I need help and suggestions!

[sissy]

:lol:don't really have too if I open the tap at the bottom and flush everything out with the hose .But sometimes just like to pull the bags to see how it is working .I sometimes have senior moment to and forget about opening valve at the bottom .Hey I'm the one in my neighborhood who makes manure tea pours it in a bucket put my tube from my pressure washer and fertilizes my whole yard in just a few hours and thats 3 and a half acres not some dumb huh and all natural too:lol::lol::lol: I even use pressure washer to flush everything out of my filters for my pond cleans them good .use low pressure nozzle neighbors must think I'm nuts power washing my lawn but it's filling in great slowly but surely hey DrDave thats poo too

 

[addy1]

lol sissy, I used my lava rock filter back flush to water my plants in arizona they loved that water! Also pressure washed it out when needed. Mine is around a 450 gallon filter with plants on top. It waterfalls in to the stream then to the pond. So far works great for that pond. The professional taking care of the pond for me is impressed on how well it is working for the pond.

 

[sissy]

Wow that must be a big pond too .Maybe professionals should think about learning something from you then .I went to a garden center coming back from Danville yesterday and they have a professional built pond and bragged about it ,believe me when I saw it I was not impressed by it .I showed them pics I had store on my camera of my pond and they could not believe the clear water .The lady who owns it asked for the address and is coming to see it today .They are only 5 miles from my house .She said she paid around 2 thousand and they cannot get the pond back from green and brown water and pay this guy to come in once a month and she says it looks like she is paying for nothing 49 dollars each month for dirty water I think not .They only have a few fish

 

[addy1]

My pond there is around 14000 gallons, 40 foot stream. It has goldies and shubunkins in it and mosquito fish.

I hired him rather then depend on the renters to take care of the pond (wish it was just 49/ month lol) He does come twice a month and the pond is looking great. I pay for pond, pool, yard maintenance. But the rent covers the mortgage and the maintenance with a little left over, so I am happy! And they pay on time!

 

[sissy]

great for you because with todays economy I guess it could be hard to get good renters .I'm not sure I would want the headache from it and the worry .I would have no hair left addy

 

[addy1]

After a while you just take as part of the job, and deal with each issue as it happens. The rentals all pay for themselves, and great tax write offs lol

Back to the original questions, laughing, I don't see a way in your drawing to clean the filter, it most like is not working well and full of junk. Love the look of your set up though.

Mine is similar, arizona pond, but I do have it out of the pond and it has a bottom drain for flushing it.

 

[mgeez]

You are right! The problem I see with many filtration systems is the more complex ones seem to be in the ponds with the most problems. I have kept my pond simple and it works for me. I get hundreds of vistors each year. The common denominator to all the problems I hear, is complex and expensive commercial filtration systems.
With the Doc Bio filter, all the trapped gunk is held in the vortex created in the bottom of the 55 gallon drum. The dump valve removes it in seconds. Your system traps it and then returns it to the pond through your upper pond. Good circulation in the ponds and a simple bio filter with a dump valve should take care of the conditions you have described.
When that water lettuce is ready, get it into the pond and shoot for 60% coverage.
An occasional batting fines filtration as sissy mentioned helps get particles out of solution as well.

I posted the following on koiphen.com. Maybe you could comment!

What should I believe?
OK, I removed my "100 rubbermaid stock tank filter". The tank sat emerged in a 300 gal "upper pond chamber". After the tank was out and the water drained, I shoveled some of the nastiest brown goo I have ever seen from the bottom of this pond cavity!
I removed the muck laden 2" fiberpad. The 3 cu ft of shaved PVC section was "totally" packed with green stuff, as well as the 200 lbs of lava rock. Yea, I know lava rock sukz!
I power washed everything and re-installed everything.
I was convinced last night that this whole cleaning process is insane the way I am doing it. I had to get my backhoe and lift the tank out, powerwash everything, deal with muck and mud.....etc.
Then somewhere on the web, this morning, I read that I should have never cleaned out the green stuuf because it is beneficial slime eating bacteria.
What should I believe?

I am starting to feel the need for some sort of "backflush" mechanism!

Should I:
Purchase a $800 bio-filter - i really do not want to spend that amount of money!
Build another better bio-filter - may if i had a trusted design!
Re-engineer my current filter setup - no clue right now.

Whatever I choose, I am stuck with what I have for this year.

mark

 

[koiguy1969]

the stocktank and barrel filters are meant to be run outside the pond .. not submerged thats your first problem. checkout our designs and build accordingly. the designs you will find in the DIY section here. you've already got the stocktank, use it!! and have it empty into the 300 chamber. the 300 gallon will make a nice upper pool for veggy filtration ae. a bog.here is my stocktank build:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/koiguys-70-gal-skippy-style-filter-t5089.html

ive never heard of a underwater filter that can really pull its weight like an external filter....especially in a DIY version....many people have used our or similiar designs with great success....my filters performance is just fantastic. and you'll see weve all incorperated dump or flush valves.

 

[mgeez]

the stocktank and barrel filters are meant to be run outside the pond .. not submerged thats your first problem. checkout our designs and build accordingly. the designs you will find in the DIY section here. you've already got the stocktank, use it!! and have it empty into the 300 chamber. the 300 gallon will make a nice upper pool for veggy filtration ae. a bog.here is my stocktank build:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/koiguys-70-gal-skippy-style-filter-t5089.html

ive never heard of a underwater filter that can really pull its weight like an external filter....especially in a DIY version....many people have used our or similiar designs with great success....my filters performance is just fantastic. and you'll see weve all incorperated dump or flush valves.

I have to agree with you. The submerged idea was for astetic purposes only. Nowhere in my 3 ponds does one see any non natural looks. Not being able to "dump" the filter chamber rountinely is a problem. I will look at other DIY designs.
thanks,
Mark

 

[koiguy1969]

glad to help Mark, i hope i can remember your name.........lol
Mark

 

[mgeez]

the stocktank and barrel filters are meant to be run outside the pond .. not submerged thats your first problem. checkout our designs and build accordingly. the designs you will find in the DIY section here. you've already got the stocktank, use it!! and have it empty into the 300 chamber. the 300 gallon will make a nice upper pool for veggy filtration ae. a bog.here is my stocktank build:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/koiguys-70-gal-skippy-style-filter-t5089.html

ive never heard of a underwater filter that can really pull its weight like an external filter....especially in a DIY version....many people have used our or similiar designs with great success....my filters performance is just fantastic. and you'll see weve all incorperated dump or flush valves.

Do you ever remove the media and clean? Do you "backflush" the filter?
mark

 

[koiguy1969]

pretty much backflushes only for me............ but if you shutdown your filter for the winter that would be a good time to clean your media, as the filter is of little biological use anyways if youve got cold winters...but my media goes into my 800 gal basement ponds 55 gal barrel filter. so i dont want to loose any of the bacteria colonizing the media.

 

[stroppy]

in the summer once a week i open the bottom drain turn off the pump and throw a couple of buckets of pond water in the top of mine ... if your having a stock tank like koiguys you will be able to see if its getting clogged up with muck and clean if need be :0)

 

[addy1]

If you move it outside like they are suggesting, you can make it look natural with plants and rocks. My filter looks like a rock waterfall (in arizona pond) I have it piped to allow a back flushing when needed. Only way to get the yuck out, that the filter collected.

 

[mgeez]

In refference to my original post, my main concern was that I had zero plant growth and hyacinth dieback throughout the summer. My second concern was the green water all summer. Luckily I did not loose any fish as they seemed very healthy and all but 1 survived the harsh temps here over the winter.

Would massive amounts of the waste in the bottom of my filter be somewhat responsible for no plant growth? Since it was a new pond last year with all the usual green water cycles, could the green water be the culprit for no plant growth?

I have a 130w uv ready to go to address the water clarity. I am clueless as to the "soon to be again mucky" filter problem if that is the cause of the poor plant growth.

I did have the water tested 3 times last year, but the only answer I got was "your water is OK.

mark