Pond folk

[RayAllen]

Im starting a pond soon. Actually using a heavy duty 100g stock tank as the pond and which will be coverd with decrotive rock. Im fimiliar with the filter options for them because ive helped family and friends install in the past, but am unsure which I want to use myself.

Im going DIY either internal or external canister.

If I go internal Im going to make a basket out of egg crate that will hold carbon and filterfloss with filetfloss and carbon sandwiched in between with a PVC intake pipe running to a mag so it naturaly pulls debri/detritus through.

If I go external im going to use a drilled 5gallon bucket filled with layers of filter floss and carbon which would be run by a submersible mag pump also.

For those pond folks on board which do you think is better? Both would do the job but id think the bucket/DIY canister would hold more media not to mention probably not have to be changed as much. I think I just answered my own question

Ray

[jc]

The external will be the easier one to do maintenance on. However, if you go that route you will need a pre-filter on the pump. Sometimes those can be a pain to deal with because they clog so much faster than putting a filter before the pump. Have you thought about a skimmer? Using a surface skimmer will keep the debris from sinking and will make the filter work less. Check out koiphen.com and go to the construction forum. There are lots of diy projects you can get inspiration from.

[RayAllen]

cool thanks I will check it out

[Mr Cob]

I have 4 pre filters on my pond...mag 5, mag 7, mag 12 and a mag 18 all running various items such as two fountains, a uv sterilizer and an external biological filter.

With that said I absolutely hate the way I have it all setup. Two of the prefilter pumps are impossible to reach without getting into the pond and they all are a pain to have to continually clean once every couple of weeks due to light clogging....but if I want maximum performance on the pumps I have to do it.

I would definitely recommend a surface skimmer because I hate netting the pond morning and night!

I'm actually turning my current 1000gallon pond back into a crystal clear fountain...because it's directly in the sun and the green concrete pond does not look nice especially since it's painted blue.

My new pond will be a preformed pond on the back patio. It's covered and will be on a concrete slab.

Good luck.

[RayAllen]

This is what I came up with; Im pretty sure with this design it would provide surface skimming and also good ciculation with a good sized pump. The entire pond will be covered with rock so the return will actually be a rock waterfall type. Now with that being said i may also add a fountain later.

[jc]

Skimmers are great just make sure get the right one.
This is the one I use and it is connected to a pondmaster 18. Don't use it!!! It does skim the surface well, but it gets clogged easily. If the flow isn't strong enough due to the basket clogging it will suck the inside dry and cause the skimmer with the pump attached to float to the surface and make gulping sounds. This happens when the basket surface area is about 50% covered. The fit between the floating part and the basket has a gap that is just wide enough to allow leaves to slip past. Then the leaves get stuck in the impeller and break it. I have had to replace 2 impellers already. This was the cheapest surface skimmer I could find and I definitely got what I paid for. I may switch to the ones that attach to the liner wall.

[RayAllen]

Good thing about my backyard is that I have not a single tree so I dont have to worry about leaves.

[prof]

The Austin pond tour is the weekend...
http://www.austinpondsociety.org/


Check this out: http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm
You can build it to whatever scale you want.

[RayAllen]

sweet, I will check out the links you provided.

[ansonluna]

Hey Rey I recently put a pond together for my aunt. We just bought her one of those green Tetra Pond Filters (has a barrel shape to it and has a screw on lid). When summer hit the pond was super green with floating algea. I replace the media inside with lava rock from Home Depot and added a chemical to the water to make the algea bind together and BAM! Crystal clear results. My mom did the same thing and the lava rock did the trick. Hope this helps.