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Lava rock cleaning?
With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin
getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
"Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ...
That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock 50 bags of lava rock?!?!? I have a littly bitty 20 gallon garbage can/lava rock filter and it takes me an hour to clean it. I don't even want to think about what you've got ahead of you some day....... It will clog up eventually. You for sure need a big veggie or mechanical pre filter to keep that day as far off as possible! Peace! Dan D. Louisville Ky good ole USA http://ky-dan.com |
Lava rock cleaning?
"Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ...
That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock 50 bags of lava rock?!?!? I have a littly bitty 20 gallon garbage can/lava rock filter and it takes me an hour to clean it. I don't even want to think about what you've got ahead of you some day....... It will clog up eventually. You for sure need a big veggie or mechanical pre filter to keep that day as far off as possible! Peace! Dan D. Louisville Ky good ole USA http://ky-dan.com |
Lava rock cleaning?
I would Not replace the lava rock. No Way. Lava rock is
too heavy and just all round pain in the rear to deal with. Better to build a Veggie Filter adjacent to your pond.. make the VF at least 10% of the surface area of your pond. Don't put rocks in it at all. Just plants and more plants. I just let the water do the work. I have a picture of my VF on the first page of the first link below my name. Nedra http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836 http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118 "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
I would Not replace the lava rock. No Way. Lava rock is
too heavy and just all round pain in the rear to deal with. Better to build a Veggie Filter adjacent to your pond.. make the VF at least 10% of the surface area of your pond. Don't put rocks in it at all. Just plants and more plants. I just let the water do the work. I have a picture of my VF on the first page of the first link below my name. Nedra http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836 http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118 "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
"Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sounds like Koi Poop to me. Lava rock does not filter your water. The reason you use lava rock is that is has LOTS of surface are per rock. With all that surface area, you have lots of room for the biological critter crew to live and grow and filter the water for you. I use a VF for filtration, so I can't speak to the lava rock from experience, but it seems to me at worst, you may need to rinse your lava rock down, and be sure that the filter box is not clogged with sediment. Of course, rinsing the rock will kill any critters you have already built up, so you may want to use pond water to do this. BV. |
Lava rock cleaning?
"Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sounds like Koi Poop to me. Lava rock does not filter your water. The reason you use lava rock is that is has LOTS of surface are per rock. With all that surface area, you have lots of room for the biological critter crew to live and grow and filter the water for you. I use a VF for filtration, so I can't speak to the lava rock from experience, but it seems to me at worst, you may need to rinse your lava rock down, and be sure that the filter box is not clogged with sediment. Of course, rinsing the rock will kill any critters you have already built up, so you may want to use pond water to do this. BV. |
Lava rock cleaning?
On 3/18/04 7:14 PM, "Tom Wikoff" wrote:
Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. Is there string algae on the rock? I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. Yes, but probably no need. I have some in a water fall thing too but I've never cleaned mine, just the mats. Sounds like someone just has a big markup on lava rock to me. Joe -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
Lava rock cleaning?
On 3/18/04 7:14 PM, "Tom Wikoff" wrote:
Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. Is there string algae on the rock? I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. Yes, but probably no need. I have some in a water fall thing too but I've never cleaned mine, just the mats. Sounds like someone just has a big markup on lava rock to me. Joe -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
Lava rock cleaning?
All the "pores" in lava rock will eventually fill up and it will cease to
work for bio filtration. I only know of three ways to clean the stuff: a) lay it all out in the driveway and power wash it; or b) build a fire under it and cook the "stuff" out. Of course, that option smells something fierce, but it will work, or c) isolate the filter from the rest of the pond and nuke it with potassium permanganate. That will eat the crud out, and once it expends itself (or you neutralize it), it's harmless to your pond, plants and fish. Lee "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
All the "pores" in lava rock will eventually fill up and it will cease to
work for bio filtration. I only know of three ways to clean the stuff: a) lay it all out in the driveway and power wash it; or b) build a fire under it and cook the "stuff" out. Of course, that option smells something fierce, but it will work, or c) isolate the filter from the rest of the pond and nuke it with potassium permanganate. That will eat the crud out, and once it expends itself (or you neutralize it), it's harmless to your pond, plants and fish. Lee "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Punt lava - Go to plants
Cleaning rock is such a hassle. It only provides surface. Roots work as
well and their owners take out other nutrients. Veggie filters are so far ahead of mechanical! We use anacharis, parrots feather, water celery and hyacinth. The celery has wonderful roots at the bottom of the pond that grab everything and can be flushed or just tossed (grows LOTS). Hyacinth grows wonderfully, pulling nutrients like mad and with roots that hold baby fish. The hyacinth floats, so the roots reach down, whereas the celery roots are at the bottom. Parrots feather has more stringy roots. Babies hide in it quite well. For surface area of roots, go with celery. If you can do hyacinth as well (illegal in some states), you can pull nutrients even faster. Lots of people can send you plants once the season starts. Jim -- ______________________________________________ See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net ______________________________________________ "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Punt lava - Go to plants
Cleaning rock is such a hassle. It only provides surface. Roots work as
well and their owners take out other nutrients. Veggie filters are so far ahead of mechanical! We use anacharis, parrots feather, water celery and hyacinth. The celery has wonderful roots at the bottom of the pond that grab everything and can be flushed or just tossed (grows LOTS). Hyacinth grows wonderfully, pulling nutrients like mad and with roots that hold baby fish. The hyacinth floats, so the roots reach down, whereas the celery roots are at the bottom. Parrots feather has more stringy roots. Babies hide in it quite well. For surface area of roots, go with celery. If you can do hyacinth as well (illegal in some states), you can pull nutrients even faster. Lots of people can send you plants once the season starts. Jim -- ______________________________________________ See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net ______________________________________________ "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
As other people have already pointed out, lava rock is not a good bio-filter
material. It's incredibly heavy, eventually gets clogged with muck, not easy to clean (because it is heavy). The key to a good biofilter is to provide lots of surface area, preferably out of material that is light, and easy to periodically clean. I made mine by placing scotch pads inside of 2 milk crates that I stacked inside of a 55 gal drum. Along with some nylon shade netting material. Others have used carpet buffering pads. Nice thing about my setup, is I just open a drain on the bottom of the drum, then scoop out the milk crates, and just hose them off. Just remember, lighter is better when it comes to having to clean. Sameer "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
As other people have already pointed out, lava rock is not a good bio-filter
material. It's incredibly heavy, eventually gets clogged with muck, not easy to clean (because it is heavy). The key to a good biofilter is to provide lots of surface area, preferably out of material that is light, and easy to periodically clean. I made mine by placing scotch pads inside of 2 milk crates that I stacked inside of a 55 gal drum. Along with some nylon shade netting material. Others have used carpet buffering pads. Nice thing about my setup, is I just open a drain on the bottom of the drum, then scoop out the milk crates, and just hose them off. Just remember, lighter is better when it comes to having to clean. Sameer "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Punt lava - Go to plants
"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message . .. Cleaning rock is such a hassle. It only provides surface. Roots work as well and their owners take out other nutrients. Veggie filters are so far ahead of mechanical! We use anacharis, parrots feather, water celery and hyacinth. The celery has wonderful roots at the bottom of the pond that grab everything and can be flushed or just tossed (grows LOTS). Hyacinth grows wonderfully, pulling nutrients like mad and with roots that hold baby fish. The hyacinth floats, so the roots reach down, whereas the celery roots are at the bottom. Parrots feather has more stringy roots. Babies hide in it quite well. For surface area of roots, go with celery. If you can do hyacinth as well (illegal in some states), you can pull nutrients even faster. Lots of people can send you plants once the season starts. snip Amen brother. -- BV. www.iheartmypond.com |
Punt lava - Go to plants
"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in message . .. Cleaning rock is such a hassle. It only provides surface. Roots work as well and their owners take out other nutrients. Veggie filters are so far ahead of mechanical! We use anacharis, parrots feather, water celery and hyacinth. The celery has wonderful roots at the bottom of the pond that grab everything and can be flushed or just tossed (grows LOTS). Hyacinth grows wonderfully, pulling nutrients like mad and with roots that hold baby fish. The hyacinth floats, so the roots reach down, whereas the celery roots are at the bottom. Parrots feather has more stringy roots. Babies hide in it quite well. For surface area of roots, go with celery. If you can do hyacinth as well (illegal in some states), you can pull nutrients even faster. Lots of people can send you plants once the season starts. snip Amen brother. -- BV. www.iheartmypond.com |
Lava rock cleaning?
Listen.........What's on top of the lava rock? If it's just plain lava rock
and no other type of rock on top, then the clogged lava rock will float to the top eventually being replaced with less unclogged, if its an up-flow type.....You can even get it stirred up a bit and net out the floating pieces....But 50 bags for 1800 gal???????? That's almost a whole pallet of the stuff.....At $3.83 a bag.....Let it go......Don't replace it. Pull out the bottom most clogged stuff, IF their is a flow problem....If not, let it alone....The bacteria will re-generate and help get through the seasonal algae bloom....BTW, string algae grows in a 1 gallon pot sitting in the sun by itself if the conditions are right, so the lava rock has nothing to do with it...What chemicals are you "adding per instruction"? What kind of barley straw are you using? The type made for "ponds" or say, a bale bought at a feed store? Careful with this answer.......You need to get a high school biology book and read it...Everything in your pond is in that book....Such a simple thing..Instead of worrying about formulas, etc, worry about how cold the beer is, or if the 5 visible planets can be seen again tonight....Ma Nature will take care of your pond....Someone in here years ago said "Benevolent neglect is the key to having a clear pond"....So true...Relax man relax....Keep the NG up to date with what you do...I have done what you are about to with one of my test ponds....I wanna match notes so get a notebook on start recording...BTW I use NO chemicals...Just nature is present.... "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
Lava rock cleaning?
Listen.........What's on top of the lava rock? If it's just plain lava rock
and no other type of rock on top, then the clogged lava rock will float to the top eventually being replaced with less unclogged, if its an up-flow type.....You can even get it stirred up a bit and net out the floating pieces....But 50 bags for 1800 gal???????? That's almost a whole pallet of the stuff.....At $3.83 a bag.....Let it go......Don't replace it. Pull out the bottom most clogged stuff, IF their is a flow problem....If not, let it alone....The bacteria will re-generate and help get through the seasonal algae bloom....BTW, string algae grows in a 1 gallon pot sitting in the sun by itself if the conditions are right, so the lava rock has nothing to do with it...What chemicals are you "adding per instruction"? What kind of barley straw are you using? The type made for "ponds" or say, a bale bought at a feed store? Careful with this answer.......You need to get a high school biology book and read it...Everything in your pond is in that book....Such a simple thing..Instead of worrying about formulas, etc, worry about how cold the beer is, or if the 5 visible planets can be seen again tonight....Ma Nature will take care of your pond....Someone in here years ago said "Benevolent neglect is the key to having a clear pond"....So true...Relax man relax....Keep the NG up to date with what you do...I have done what you are about to with one of my test ponds....I wanna match notes so get a notebook on start recording...BTW I use NO chemicals...Just nature is present.... "Tom Wikoff" wrote in message ... With winter in west-central Ohio on the wane, I am nearly ready to begin getting the pond back up and running. This will be the second full year for the pond. It is approximately 1800 gal with a 200 gal. bio-filter. That bio-filter has approx. 50 bags of lava rock. Last summer a young man at the local nursery/water garden outlet advised me to take out and replace the lava rock because of my complaint about string algae. I had never heard of the need to replace this rock and find the thought of the cost of replacing it just a bit hard to swallow. Was that sound advice? Can't the rock be "cleaned" instead. NOTE: I do keep small bales of barley straw in the both the filter and at the waterfall and treat the water with products recommended by the people who sold me the liner, pump and fish (5 to date). The ratio of time I spend maintaining versus enjoying my pond does not set well with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
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