okay, I am being cheap - need some ideas LOL

[capewind]

I may have something wrong here ... I got the swirl bar part, but the flush valve ... figured he'd just put a fitting on the tank with a ball valve ... what's the 2" pipe for? or do you mean a 2" bulk head type fitting for the ball valve? struggling with terms LOL.

 

[koiguy1969]

no. just a 2" drain and a ball valve is all you need...but i run mine to where i want the water and debris to go. like in my basement the flush assembly goes thru a wall to our sump pump vault for the house. the crud goes in there, and then pumped out to the sewer system. the sump pump is activated as the filter drains within seconds.

 

[capewind]

no drain in the floor ... hubby wanted a floor drain put into the basement when we built the house, but code said no ... dont understand why ... stupid me should have drawn a bathroom on the plans but then would have needed some type of septic pump (forgot what its called), as the septic tank is higher outside ... would need to drain into a tote, with a sump pump to send it out the window ...

 

[koiguy1969]

have you ever had problems with basement flooding? especially being a coastal state. if youve got a basement here, you've got drains. and likely a sump pump.

 

[capewind]

the rule is very basic ... our old house only had a crawl space. When we built the new house, we wanted a basement and had to be sure the floor of the basement sat above the 100 yr flood mark ... our basement is 2' above that point (by raising the house higher), and why my backyard has such a grade change coming out the rear slider. Because we also own wetlands, we are not allow to backfill the back. They came down hard on this issue because many homes were built onto underground streams and flood. We are more than a coastal state. The Cape Cod area IS a sandbar, connected to the rest of the state by two bridges only. For my town, the average elevation above sea level is at 24 feet. My front yard is 10 feet above sea level.

 

[sissy]

I buy the warranty as they replace it no matter what .I took the one back I burned out and had the warranty no questions asked they replaced and now my neighbor has the pump .The first one in the pic .You can still buy the warranty .I bought mine on sale plus 20% coupon and it came out to 54 dollars and then the warranty

 

[capewind]

Ok, I am clueless today ... no matter how hubby tried to explain (in a hurry walking out the door to get a kid) he was trying to explain his filter plans for the plant/baby pond to me ...

Can someone explain what a "prefilter/solid's seperator" is???

This is what I got so far ...

He bought a small, cheap, round barrell... guessing it will hold about 20 gallons of water ... this thing is going to be whatever the heck a solids seperator is (he says on an outside pond you'd use a 55 gallon barrel) ... This will be fed from the pond, THEN go to a skippy filter (that he is also putting a flush valve on), and then returns to the pond ...

What Im confused about is if the skippy has a sediment area, WHY something else doing the same thing before it? He got as far as saying it would pull the bigger stuff, but it seems like 2 containers of water, to do the same job....

 

[sissy]

guess he wants a really clean pond .I know on one sight I looked at they sell a smaller one for solids it says but don't under stand it my self unless he thinks because of the fish load he will need more.I use this to filter the hose water and was wondering how clogged it would get .

 

[capewind]

Had to run an errand and fell asleep when we got back ... still dont get it LOL.

 

[sissy]

I guess you will find out when he is done .Sounds like he is having fun figuring things out .I am guessing it will catch all the bad stuff and he will be able to have it go to the bottom and there will be a clean out .Like my bio filter is .I use quilt batting on the top to catch the heavy stuff and he is going to try and catch all the stuff .I think there are video's of something like what you are talking about on you tube .

 

[capewind]

He's off line for now ... hates using my computer and his died a couple days ago ... I wanted to pick up a cheap tower off of craigslist, but son says no, he is building something ...

So he did build something ... still a slap together, needs parts ... stole one of my flower pots to use as a prop ... I'm just calling it a prefilter... sucks water in by syphon via 3" pvc...

 

[sissy]

hey if it works it works .

 

[capewind]

So far so good. I guess he used the 3" pvc so that it could pick up the plant roots that keep floating around without plugging up ... and it is

 

[sissy]

happens to my pump as it picks up all the plant roots the fish break loose .I used a bigger one in my filter tanks

 

[capewind]

OMG I am so grossed out... hubbys little prefilter thing definately works. The plant pond water wasnt exactly crystal clear, but visibilty was still pretty good. Some yuck from a tipped plant, but nothing major .. well, it's been 5 days and he is cleaning it ... ALL that is in the barrel is one floor buffer pad, that is notched to go around the 3" pvc, and the pump sits on top to feed the normal filter ... one side of the pad was soooo dark and gross ... never seen one of the filters so bad after months, let alone five days. Im not kidding, when he rinsed the pad in the tub (which has a slow drain), the water was nearly black ... so maybe he was right and it would extend the pump life LOL ... now I guess I have to give in and let him spend the money he wanted to, to build it right ... point proved ... I was wrong AGAIN ... shhhh, wont admit that TOO LOUDLY to him;-)