Bad advice from a book, now clowdy water, Help!

[[email protected]]

I was reading an Otho book on water gardens and it said that i could
plant my plants for my pond in clay based cat litter. I found the
simple clay cat littler with no additives and used it. after a few
days, the litter leached clay into the water, turing it a milky color.
i have removed the plants , pending a change of plan on how I pot them.
i think the baskets are a bad idea when litter is usded, and a closed
clay pot might be the solution. in any case, what I am searching for,
are ideas on how to filter the water of all clay, and dirt sediment.
I started with my own ideas, like using a five gallon pale with a
screen near the pot. I put a towel over the screen and a 1 inch hole at
the botten edge. i ran a pump into the top and let it drain through the
towel into the bottom of the pale, then back into the pond. This was
Ok until the amount of dirt collected caused th towel to hold water
instead of pass it. The bucket would over flow. If i had less fish, i
would just empty the pond, clean it and refill. It is a 220 gallon
pond.

i only have one more idea to try and then I will have to try something
drastic. My next idea is to turn the same bucket on its side. The water
will flow down the side of the pale, while the dirt accumulates near
the bottom of the towel filter. The reason this would work beter is
because the heavy dirt would pile up on the base and the lighter stuff
would not clog the towel as fast. I would have two forces working
together. Gravity would be one, and the filter would be the other. I
don't expect this to be a great improvement, and I don't want to
reinvent the wheel. Do any of you other pond lovers have a trick to
clearing the water of very fine sediment? Thanks, Joe

[Koi-Lo]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I was reading an Otho book on water gardens and it said that i could
> plant my plants for my pond in clay based cat litter. I found the
> simple clay cat littler with no additives and used it. after a few
> days, the litter leached clay into the water, turing it a milky color.
> i have removed the plants , pending a change of plan on how I pot them.
> i think the baskets are a bad idea when litter is usded, and a closed
> clay pot might be the solution. in any case, what I am searching for,
> are ideas on how to filter the water of all clay, and dirt sediment.
> I started with my own ideas, like using a five gallon pale with a
> screen near the pot. I put a towel over the screen and a 1 inch hole at
> the botten edge. i ran a pump into the top and let it drain through the
> towel into the bottom of the pale, then back into the pond. This was
> Ok until the amount of dirt collected caused th towel to hold water
> instead of pass it. The bucket would over flow. If i had less fish, i
> would just empty the pond, clean it and refill. It is a 220 gallon
> pond.

If fine clay is loose in your pond that may be the only answer. Or try to
filter the water through something like polyester quilt batting that catches
fine particles. Clay may go right through it. I don't use cat-litter in my
pond plant pots. I use good garden soil (with a handful of Ironite) in a
regular plastic pot and cover the soil with about 2" or so of fine gravel
from Lowe's ($3 for about 50 lbs). Very little leaches out into the water.

Do any of you other pond lovers have a trick to
> clearing the water of very fine sediment? Thanks, Joe

There are flocculents on the market that clump them together and drop them
to the bottom of the pond, clearing the water. Since I don't use them
someone else may reply and recommend a particular brand. But with a 220
gallon pond I would simply drain it, hose it, vac the bottom muck and refill
it. This should be done once a year anyway. This will also give you the
chance to cull your fish and remove those that are ugly, deformed etc. You
shouldn't have more than 15 to 20 goldfish in a pond that size.
--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>

[Snooze]

I plant my plants in terracotta plants, the cheap ones that have a drain
hole on the bottom. I just put in a bit of potting soil (the kind that
doesn't have the tiny foam balls) and a layer of pea gravel on top. Then
carefully spoon on a bit of water just to moisten the soil so it doesn't
rise to the surface when you submerge it.

I suppose in a day or two the loose clay will settle down to the bottom of
the pond and the water will clear itself naturally, especially if you turn
off the pump, then use a siphon to suck out all the settled sediment. If you
want to filter the water, build a settling chamber, just pump it into a drum
that's filled with things like landscaping fabric. That will help slow the
water current and help settle the suspended clay.

Bring the unfiltered water into the bottom of the drum, and return from the
top of the drum.

[Phyllis and Jim Hurley]

Your clay is likely to add algae and settle.

--
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/pwp-jameshurley
Ask me about Jog A Thon fundraiser (clears $120+ per child) at: jogathon.net
> wrote in message
oups.com...
> I was reading an Otho book on water gardens and it said that i could
> plant my plants for my pond in clay based cat litter. I found the
> simple clay cat littler with no additives and used it. after a few
> days, the litter leached clay into the water, turing it a milky color.
> i have removed the plants , pending a change of plan on how I pot them.
> i think the baskets are a bad idea when litter is usded, and a closed
> clay pot might be the solution. in any case, what I am searching for,
> are ideas on how to filter the water of all clay, and dirt sediment.
> I started with my own ideas, like using a five gallon pale with a
> screen near the pot. I put a towel over the screen and a 1 inch hole at
> the botten edge. i ran a pump into the top and let it drain through the
> towel into the bottom of the pale, then back into the pond. This was
> Ok until the amount of dirt collected caused th towel to hold water
> instead of pass it. The bucket would over flow. If i had less fish, i
> would just empty the pond, clean it and refill. It is a 220 gallon
> pond.
>
> i only have one more idea to try and then I will have to try something
> drastic. My next idea is to turn the same bucket on its side. The water
> will flow down the side of the pale, while the dirt accumulates near
> the bottom of the towel filter. The reason this would work beter is
> because the heavy dirt would pile up on the base and the lighter stuff
> would not clog the towel as fast. I would have two forces working
> together. Gravity would be one, and the filter would be the other. I
> don't expect this to be a great improvement, and I don't want to
> reinvent the wheel. Do any of you other pond lovers have a trick to
> clearing the water of very fine sediment? Thanks, Joe
>

[J.D. Stone]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I was reading an Otho book on water gardens and it said that i could
> plant my plants for my pond in clay based cat litter. I found the
> simple clay cat littler with no additives and used it. after a few
> days, the litter leached clay into the water, turing it a milky color.
> i have removed the plants , pending a change of plan on how I pot them.
> i think the baskets are a bad idea when litter is usded, and a closed
> clay pot might be the solution. in any case, what I am searching for,
> are ideas on how to filter the water of all clay, and dirt sediment.
> I started with my own ideas, like using a five gallon pale with a
> screen near the pot. I put a towel over the screen and a 1 inch hole at
> the botten edge. i ran a pump into the top and let it drain through the
> towel into the bottom of the pale, then back into the pond. This was
> Ok until the amount of dirt collected caused th towel to hold water
> instead of pass it. The bucket would over flow. If i had less fish, i
> would just empty the pond, clean it and refill. It is a 220 gallon
> pond.
>
> i only have one more idea to try and then I will have to try something
> drastic. My next idea is to turn the same bucket on its side. The water
> will flow down the side of the pale, while the dirt accumulates near
> the bottom of the towel filter. The reason this would work beter is
> because the heavy dirt would pile up on the base and the lighter stuff
> would not clog the towel as fast. I would have two forces working
> together. Gravity would be one, and the filter would be the other. I
> don't expect this to be a great improvement, and I don't want to
> reinvent the wheel. Do any of you other pond lovers have a trick to
> clearing the water of very fine sediment? Thanks, Joe
>
When I needed to clear my pond a few years ago, I used a 5 gallon bucket
with quilt batting in it. I drilled holes in the bottom, put the batting in
and drilled an overflow hole near the top (bucket on a slight incline sent
overflow back into pond). When it clogged enough to overflow, I rinsed the
batting out with a hose and started again. Cleared up pretty fast. Haven't
had any problems since I added the skippy filter to the system.
JD
http://www2.itexas.net/jdstone/

[~ janj]

I use my mostly sandy garden soil and the black mesh baskets for pond
plants, ONLY I line even those baskets with weed fabric, that way nothing
gets through. I also put strips of weed fabric on the top before I put my
stones on the soil.

Regarding the suspended clay you can get a product called Accu-Clear, or
you could just do partial water changes. 25% every 3rd day, you should be
clear in a couple weeks, if not before. (Be sure to use dechlor, or a
treatment for chloramines, if they're in your water supply.) ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

[[email protected]]

See USDA "Control of Clay Turbidity in Ponds"
http://wildlife.tamu.edu/publications/taexponds/460.pdf


~ janj > wrote:

>I use my mostly sandy garden soil and the black mesh baskets for pond
>plants, ONLY I line even those baskets with weed fabric, that way nothing
>gets through. I also put strips of weed fabric on the top before I put my
>stones on the soil.
>
>Regarding the suspended clay you can get a product called Accu-Clear, or
>you could just do partial water changes. 25% every 3rd day, you should be
>clear in a couple weeks, if not before. (Be sure to use dechlor, or a
>treatment for chloramines, if they're in your water supply.) ~ jan
>
>
>~ jan/WA
>Zone 7a



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?hl=en&q=puregold&qt_s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for
any of the recommendations I make.
AND I DID NOT AUTHORIZE ADS AT THE OLD PUREGOLD SITE

[~ janj]

I use my mostly sandy garden soil and the black mesh baskets for pond
plants, ONLY I line even those baskets with weed fabric, that way nothing
gets through. I also put strips of weed fabric on the top before I put my
stones on the soil.

Regarding the suspended clay you can get a product called Accu-Clear, or
you could just do partial water changes. 25% every 3rd day, you should be
clear in a couple weeks, if not before. (Be sure to use dechlor, or a
treatment for chloramines, if they're in your water supply.) ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

[~ janj]

I use my mostly sandy garden soil and the black mesh baskets for pond
plants, ONLY I line even those baskets with weed fabric, that way nothing
gets through. I also put strips of weed fabric on the top before I put my
stones on the soil.

Regarding the suspended clay you can get a product called Accu-Clear, or
you could just do partial water changes. 25% every 3rd day, you should be
clear in a couple weeks, if not before. (Be sure to use dechlor, or a
treatment for chloramines, if they're in your water supply.) ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

[sockiescat]

~ janj I use my mostly sandy garden soil and the black mesh baskets for
pond
plants, ONLY I line even those baskets with weed fabric, that way
nothing
gets through. I also put strips of weed fabric on the top before I put
my
stones on the soil.

Regarding the suspended clay you can get a product called Accu-Clear,
or
you could just do partial water changes. 25% every 3rd day, you should
be
clear in a couple weeks, if not before. (Be sure to use dechlor, or a
treatment for chloramines, if they're in your water supply.) ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a


at the garden center where i worked this past year one of the owners
used to have a pet shop and he used quilt batting not only for the pond
filters but for their fish tank filters as well. we also used potting
soil for the pond plants some in a terracotta pots and some in one
gallon black plastic pots. we put landscape fabric on the bottom of the
pots and then potting soil and finished off with a good amt of crushed
stones.
hope u have good luck getting your pond clean. cyaaaa, sockiescat.


--
sockiescat

[~ janj]

I use my mostly sandy garden soil and the black mesh baskets for pond
plants, ONLY I line even those baskets with weed fabric, that way nothing
gets through. I also put strips of weed fabric on the top before I put my
stones on the soil.

Regarding the suspended clay you can get a product called Accu-Clear, or
you could just do partial water changes. 25% every 3rd day, you should be
clear in a couple weeks, if not before. (Be sure to use dechlor, or a
treatment for chloramines, if they're in your water supply.) ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

[[email protected]]

I was using the 5 galon bucket with hole to let water out, and ran
water into the top through a white cotton towel. The towels clogged
faster than you would believe. I had so much crap in the pond that I
soon realized that I was going to have to get the fish out and clean it
good. I was doing fine until I made the most stupid mistake of filling
the pond and putting the fish back too soon. Before my better half
pulled the last few fish, most had died already. I lost three Koi and
many big goldfish. Only one Koi, and one Goldfish, and four bottom
feeders survived. Stacy moved them all to the front pond that was just
sitting with no filter for a couple of weeks. It had plants in it and I
added something to airate the water. I should have known that if I
treated city water, it would take 24 hours of airation to rid it of all
the bad stuff. I should have used the well and I would not have had any
problem.
I put 10 comet goldfish in the pond today, and so far they show no sign
of stress.
Thanks to all who shared their potting methods, I will repot everything
and get it back into the water asap. The only fish to not be moved,
and still lived was a bottom feeder. Stacy missed one when she moved
the rest. It is still alive and doing fine in the bigger pond.
Today I started putting a molded concreate paver patio down. It looks
like cobble stone and is very nice . It is back breaking work because
each molding is made from 70 lbs of fiber reinforced concrete.
Joe Jensen Beach, Fl

[~ janj]

>On 26 Feb 2006 15:49:23 -0800, wrote:

>I put 10 comet goldfish in the pond today, and so far they show no sign
>of stress.

>Today I started putting a molded concreate paver patio down. It looks
>like cobble stone and is very nice . It is back breaking work because
>each molding is made from 70 lbs of fiber reinforced concrete.
> Joe Jensen Beach, Fl

Wow, on the pavers. I bet they're hard on the back. ~ jan

~ jan/WA
Zone 7a