Fraggin
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Dec 14, 2006, 5:27 AM
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Need new Filtering Method (w/pics)
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Hello all, a quick introduction. I'm entering my second year in water gardening and wanted to get a few suggestions. First of all, I'd like to say that this has been a learning experience, and as with everything in life, if I were to do it a second time, I would have more knowledge and of course, do things differently.
I have a few questions about a filtering method. I attempted a veggie filter/sediment filter setup that I designed. This pond has no bottom drain, and I really wish it did (as I'm sure many people have encountered the same feelings).
So, to give you an idea of my pond, It's 40" deep in the deepest part. It started off as two pools seperated by a rock waterfall, but I later removed it, to have one large pool. Though the first design was very pretty, I kept running into problems with it and decided one large pool would be better if I decide to add koi later on
Full view of the pond.
You can see at the far end of the pond, my attempt at filtration. I built a box from landscape tembers and this is where the water pumps to.
Pond end where the filterbox is
Here is A closer shot of the filterbox. I think the dimnsions are somewhere near 4ftx3ft.
Here is a view inside the filterbox.
I have three 5 gallon buckets connected with a series of piping. The first bucket contains filter media where the water enters through the top, and comes out of a pipe in teh bottom. The bottom pipe is connected to the next bucked that contains lava rock. This bucket connects to the next bucket which is half full of lava rock and has several dozen 1/8 inch holes drilled in it for the water to exit into the lined box. Though it's hard to make out in the picture, before the water enters the first bucket, it passes a venturi then exits the pipe shooting water out over the surface (where all the bubbles are). In line with this same piping, I installed a valvle that lets me control the amount of flow into the buckets. I have it opened just enough to where it takes 20 minutes to fill all three buckets. This is how I estimated the retention time of the water.
By the end of fall, I had a pastic basket full of gravel and plants sitting on top of each of the buckets. I found that the Canna did the best, and the roots really took off. Lots of the finer sediment that escaped the bucket filter latched onto the roots. I had cannas in 4 inches of gravel that grew up to a height of 10 feet.
This method seemed to work ok, and kept the water from becoming too dark, yet the water was not crystal clear like I would have liked for it to have been.
Since the winter months have set it, have removed all aquatic plants from the pond, and all the potted plants surrounding the pond, drained the pond, removed leaves and refilled, and reconditioned the water.
What I would like to know, is do any of you pro's out there see a better way of using what I have now to achieve better results? I was consideirng turnd the box into an above ground bog, but that would require a lot of gravel. I could create some type of structure to create a false bottom in the box, so that less gravel would be required. But what kind of waterflow do you need on a bog? I'm currently using an 1100gph pump.
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