and research and decided to go for it. So I added a bog to my pond. I have never been so happy with my water until now. I don't have to do hardly anything to my bog. I just put lots of plants in it and it does its thing. I go out there and remove some of the dead leaves and flowers that have fallen off the plants, but other than that, nothing. I'm still running my skippy, but only because it runs my waterfall. I'm going to take it out of the mix next spring and just have the bog.

The bog did cost about $200 to make, but the quality of water that you will get from it will be worth it.

 

[buckry]

Yeah, the tetra will slip right in to the skimmer hose between the skimmer and the pump, just need to cut out 12" of hose. I think I'll do that.

 

[buckry]

I don't have room for a bog, I built the pond in the corner near my house, there just isn't any room for something like that.

 

[crsublette]

I'm told just takes a bog the size of a couple whiskey barrels to make crystal clean water for a few thousand gallons of pond water. Don't know what size, 40gal, 50gal, 66gal, 130gal, whiskey barrels come in all sorts of sizes.

Too many bog owners act like a bog is the final answer to it all yet they say its not even though they act like it is. Quick bit of sarcasm, "yeah, i got perfect water, no algae, and all I use is a bog so it must be the bog and can't explain why it works so good and all I have are plants so it must be the plants also, but its not the final answer even though it is the final answer for me and it could be the final answer for you" Giving me the impression that i'm silly for not trying a bog and it is kind of the same way with skippy followers. The circular discussion drives me crazy; it kind of feels like talking to my mom when I am asked 30 questions before we actually start having a conservation. Drives me crazy!!

Only reason why I use these other mechanisms is ... all together, my little skippy (did it mainly cause it is multipurpose creates a good waterfal and does some bio-filtration), trickle tower water fountain, dinky pressure filter, would fit in a 2'x3'x1' rectangle with all the plumbing going underground and the outflow creating aesthetically pleasing waterfalls. I bet I could replace/improve these mechanisms further and seriously push the fish volume limitations of my water's ecosystem such as having a nice little bunch of Rosey Reds with a good handful of shunbunkins and other comets in just 435 gallons of water.

Aquariums you often see in restaurants and hotels are seriously overstock. This is only possible due to their fancy mechanisms. It would be very interesting to see how well a bog would work for the overstock aquarium's without additional mechanisms.

Fact is we're talking about very hardy goldfish that often live in stagnant muddy water. It doesn't take much if ya are not seriously overstocking your water ecosystem.

 

[buckry]

That's why I was leaning towards a skippy. I could put it inside of a really pretty looking rain barrel on my deck. It would look great and according to most of the web, it would filter my water like no one's business. I'll probably still do one, but I think I'm going to wait a while after reading everyone's posts. I want to see what my pond does without it so I can have a better understanding of what it does exactly.

 

[sissy]

it never appealed to me to buy a unit and the bulb may or may not last a year and then pay a big sum to replace it again year after year

 

[buckry]

Got one on eBay rated for a 4400 gallon pond for $100. It says it can run up to 1000gph, so that's perfect for any of my pumps, so I feel like this is probably a no lose situation. Gotta give it a try.

 

[addy1]

humm I will never mention my bog or water again. Don't want to be seen this way

"Too many bog owners act like a bog is the final answer to it all yet they say its not even though they act like it is"

it works for me is all I can say, might not even work for my neighbor or you or buckry or sissy or any of the members

Why does it work so well for me? don't know , don't care, just color me happy

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Don't worry Buck, even with that UV light you won't be any closer to creating a Frankenstien pond, you were wrong. Ultraviolet ray is not actually the highest color in the spectrum. If you really want to create life in your pond you will need that "Great Ray" that first brought life into the world.

 

[buckry]

lol

 

[sissy]

I would love to do a small bog just for the plants but not sure how many years I will stay in this house and most people here would not see a pond or bog as an asset .May even bring the value down .