Rebuilding a pond, tips on bog filter?
- Thread starter dinm
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Not sure I would jump to the conclusion that you have a leak. The waterfall strength is going to be determined by the volume of water you have, the width of the spillway and the height of the drop. You cannot change the volume of the barrel and that is fairly small. If you narrow the spillway then you would create more pressure and might get the affect you are looking for and the bigger the drop the more splash you will get. Others here probably have more technical solutions, dont give up.
I've realized it is also the hose limiting flow, though im not sure i'll get much aeration even on the biggest hose, but yeah I guess narrowing it would help
The hose was actually limiting half of the flow and probably more, not sure the exact number, but it is a lot. Upgraded to 32mm and it is working beyond my expectations. I assume 19mm also made the pump work worse so that was another issue.
Here is the output now
The difference is, almost unbelievable. Only thing left to do is to attach a pipe, bring it a bit closer to where the pump will be, glue the hose, and hopefully done with this project. I bought a bit short of a hose, 5 meters but I need 6-7 I think, didn't measure but I got a problem anyway where the hose connects , so I am gonna use a pipe and glue the hose to it. That should work very well and fix both issues.
My hope was not as high as this. It is intuitively a bit hard to believe that going from 19mm to 32mm could have such a stark difference.
Here is the output now
The difference is, almost unbelievable. Only thing left to do is to attach a pipe, bring it a bit closer to where the pump will be, glue the hose, and hopefully done with this project. I bought a bit short of a hose, 5 meters but I need 6-7 I think, didn't measure but I got a problem anyway where the hose connects , so I am gonna use a pipe and glue the hose to it. That should work very well and fix both issues.
My hope was not as high as this. It is intuitively a bit hard to believe that going from 19mm to 32mm could have such a stark difference.
I am now wondering what is the best way to attach a hose to a pipe. This is one of those flexible PVC hoses, advertised for gluing. I am thinking of connecting a pipe to a bulkhead, 90 turn then another pipe and then I glue the hose, possibly add a valve as well. I don't have enough hose to put it where I want to without doing this pipework, and currently the hose connected directly to bulkhead sprays some water out which is a problem, so I thought this would kill two flies at once and I can possibly easily attach a valve too.
With the 19mm I used a hose connector and connected it to the bulkhead using a reducer, it was easy enough to thread it in. And my guess is that would also limit flow a lot because of how its designed cause its a small hole. Using pipes would ensure that does not happen. These are just guesses, I've never seen anyone use a hose connector though on these forums, that was something family thought of it and we used it, but I feel it is not up to the task. And it's annoying to deal with as well.
With the 19mm I used a hose connector and connected it to the bulkhead using a reducer, it was easy enough to thread it in. And my guess is that would also limit flow a lot because of how its designed cause its a small hole. Using pipes would ensure that does not happen. These are just guesses, I've never seen anyone use a hose connector though on these forums, that was something family thought of it and we used it, but I feel it is not up to the task. And it's annoying to deal with as well.
Your loosing more that half your water flow at the second drop. You can see it is flowing back wards . This is where waterfall foam and a few rocks can help. tipping the rock the water is landing on will also help out tremendously.
Connecting the hose to the pipe I think you have two options. Most here use the PVC primer and glue, easy to use. Some people also use Fernco couplings, easy to find at Home Depot/Lowes for the size you want. Some people say Fernco couplings could fail in a few years and then others say they have had them for years with no issues.
I have this reducer on the bulkhead to 32mm, and it has a thread, so I suppose I need some sort of pipe which will thread in, and then I deal with gluing flex later when I get the pipes on.
As for the pipe not sure either, there are those gray pipes, but they seem to have rubber seals or something in them and I'm not sure they'd work for gluing? And then there are the other normal ones with no rubber.
I am looking to use this as well, I thought it may be a useful feature.
That gray and blue handle is a handy piece yes it's a union where you can remove or open the fitting without twisting one of the pipes or both. Yes there are rubber gaskets in there and you want to do all your gluing with the valve in the position as shown above/ open..
Gray is schedule 80 a higher grade of pvc.
DO NOT GLUE THE WIDEST PART ON EACH SIDE THAT LOOSENS ON THAT FITTING THEY HAVE A GASKET WHICH ALOWS YOU TO SIMPLY TIGHTEN THE FITTING AND NO GLLUE IS NEEDED.
The small holes on the end can be a glue joint or a threaded fitting i would try to do threaded so no matter what you always have the ability too rework the fittings
your threaded reducer if you can get a fernco to fit over that you will need to wrap the threads well with teflon tape before you slip the fern co on and i would use two clamps to tighten into the threads through fernco
Gray is schedule 80 a higher grade of pvc.
DO NOT GLUE THE WIDEST PART ON EACH SIDE THAT LOOSENS ON THAT FITTING THEY HAVE A GASKET WHICH ALOWS YOU TO SIMPLY TIGHTEN THE FITTING AND NO GLLUE IS NEEDED.
The small holes on the end can be a glue joint or a threaded fitting i would try to do threaded so no matter what you always have the ability too rework the fittings
your threaded reducer if you can get a fernco to fit over that you will need to wrap the threads well with teflon tape before you slip the fern co on and i would use two clamps to tighten into the threads through fernco
Highly recommend that valve, I have three and they are so much easier to use than ball valves. They cost more but in my opinion well worth it. Gives a lot of flexibility in controlling the flow of water.
They are still ball valves. they just have a built in union and they are beyond being handy . but they are not needed on every location where a ball valve is needed
Power went out, hose seems to have been pulled out the box filter, by a critter, cat maybe, more likely by water flow when the pump turned back on. Fortunately only the top has drained off.
The sides are now balloons though because of water under the liner. I don't know why the bottom isn't.
I guess it'll go back normal over the night. Hydrostatic pressure, I heard of it. I suppose so much water from the recent rains and this, the ground is essentially full of water?
edit: i guess only two sides are affected, and the bottom near that one side is also a hippo. i guess it'll go away on its own soon enough
The sides are now balloons though because of water under the liner. I don't know why the bottom isn't.
I guess it'll go back normal over the night. Hydrostatic pressure, I heard of it. I suppose so much water from the recent rains and this, the ground is essentially full of water?
edit: i guess only two sides are affected, and the bottom near that one side is also a hippo. i guess it'll go away on its own soon enough
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It went away after a few hours actually, so no damage to anything but loss of water. Anyway, I am close to finishing the bog filter plumbing now, but constant freezing temperatures are coming in a few days. Can't wait to get rid off this awful looking box filter.
One thing I do regret is not reading up on how to make a bare liner look more nice, I have these awful looking folds in many places. Will be 3 months since I rebuilt the pond in a few weeks, but algae's still slow in its colonization, I suppose winter doesn't let it do so easily, so when it does it'll cover the bare liner fully and I won't have to look at it.
Anyway, the fish seem to be better off, the one Koi that acted odd now does not float on the bottom so the expansion has helped. Perhaps this saga is of use to someone else who's new.
I am wondering though, how much can fish go without aeration in winter? I plan to run it all winter long but I am just interested, I know in winter there's just much more oxygen to go around because bacteria and fish are not as active, or it is that bacteria die off in winter fully so oxygen is abundant.
One thing I do regret is not reading up on how to make a bare liner look more nice, I have these awful looking folds in many places. Will be 3 months since I rebuilt the pond in a few weeks, but algae's still slow in its colonization, I suppose winter doesn't let it do so easily, so when it does it'll cover the bare liner fully and I won't have to look at it.
Anyway, the fish seem to be better off, the one Koi that acted odd now does not float on the bottom so the expansion has helped. Perhaps this saga is of use to someone else who's new.
I am wondering though, how much can fish go without aeration in winter? I plan to run it all winter long but I am just interested, I know in winter there's just much more oxygen to go around because bacteria and fish are not as active, or it is that bacteria die off in winter fully so oxygen is abundant.
i wouldn't be in so much of a hurry to do so . Wetland filters can take some timeto get established . even if the water clears it can be a while before the bacteria etc gets a good grip on your system
It is odd, I guess not so odd but I have crystal clear water. Algae's slowly colonizing and the bottom's green, sides a bit, but there's no new pond syndrome and it's been almost 3 months now. And I guess cause the volume of the pond is much bigger than the previous iteration the fish waste is not as bad, so now pond I suppose is not overstocked. Though I am eagerly waiting for algae to cover the liner and hide the folds I did not care to deal with for some reason.
It makes sense, I had one Koi that would float on its side, and about 1 month ago or so I'd fed them pea, I doubt that did much. So it seems to me that the waste is being taken care of even in winter. But December was not that cold, for December. Mostly 10c weather in it. That one Koi doesn't float anymore and swims fine, so she has acclimated to the cold weather i guess.
It makes sense, I had one Koi that would float on its side, and about 1 month ago or so I'd fed them pea, I doubt that did much. So it seems to me that the waste is being taken care of even in winter. But December was not that cold, for December. Mostly 10c weather in it. That one Koi doesn't float anymore and swims fine, so she has acclimated to the cold weather i guess.