JohnHuff
I know nothing.
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2012
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I'd just cleaned my prefilters a couple of days ago when I noticed a loss of waterfall flow. That's always troubling because circulation is very important for pond health.
Usually when my water flow slows down it's because the prefilters are clogged but I know it wasn't that because I had just cleaned them. About a week ago, my flow at the waterfall stopped and we found that it was because the hose at the pump had disconnected. I hoped it wasn't that because it was a pain to reconnect, but that was a complete loss of flow and this was just a slowdown.
So I thought it was something to do with the original pond filter and I decided to investigate it. The original pond filter was one of these, a Pond Filtration filter:
I'm thinking this must be a very old style filter because the website says it's state of the art. And instead of the zeolite/carbon media bag inside, it was just 3 pads of matting. Now this filter was a real PITA to clean. It was situated in an awkward position and I had to contort myself to unscrew the flange that held the 2 pieces together. Because it was part in the ground, every time I opened the canister, bits of earth and dead material would fall into it.
The three pieces of padding inside was basically a mechanical filter that was hard to get to. After a few years, I finally just got rid of the pads and left the container empty. After about another year or so, I got some bioballs and filled the inside of it. After that I never opened the inside of that canister again until now.
This time when the pump flow stopped, I was expecting the bioballs to be jammed with crud but when I opened it, I found that it was completely clean. I'd expected maybe some algae, but then I remembered that algae needed the sunlight to be alive. The prefilters had always let some material slip through since I always had to clean the padding but I was real surprised to find that the bioballs did not trap any dirt at all. A little disconcertingly, I didn't see any biofilm on the bioballs either. They looked brand new and spanking clean.
Next, I investigated the outlet hose with this:
I had bought this for my bathroom drain but never used it. I finally used it and found the obstruction to be in the outlet. The filter had drained into a little sump that exited into a waterfall. I found that the sump was completely full of some kind of fibrous material. It wasn't a plant because it wasn't green, maybe it was the root system of some plant. Anyway, it was so tough I couldn't just rip it out, I had to cut them with gardening shears and then rip them out.
So now it was time to test the system. By this time I'd taken the bioballs out. I tested the filter with nothing inside and with bioballs and surprisingly found that the bioballs do slow the flow somewhat. I put everything back together again. I'm so happy that the water flow is back to normal, the fish seem happier too.
This thread is just another of my miscellaneous ramblings but I found that:
1) A closed filter with bioballs do not need to be inspected often because the bioballs do not trap crud.
2) Algae does not grow in dark places.
3) When my pond works well, it makes me happy.
4) I finally found a use for that snake drain.
Usually when my water flow slows down it's because the prefilters are clogged but I know it wasn't that because I had just cleaned them. About a week ago, my flow at the waterfall stopped and we found that it was because the hose at the pump had disconnected. I hoped it wasn't that because it was a pain to reconnect, but that was a complete loss of flow and this was just a slowdown.
So I thought it was something to do with the original pond filter and I decided to investigate it. The original pond filter was one of these, a Pond Filtration filter:
I'm thinking this must be a very old style filter because the website says it's state of the art. And instead of the zeolite/carbon media bag inside, it was just 3 pads of matting. Now this filter was a real PITA to clean. It was situated in an awkward position and I had to contort myself to unscrew the flange that held the 2 pieces together. Because it was part in the ground, every time I opened the canister, bits of earth and dead material would fall into it.
The three pieces of padding inside was basically a mechanical filter that was hard to get to. After a few years, I finally just got rid of the pads and left the container empty. After about another year or so, I got some bioballs and filled the inside of it. After that I never opened the inside of that canister again until now.
This time when the pump flow stopped, I was expecting the bioballs to be jammed with crud but when I opened it, I found that it was completely clean. I'd expected maybe some algae, but then I remembered that algae needed the sunlight to be alive. The prefilters had always let some material slip through since I always had to clean the padding but I was real surprised to find that the bioballs did not trap any dirt at all. A little disconcertingly, I didn't see any biofilm on the bioballs either. They looked brand new and spanking clean.
Next, I investigated the outlet hose with this:
I had bought this for my bathroom drain but never used it. I finally used it and found the obstruction to be in the outlet. The filter had drained into a little sump that exited into a waterfall. I found that the sump was completely full of some kind of fibrous material. It wasn't a plant because it wasn't green, maybe it was the root system of some plant. Anyway, it was so tough I couldn't just rip it out, I had to cut them with gardening shears and then rip them out.
So now it was time to test the system. By this time I'd taken the bioballs out. I tested the filter with nothing inside and with bioballs and surprisingly found that the bioballs do slow the flow somewhat. I put everything back together again. I'm so happy that the water flow is back to normal, the fish seem happier too.
This thread is just another of my miscellaneous ramblings but I found that:
1) A closed filter with bioballs do not need to be inspected often because the bioballs do not trap crud.
2) Algae does not grow in dark places.
3) When my pond works well, it makes me happy.
4) I finally found a use for that snake drain.