Help on how my pond operates

[jmajid]

first off - newbie to ponds - see my introduction post also for other details
secondly - i will add more pics if required - but here are some...some of them showing my school of fish right before i had problems...

i need help in how the various pieces seem to fit together - i inherited the pond when i bought the house 6 weeks or so ago... the pond was a big factor in deciding the house was for us.
i know i have some pre-filter, then a seahorse pump, some kind of tetra pond pressurised filter (4000 i think) and then a tetra pond A27 UV filter... all of this is housed in my garage so all indoors...
there is a bottom drain that sucks and the waterfall that supplies...
there is also a diverter output i think, but then there is a another set of pipes that come out to the location of the pump , but are not connected to anything and i am now wondering if thats something i can use to remove/change water with....

i didnt get anything but a 2 minute - heres the pond and equipment from the previous owner...
i scoop out the leaves from the surface and the bottom as much as i can....
so, any help i can get from the kind audience is appreciated!!

i will be adding more plants - thats on my list too... watercress and perhaps some more waterlilies and ?? thoughts? im in south texas....

also - how can a newbie like me QT new fish if all i have for now is this pond?

 

[shakaho]

That's a pretty pond. I can't help with your plumbing, but the quarantine question is easy enough. Go to a farm store and get a stock tank for quarantine. Something like this. I suggest you wait until you are very confident in how your system works before you think of adding fish. You have quite a few in there already.

Check and see if there is a koi/pond club in your area (just google it). I'm sure there will be someone in the club who will be happy to come out and explain your equipment to you.

 

[jmajid]

shakaho: thanks - i will need to contact the koi club here... i am trying to figure out what the filter looking thing is (make/model) right before the pump... looks like a sieve pre-filter i think but dont know what to do with it - and how to clean it - and since i am in my garage... how much mess i will make when i try to clean this pre-filter and the pressure filter...

 

[Jason]

Im not sure what the filter is before the Pump, But it is on a lot of pool, pond and well pumps that I have seen. Im pretty sure it is a debris basket and should be able to lift it out as the top clear part with the handle probably unscrews?

I would check your filter (inside), leaf basket, and where the water pulls from the pond and to your pump. How far is the garage from the pond, The reason I ask is that Pump looks too powerful to be pushing the water that it is in the 3rd picture. Is that the only outflow (the waterfall)?

Very cool pond though!

 

[jmajid]

jason: thanks for the info... was at a loss as to what that was called... thought it was a sieve filter but looked far too small for that.
the garage is the white building next to the pond.
the pump is right on the other side of the wall that is seen.
the output of that pump goes to the biofilter and then to the UV - and then off to the waterfall.
The distance from the UV to the waterfall is probably about 15 to 20ft max - including the horizontal and vertical to the beige looking pot at the top where the water exits into the top of the waterfall.
i have the valve set to "low" - that was one of my problems early on - i was getting ready to see how i could change water and also if i could run the water faster - and accidentally turned the valve a little too much and the water flow was much faster than i expected - took a lot of algae that was on the waterfall into the pond... long story short (see my member intro post) and i lost close to 40 fish ... most of the ones you see there in the pics.
as far as i know - i dont have a leaf basket... there is a drain - at the deepest part of the pond - adjacent to where that light is and the diverter (?) output is ...
i havnt had the courage to try the diverter yet because of my earlier mistake with water flow rate.
I know that if the water flow is increased - there are a few leaks in the white pipe joints before/after the biofilter.

 

[Jason]

Oh, ok thanks for the info. I would replace that piping before it cracks more first. Sorry you lost your fish I lost my Pleco last week due to the cold weather. Is the valve adjustable or only "Low" and "High" flowrate? Not sure how old the UV light is, I would ask the previous owner (if you can) how old that bulb is if it has been running 24/7, they usually only have a 8,000 hour span on them (1 year).

 

[jmajid]

sorry about your pleco - had one of those in my youth - in a tank though...
i read somewhere in this forum that pond loaches are just as good at the same job...
looking at those and mosquito fish - even if they do multiply !

 

[Jason]

My pleco was great in the pond, I NEVER fed him as he would just eat all the algae growing on the rocks and liner. But he was kept in our "Florida room" in the 20gallon tank until it warmed up but it got 35 degrees one night in the Florida room and the tank got down to 45 and that's when he died. The first time it froze hear a few weeks back, he shut down and sucked to the glass and after the water warmed up the next day, he was swimming about, but the second time he could not recover after a few days I decided to toss him out as his color faded and inside of mouth turned grey (lost pink). But he was a great pond cleaner and I will be getting another, probably an Albino!

 

[jmajid]

I had a chinese butterfly pleco back in the day... when it would suck on the side of the tank you could see its heartbeat... very cool.

 

[koiguy1969]

the small container inline just before the pump is a primer pot / leaf basket. it catches larger debris that get sucked in, before hgitting the pump and clogging it or getting pureed and sent to the filter.
as far as a qt pond (quarentine) ... intex or wetset pools are cheap and of pvc construction. totally fish safe, and can be folded upr storage when not needed. you can get them from 125gals to 660gals for under $50.00.

 

[jmajid]

koiguy1969: thanks for the QT info - what do i need to have for movement of water/oxygenation and filter - just for QTing fish that are new or sick - nothing long term (more than 2 weeks)