Considering a Tropical Pond
- Thread starter Duncan6618
- Start date
I have finally decided how I want the bog filters to work. I removed some of the gravel from one of them so the water is around 12" deep. Then I capped the drain vent and put an elbow on the inside to create and ebb & flow system. So the water fills until it gets about 1/4" above the pipe and then the siphon starts drains the water back down until the siphon breaks. I had to have the pipe at an angle or else the siphon rate would equalize with the incoming flow rate and the siphon would never break.
Then I just use cheap plastic pots with holes drilled in them and hydroton as the planting media (I like it alot better than the gravel). So the water fills too the lip of the pots then drains down about 4". Each fill drain cycle takes about 15 minutes the way I have it set now but I can adjust that if need be. I have started tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers. In theory I should have clean water and lots of vegetables to eat in a few weeks.
Now I just need to get more pots & plants to finish and then switch the other rubbermaid tub over to this setup.
Then I just use cheap plastic pots with holes drilled in them and hydroton as the planting media (I like it alot better than the gravel). So the water fills too the lip of the pots then drains down about 4". Each fill drain cycle takes about 15 minutes the way I have it set now but I can adjust that if need be. I have started tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers. In theory I should have clean water and lots of vegetables to eat in a few weeks.
Now I just need to get more pots & plants to finish and then switch the other rubbermaid tub over to this setup.
I replaced the sand in the filter with PermaBeads yesterday. I followed the advise of Dana, the owner of PermaBeads, and installed a bleed off valve on the output of the pump. Since the beads are much lighter than sand I may have to cut back on the backwash pressure so they don't get blown out of the filter.
　
To see how they are going to perform I have put my Aqaubot pool cleaner to work to scrub the surface. You can see it has really stirred things up. This is the deep end of the pool.
So if the permabeads work as I hope they will be able to clear all this particulate without getting clogged up constantly like the sand did. So far so good as the pressure in the sand filter hasn't gone up at all in the 8 hours or so since I put the aquabot in. Time will tell.
　
To see how they are going to perform I have put my Aqaubot pool cleaner to work to scrub the surface. You can see it has really stirred things up. This is the deep end of the pool.
So if the permabeads work as I hope they will be able to clear all this particulate without getting clogged up constantly like the sand did. So far so good as the pressure in the sand filter hasn't gone up at all in the 8 hours or so since I put the aquabot in. Time will tell.
I removed the plants from the floating planter since they were just about dead. Their roots were rotted and the soil smelled nasty. This guy didn't seem to mind though.
So I tossed the soil, drilled a whole bunch of holes in the bottom of the pot and used hydroton instead. Home Depot had some water plants in a box so hopefully these will take.
So I tossed the soil, drilled a whole bunch of holes in the bottom of the pot and used hydroton instead. Home Depot had some water plants in a box so hopefully these will take.
^^^ i've read that it takes some time (a couple weeks) for beads to start working in a sand filter. as i understand it, the beads need to develop a layer of slime. it's the slime that catches the filth, but once the beads have that coating of slime they'll be able to quickly collect the filth. the backwash will rinse the filth layer away and leave the slime layer behind. from then on the established slime layer on the beads will quickly gather up more filth to be backwashed away again.
basically, i'm saying it might take a little time to see any results because op just added the beads only 3 days ago. with that said, i'm pretty curious to see if they're working yet too!
basically, i'm saying it might take a little time to see any results because op just added the beads only 3 days ago. with that said, i'm pretty curious to see if they're working yet too!
Hard to say how well they are working yet. Each morning I'd say the water is maybe 50% clearer but then I turn the aquabot on again to keep things stirred up. There still isn't any pressure build up in the filter or loss of flow so I'm pretty happy with that. When I stirred things up before the sand would clog completely within hours.
Here's a pic of what it looks like in the morning before I start the aquabot again.
Here's a pic of what it looks like in the morning before I start the aquabot again.
So far so good on the Permabeads.After several days of keeping things stirred up and cloudy the water was much clearer this morning.
Still no pressure buildup at all in the filter.
It is finally supposed to rain so I decided to backflush to lower the ponds water level. The beads are definitely pulling out a lot of stuff.
Still no pressure buildup at all in the filter.
It is finally supposed to rain so I decided to backflush to lower the ponds water level. The beads are definitely pulling out a lot of stuff.
