Has anyone done a DIY settlement tank?

[James5]

Building my first "big" pond and working out the filtration concept I want to use. I understand that a seive is the best route to go but it's a little out of my price range at this point. Has anyone done a DIY settlement tank I can use for a season or so until I can install a seive?

James

 

[27goldfish]

Are you talking like a skippy or doc filter?

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Here is what I did for a settlement tank.

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1944-cone-tank/



https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1945-coneinplace/



https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1946-tank-plumbed/



https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1559-pumproom/

 

[crsublette]

Hey Mucky

How has this worked for ya? been collecting alot of debris ??

I notice the cone part goes down in a little hole there. Is there a valve that ya open to dump the settled debris ?? Do ya empty the entire tank if ya open the valve ??

What kind of flow rate is needed for your vortex implementation ??

Whats up with all those valves ?? I see 3 ya have there.

Hope i'm not bugg'n. Ya caught my fancy with how ya do things very good look'n setup ya have there.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

How has this worked for ya? been collecting alot of debris ??
It's hard to define "alot", but I am getting some muck in there. I only drained it out once so far and it had about a couple gallons, or less, in the bottom. The one thing I will say is I'm not getting any muck settling at the bottom of my pond, and I am getting it in this tank so something seems to be working right.

I notice the cone part goes down in a little hole there. Is there a valve that ya open to dump the settled debris ?? Do ya empty the entire tank if ya open the valve ??
Yes, there is a drain valve at the bottom of the tank down in the hole. The one time I emptied the muck out this year I hooked my homemade PondVac pump to the drain and pumped out the muck, but the pump kind of choked on the initial thick muck that came out. Once I got that cleared it pumped the rest out really fast and emptied the tank more than I really needed to. Next time I think I'm going to try just hooking a hose and gravity draining it out. I'm not draining it into that hole, I run the line out the door of the room.
It's not really necessary to drain the whole tank, just drain it till the muck at the bottom is gone.

What kind of flow rate is needed for your vortex implementation ??
I think with any settlement chamber the lower the flow rate the longer the dwell time, the better they will work for allowing stuff time to settle out. However, that works in opposition with a bottom drain where the higher the flow rate the better the drain will work at sucking debris from the bottom of the pond.
My pump is rated at 3,200 GPH (if I remember correctly), and I think this flow rate favors the bottom drain since my pond bottom is nice and clear, and I do get a certain amount of debris collecting in the screen at the top of the vortex chamber.


https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/2122-vortexscreen/




Whats up with all those valves ?? I see 3 ya have there.
4 valves if you count the gate valve. I wanted to give myself lots of options.
The smaller black line you see coming out of the wall, next to the white 3" main line, is a 1" auxiliary line which I currently have hooked up to a small skimmer. It has 2 valves allowing water to flow either directly into the vortex chamber, or through the other valve which can go to a variety of other places. Right now I have it going to its own pump and then through a UV filter (not currently turned on), then through my phoam phractionator and then back into the bio-filter tank.
The other valve on the 3" line is another auxiliary valve which could have a variety of uses. I have considered putting a small underwater filter on the 1" auxiliary line and pumping in reverse flow through the bottom drain in the winter time, bypassing all the filter tanks which I would empty for the winter.


Hope i'm not bugg'n. Ya caught my fancy with how ya do things very good look'n setup ya have there.

No problem, that's why we're here, right? Thanks

 

[crsublette]

Exactly, that's what I wanted to know. Good stuff man, thanks.