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Thread: pond clarity
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07-05-2020, 06:26 PM #1
pond clarity
Hi all, having a few probs with pond clarity in my 135,000 litre pond.i have a drum filter which appears to be working fine, 2x relatively new amalgam lights, and a bio filter contains 250 litres of well aerated k1 - I also run a small bakki shower which admittedly needs more media and am looking at doubling up on the 3 tiers currently fitted to make it 6.
there's no real sign of blanketweed, but a week or so back I could see my bottom drains clearly now I can hardly see them at all.
any suggestions please ...
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07-05-2020, 07:54 PM #2
If your pond is 30,000 gallons, it looks like you are not pumping enough of it through the amalgams? and one drum I would think is not enough for that size pond.
What pumps are running the filters ?
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07-05-2020, 08:57 PM #3
As above, that's one hell of a pond, Pump and outlet information would be useful, also no of bottom drains, skimmer etc
4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
2 x 18,000 lh pumps
Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
Idealseal MS290
My Pond Build
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07-05-2020, 08:59 PM #4
And fish stocks.
And pictures else Fred won’t be able to sleep soundly lol
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07-05-2020, 09:00 PM #5
i'm running 2 x bottom drains to a 70,000 lph drum filter, which has 2 x 40 watt amalgams installed, then it splits the feed sending half to a bio filter with 250 litres of k1 and the other half to a 3 tier bakki shower at the pond.
my pumps are 2 x 30k EA variflows which I have running at 60-65%% so the water has time to dwell in the bio and let the beneficial bacteria do its job.
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07-05-2020, 09:13 PM #6
dont know if ive uploaded correctly but here goes ...
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07-05-2020, 09:16 PM #7Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.
Always happy to help!!
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07-05-2020, 09:20 PM #8
2 x bottom drains (4 inch pipework)
70k drum
bio with 250 litres of k1
3 tier bakki shower (1 metre width)
2 x 30k pumps running at 60-65%
current stocking levels are around a dozen koi (ranging from 30cm -60cm)
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07-05-2020, 09:22 PM #9
thx mate - still away to go as its such a big garden and looks out over famrland so everything gets dwarfed if its not big enough. Those rocks around pond edge are the biggest we could handle but look like peas now -theyre actually twice the size of a basketball and still too small so am planning to make some !!
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07-05-2020, 11:25 PM #10
pond clarity
I reckon your drum could handle twice what your putting through it.
2 bottom drains will probably pull a maximum of 40k l/ph with no restrictions.
Easy to say in hindsight but I’d have had at least 4 drains and 2 skimmers in that size pond.
They’ll only “pull” around 6-8 feet radius so maybe you’re not getting rid of the funk fast enough?
You’re not highly stocked by any means but you’ll still get a fair degree of natural debris in that I’d have thought?
Amalgam UV rule of thumb is 10w per 1000 gallons but with a big surface area catching the sun you’re gonna struggle to stop everything.
Lovely pond though!!
Not quite sure there’s an easy solution to your problem.
Are you planning on adding more fish?
Presumably at the moment all your water parameters are good?
For those with monster ponds this is a must watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7n6...&feature=share
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkLast edited by bigcarpchaser; 07-05-2020 at 11:30 PM.
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07-05-2020, 11:50 PM #11
lovely pond mate,
agree with the others, to add, I would add 2 more bottom drains , you can buy retro ones that sit on the bottom if you have concreted the pond
if I remember correctly a 40w amalgam UV is capable upto 7500 gallons each you have 2 you need 2 more really or buy a larger one.
you need much higher turn over to remove as much fines in the water as possible ideally volume of water replaced every hour im running 25,000litres every hour on 3000 gallon pond to achieve clear water I dont have a UV as mine is in a building and doesn't get much sunlight .
so you need to run your pumps at 100% and a second drum would be ideal.
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08-05-2020, 06:08 AM #12
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08-05-2020, 08:14 AM #13
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08-05-2020, 10:43 AM #14
Or buy a couple of flowfriends cheap, cough.
Actually, we had some massive grundfos pumps put in a job at work, they shift some serious water.
Not sure if they’d work on a pond but back in the day we used to use small central heating pumps to circulate water around. Nothing died.
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08-05-2020, 10:52 AM #15
Yep, agree with all the above, defiantly need more UV with that surface area and full sun
Beautiful pond4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
2 x 18,000 lh pumps
Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
Idealseal MS290
My Pond Build
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08-05-2020, 11:00 AM #16
Hi yes levels seem fine - and I agree another couple of bd's wouldn't have gone amiss. I've never had bd's before so clearly listened to the wrong advice there ... I guess I could add a retry BD but not sure how well they work tbh. also I have a skimmer filter which hasn't worked from day 1 but hopefully getting that sorted will improve the flow through the drum a little.
I was wondering about adding extra Amalgms but if the flow is only that low i'm wondering whether that would help. I'm not planning on increasing stocking levels dramatically - at least until I get this all balanced properly (or as proper as I can get it)
I should add that I have a very shallow man made stream feeding the pond from the bakki shower (which takes its feed from the RDF) and because its shallow it does get a fair bit of blanketweed which im try, as best I can, to vac out and/or fish out manually. so thats prob not helping. If it gets really bad I have no option than to jet wash it into the pond so the filtration/UV can do its job so any suggestions there would be helpful?
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08-05-2020, 11:03 AM #17
sadly its a liner as the fibreglass guy I spoke with wanted a cover installing to work under and it'd have been the size of a barn ! so will retrofit bd work on that ?
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08-05-2020, 11:07 AM #18
If you were running the the filters to the max, it would be 2 1/2 hours pond turnover. Running at 60 65% it’s closer to four hours.
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08-05-2020, 11:24 AM #19Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.
Always happy to help!!
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08-05-2020, 12:34 PM #20
as its a liner , if you wanted to personally id drain the pond out and install additional 2 4" bottom drains rather than retro ones retro ones just sit on the floor and piped to a submersible pump and pumped out to filters they are very simple to put in if you dont want the hassle of draining out the pond and putting holes in your liner and digging trenches for your pipes.
drum filter - I could actually build you one from stainless steel that would cope with 135,000 litres per hour with 4 x 4" inlets your choice of mesh , will be a very large unit
message me if interested .
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Best plants to remove Nitrate
pug has a very impressive veg filter on his pond, have a look at some of his his youtube videos....