***The Pond Discussion Thread****

father-ted said:
Cracking job, looking forward to the final pictures :)
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I will shortly - I'd anticipated that I'd get algae blooming without the drum running and using the water from the old pond. Only natural with the amount of tap water used. The green water made it hard to see an inch below the water level. I've been leaving the pond to mature a little hence leaving the algae to promote the bio film.

I put 500ml of green water treatment in. I've used this in the past although they changed the name from Blagdon to something else. The treatment is good as it causes all the small algae to stick together into larger chunks which the drum can easily remove. So currently the drum is back into the loop and washing every 1-2 minutes due to the amount of clumped algae. The only other issue is it turns everything brown, which clears with filtration over time but the string algae at the sides is now brown looking rather than green. A brush on a stick is needed but that will come up good.
 
father-ted said:
I usually dose mine with Blanket Answer as soon as it takes hold - that usually clears it for most of the summer without having to do anything else
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I gave it a blast with the 1/4 tub I had left. I've noticed that most tubs and bottles do a 10,000l size. In the past I've almost bleached the liner by simply tumbling the BlanketAnswer directly onto the blanket weed.
 
father-ted said:
I always pre-mix mine in a bucket then evenly spready around the pond.
Looks terrible for a couple of weeks but then clears nicely.
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Tye new pond has a great way of adding treatments. I pour it into the return pipes, that then mixes over the 6+metres before it enters the anoxic chamber. It then mixes completely as the water is drawn down then it’s pushed into the pond by the airlifts :)
 
The 1/4 tub of blanket answer did go along way to treating the problem. However I think today I'll pop down and get some Oase pond clear stuff - it's a bit more wide spread than the old blagdon stuff, targeting the phosphates etc (which would be in the mains fill up).

The drum is now up to 86 minutes between washes (and I had set the forced maximum clean period to 99 minutes so it could be that triggering). The pond still has suspended algae that the aerated bottom drain is constantly keeping up so I'll try a dose of flocculant and let the drum take more out.

The issue here is the free floating algae is typically 2-15 microns cell size, however the drum filter is 57 microns (ie thinner than the diameter of a human hair). There are few filters that will cope without apply UV to kill of the algae (then hope it clumps). I have a small UV that I could use which is an option - adding a small pump in the interim just to apply to some of the water.
 
NickK said:
The 1/4 tub of blanket answer did go along way to treating the problem. However I think today I'll pop down and get some Oase pond clear stuff - it's a bit more wide spread than the old blagdon stuff, targeting the phosphates etc (which would be in the mains fill up).

The drum is now up to 86 minutes between washes (and I had set the forced maximum clean period to 99 minutes so it could be that triggering). The pond still has suspended algae that the aerated bottom drain is constantly keeping up so I'll try a dose of flocculant and let the drum take more out.

The issue here is the free floating algae is typically 2-15 microns cell size, however the drum filter is 57 microns (ie thinner than the diameter of a human hair). There are few filters that will cope without apply UV to kill of the algae (then hope it clumps). I have a small UV that I could use which is an option - adding a small pump in the interim just to apply to some of the water.
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Get some clay, works wonders at trapping suspended matter :)
 
Just ordered a new Superfish Pond Eco Plus E - 20000
Decided I need to keep a spare pump handy in case of a failure, so will install the new one and keep the old one ready 'just incase'
 
kindai said:
Get some clay, works wonders at trapping suspended matter :)
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I rang two places today and neither of them had any but offered to order in. Shoved some more chemicals in.. turned the pond the appropriate shade of red/brown :) The drum is going nuts which is always a good sign.
 
Hmm still greenish but better than it was before. Two options here - starve the algae and nuke the algae.

I've just ordered the Anoxic filter basket media - this may look expensive but this will last for at least 5-10 years:
* Bonzai danish earth - 14L ~£15.
* JBL Aquabasis - 5L ~ £15

Some of the anoxic filter users have said that Kitty litter is good but you end up trying to find the right brand that doesn't poison the fish and has the right clay present. Kitty litter also needs multiple rinses to remove the fines. The alternative is go for the bonsai danish/moller clay and it only needs a single rinse without loosing 1/2 the media in the processes.

Lacerite is an iron rich mineral that is very difficult to get hold of. So JBL Aquabasis is a iron rich replacement.

The way Anoxic filters work is you make baskets with a core of aquabasis, surrounded by danish earth. This creates a low oxygen but rich environment for the anoxic bacteria. The water flows over the baskets and then the ammonia is converted to nitrogen gas directly without needing to water change to remove nitrates. More info here: http://www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/building_an_anoxic_system.html

I'll also try connecting up the old UV system temporarily to give the algae a blasting.
 
father-ted said:
Do you not have your UV running 24/7 then?
I never turn mine off and replace the tubes every June - so they are in peak performance in July/August.
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Nope - I've never used one in about 5 years on the old pond. Even in direct sun.

This is a new pond, wider and deeper. Multiply that by the water from the tap (has nitrates in) you're almost guaranteed to get a bloom.

Looking forward to getting the baskets in. Previously people have seen their ponds drop to 0ppm across the board. With that level the algae should drop off, the water should clear and the fish skin should also become clearer (ie whiter whites).
 
Surprise today with respect to all the world prices. The valves I bought in October now cost 37% more today! They went up by £50/valve!
 
Ended up having to go in my pond today, really glad I had some chest waders as it was freezing!
Put the new pump in and inadvertently knocked the hose off the outlet which is 3ft down.
Had to drain some pond water out to be able to get down to it, the hose was stiff due to the cold and dislodged when I lifted the pump out :-(
 
This weekend i made and installed the five anoxic baskets.

i’ve also moved the plants over into baskets.

i’ll take water stats tomorrow and every 4 days to see if the stats are changing.
 
I just worked out the flow rate of my system as it's currently configured. I use the water level difference to calculate the PSI, and then use a calculation to convert PSI+pipe diameter to get the flow rate.

It turns out that my little 17cm difference between the airlift input and output means the pond is running 21,996 lph total (and just over 10k per lift). That's real measured rates through a drum and lots of pipework!

I calculated both maximum I've measured - that comes in at about 42,000lph - and the flow rate of a EA Varipump 20,000lph from the head height etc.

So the system is running 1/2 maximum rate with free air for the other components for 58W.. compared to 200W for the maximum rate of 20K for the pump. The pump rate would drop heavily with filter and pipework.

Awesome :D

However I'm currently battling a algae bloom. I've put the old pressure filter minus media as it has a 24W UV inbuilt on a 6000lph pump and put that on the anoxic chamber. It's fighting but the sunlight causes the bloom to recover. I may move it to the main pond and see if that makes a difference but I think the old UV bulb is tired and the pond is simply too large.
I'm eyeing up a 40W amalgam bulb that I would fit into a separate removable airlift in the anoxic filter. That would allow me to kill off blooms at a higher flow rate. In fact I could put the UV in a replacement tank for the bio at a later date and the entire flow rate would get UV'd. In the past I've not had a problem with blooms once the pond was matured.
 
I started to get a slight build up of algae along one side of the pond, that is in permanent sunlight.
Bought a tub of Blanket Answer in readiness.....but have not needed it yet.
After putting the 20,000lph new pump in it seems to have helped stop it in its tracks.

I do have x2 55w UV's - that I usually replace bulbs at the end of May
 
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