|
Hello,
Please help, my mother is driving me mad
with her pond.
It is in direct sunlight through the day
and i know she has too many fish for the size that it is.
I would guess that it's 12 x 12 x 4 at the deepest. The water
has already turned green and the two brush type filter boxes
that she has just can't keep up with it. I often see people
giving away their above swimming pools with the filters. Could
the pumps and filters be cleaned and used for pond use? I
know that I will be digging a new pond this year and just
want to make sure that we get better filtration. It would
be nice to see the Koi that I bought her last year.
When I was on the pond tour a few years
ago I did notice that several people were using the swimming
pool type filter, that's what gave me the idea. The "free"
part of the used filters was even more intriguing. Please
let me know your opinion if you have time. Thank you!
Hey Tim,
Your mom's problem is only partly filtration. The fact that
that you've got floating algae means that your filtration
is working and there's lots of Nitrate to fertilize it.
It is fairly clear that neither of you is doing much water
testing, and that's got to change if you are to survive
in this hobby. A kit that can show you salt, pH, alkalinity,
ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, temperature and hardness is necessary
for water quality maintenance. Your algae bloom can best
be fixed by installing a good-quality high-intensity UV
unit. Get one rated for the flows you'll need to maintain
your new pond, so you don't have to buy another one when
you dig.
It is true that pond filters and pool filters look a lot
alike. The difference is that pool filters are filled with
sand and pond filters use a variety of plastic beads and
extrusions.You could get a used pool filter and replace
the sand with bead, but I'm not sure that the internal piping
would be compatible. Trying to use sand in a backyard pond
setup is not practical. Too much crud is generated in a
balanced ecosystem to allow for flow, and the sand will
foul almost instantly. Bead filters require a fairly sophisticated
pre-filter setup to function properly.
Bob Passovoy
President
MPKS
| 