Count Down to coverting to Skippy

[3qtkidz]

I wanted to post some pictures of my progress or regress however you want to look at it.
I will be honest it has been really hard work mainly because we it was a guess game.

Thank goodness for everyones advice and guidance, especially koikeepr.

I am having a trouble with overflow of the skippy (pump seems to be too strong) but I am trying to work on that.

UV light is kicking in already. Pond is clearing in on 8 hours of turning on. WOW!

Just a fyi, we put in the valve on the 3rd picture to put in my spitter at some point.

 

[koikeepr]

It looks good.

I have an idea for you, as these pictures help tremendously. Your outlet on your stock tank is very high. It looks to be only 1/4"-1/2" off the top, which is way up there. If you put a 90 degree street elbow there facing straight down (do not glue it in), you are effectively lowering the height of your outlet a bit, and getting around that you had to plumb it so high.

 

[koiguy1969]

you may need to add a second outpipe, the one that goes back to your pond or make the one youve got bigger..and vent it / them....even venting the one you have will help or maybe even cure the problem. the first section of pipe past your first turn out of the filter put a tee with the the odd opening aimed up,put a small section of pipe in it so the top is a little higher than the filters top this will aleviate some of the resistance to the flow out..this is a gravity return and they really should be vented !!!........and yes...you did put your out pipe alittle high.

 

[koikeepr]

Yep, spoke to her this morning about adding a 3rd pipe out to the waterfall. She's got a very strong pump. Instead of a 90 going down, you could do a sweep wye/tee, with the one long leg sticking up in the air to create the vent that koiguy speaks about.

 

[koikeepr]

Here's some photos to help 3qtkidz. This is pretty much what koiguy is talking about, except if you put this inside your stock tank, you won't need to cut into any pipe you've already glued together. This goes into the stock tank to help remedy that you've put your outlet pipe a tad too high.

Picture 1 are the three pieces you'll need. Mine is fit for a 3" exit pipe, so you'll need to buy the same looking pieces, except sized for your 2" exit pipe. The middle piece is a 90 degree street elbow, so that it just fits directly into that bigger fitting.

Now, here is the photo of all three pieces put together. You do not glue any of these pieces together, just fit 'em together tightly and push 'em into your female conduit exit fitting. This way, when you do maintenance on your stock tank, you can easily remove this elbow to clean things up and get your media out, etc. Nothing INSIDE a stock tank needs to be glued for this precise reason.

Finally, here is what it looks like in my stock tank. You can see the little piece of PVC pipe sticking a few inches above the stock tank. And my water line is at a comfortable level for me. Notice what I was talking with you about on the phone, which is that I allow a lot of room between my media and the where the pipe is so that the media doesn't get sucked into the elbow. What you don't see in this photo is that I have a light grid sitting on top of the media with a brick or two to hold it all down below the water line in the stock tank. Of course, I've removed that so you can see what the fitting looks like.

 

[DrCase]

Your filter looks good
But you might be running to much water through it
A second out let would help you keep the level of the filter running at about a half pipe instead of over flowing

 

[3qtkidz]

Thank you for everyone's comments. This is a total learning process for me. I am going to be taking your advice and putting the extra pieces in the stock tank.
Then hopefully next week I can get hubby to somehow make another outlet.

 

[3qtkidz]

This skippy filter is unreal. My filter is already cleaning my pond dramatically. PLUS, that UV light is amazing. Today 48 hours later, I can now see the little pebbles on the bottom of the pond that the fish have dug out of the pots.

I still have some tweaking to do with the skippy but I am loving this!!!:bouncycig::bowdown:

 

[DrCase]

Thats just what your shooting for
Pond enjoyment

 

[koikeepr]

Good for you, 3qtkitz! Ain't it a blast when you see it all happening as it should--or even better than you imagined?!

When I had plant pots, I stopped using pea gravel precisely for that reason. The fish love to root in them and since they are so small, they get all over the floor. Use larger stones, to just hold your plants down. I was able to go to the dollar store and buy these small bags of river rocks that were around 2-3 inches across each. I just used enough of 'em to weigh the plants down and that wa it. They were also big enough that the koi couldn't knock 'em down. Plus, they were black, so you couldn't see 'em.

Glad to hear that UV has you seeing pond floor after just 2 days! Keep doing your weekly water changes, and soon you will have water that's clearer than you ever imagined. As the algae that the UV is zapping hits your filter, you just wash the matala out so that you get the stuff outta the pond. When you get your hands on strapping, you'll build up that lovely bio. In 6-8 weeks you won't believe your eyes. And lucky you, living in Alabama you've got a looooooooooooong pond season to see it all happen!

Looking forward to your updates.