School pond desparate for help

[Pond Boy]

Nova,

Good one on you for helping the kid's in my book there is no better way to live than helping others. I have a buddy in Grand Rapids that has a bunch o ponding stuff laying around between him and I I'm sure we can come up with a pump or power head for the school. I will also keep an eye on my local CL for a filter box.

 

[koiguy1969]

the pump you have now is a Harbor Freight pump...Pacific Hydrostar are exclusive to H.F..or so they claim. i use that same 258gph pump to power my DIY pond vaccuum for my basement pond its $10.00. plus $5.00 will buy you the extended "store warranty"..walk in and get a new one!

 

[taherrmann4]

Harbor freight also has 20% off coupons in your sunday newspaper at least our do.

 

[sissy]

That would make a great project show all the children how a filter is built and how to maintain each month one class is responsible for maintaining the pond and see which class does it the best .Right now for the size pump you need harbor freight would be your best bet .

 

[water dog]

Hi
just get a battery box and drill hole's in the top,That small of a pump should fit perfect
and get that blue filter at lowe's and cut it to shape, Then pump it to a large bucket filled
with lava rock's flowing back to the pond hide the bucket with plant's and rock's,
under 50.00, have fun!

 

[sissy]

use quilt batting right now to get all the fine stuff out clean it real fast fold it don't stuff it in first couple of days you may have to clean the filter a couple of times a day

 

[Nova]

I found a green 18 gallon rubbermaid container at school I could use for the biofilter just not sure if the pump is big enough. I meet with the group tomorrow and will explain what they will be doing and how it all works. I will look up the skippy filter for a list of parts needed and adapt.

So anything like plastic scrub pads, curlers, sponges and anything else porous works in a filter?

Does a bio filter need a lid or could you have plants floating on top?

 

[sissy]

why not make all the stuff a project for the children to bring and a test to see which one works better .

 

[vertigo72]

I found a green 18 gallon rubbermaid container at school I could use for the biofilter just not sure if the pump is big enough. I meet with the group tomorrow and will explain what they will be doing and how it all works. I will look up the skippy filter for a list of parts needed and adapt.

So anything like plastic scrub pads, curlers, sponges and anything else porous works in a filter?

Yeah, but nothing too fine. A regular sponge will clog much too fast, and you need plastic (/pvc) media. Pot/floor scrubbers are made of pvc and have much coarser structure and will rarely clog. The thing you want is a lot of surface area for bacteria to adhere to, without risk of clogging.

Does a bio filter need a lid or could you have plants floating on top?

You can definately put plants there. In fact that helps filtration quite a bit.

As others said, involve the kids. Its a perfect project to explain things like the nitrogen cycle.

 

[vertigo72]

OH as for the pumps capacity. Its rated capacity sounds plenty to me for the pond size, but be aware that if you pump water higher in to the barrel, its capacity will be greatly reduced. Its called pump head. So try and see.. or measure its capacity with your barrel in position. Another great thing for kids to do, lesson in physics :bouncycig:

Rule of thumb is you need about the pond's volume in capacity per hour. But thats for fully stocked koi ponds. I bet half that or even less can also work just fine if the filter is big compared to the pond and you dont have as many and as dirty fish as most of us here.

 

[Nova]

Thanks for everyone's help. I meet with the kids in the morning and will give them a list of things they can use in the filter and let them come up with stuff. I have the container and some 1" PVC in the garage rafters. still need connections, tubing and grating. I may have to rummage through the science storage room to see what I can find.

 

[sissy]

I hope they have fun and learn tons of things about ponds the eco system and fish .Gosh history math science and even spelling in 1 lesson all about ponds maybe you should have them keep journals of the fish progress and get a digital camera to record the successes and failures .great on hand learning good luck

 

[Nova]

The kids are excited. The named their group the EcoPolice. hehehe Here is a picture of the pond and one of our courtyard residence, Leo.

 

[addy1]

Neat, glad they are excited, this will be fun for them.

 

[j.w]

Sounds like lots of fun and learning for the kids and nice pond and cool tortoise, Leo :lol: