'Veggie' Filter

I need some information on what a 'veggie filter' should be. Some say that
the surface area should be 10 - 20% of your pond. Others say that it should
be 10 - 20% of the pond volume. Which is correct.
Also some say not to use lava rocks, others say it's okay.
What about water flow? How many gph should it have?
Should the pond water enter from the top or the bottom?

Here is what I think I am going to do:
Pond size = 1600 gallons
'Veggie Filter' = 225 gallons (2x10x1.5)
GPH Flow = 400
Pond water will enter from the bottom and cascade out the top like a
waterfall.

Will this work?

Don't use lava rock.
The veggie filter will catch 'gunk' and the lava rock will be very hard to
clean.

My veggie filter is as simple as floating water hyacinths at the top of my
upflow mech/bio filter.
Things grow like crazy and I have to watch they don't plug the outlet.

Bonnie has a good veggie filter and pictures.
So does BV. Hope they catch this and post their
plans.


k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

I use lava rock and love it but maybe not in the way that you are referring
to. I put my waterfall pump in a bucket (black 5 gallon) and then filled it
with lava rock. The water from the pump goes from my main pond into the
veggie tank (that overflows into the upper pond that then overflows into the
main pond. I never really clean the "filter" during the season. This
spring for other reasons I emptied the bucket out, rinse it out with pond
water, put the pump and rocks back in and start it up (I did rinse off the
really gunky rocks in pond water but not too much... that is where the good
stuff thrives I always thought). Really the only maintainence I do on my
pond is getting in to play (move rocks, plants, make asethic changes). I
hated the filter system that came with the kit that got me started and
almost gave up on ponding because of it. I had to rinse it at least twice a
week at the time to keep the water flowing (I didn't know about veggie
filters then). It was here that I heard about using lava rocks.

"K30a" wrote in message
...

Don't use lava rock.
The veggie filter will catch 'gunk' and the lava rock will be very hard to
clean.

My veggie filter is as simple as floating water hyacinths at the top of my
upflow mech/bio filter.
Things grow like crazy and I have to watch they don't plug the outlet.

Bonnie has a good veggie filter and pictures.
So does BV. Hope they catch this and post their
plans.


k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

). It was here that I heard about using lava rocks.


I have been using lava rocks in my veggie filters for almost 10 years, and
still love them. I only clean the gunk off the bottom and the rock every 2
years, and the main ponds every 5 years.....this is my only sorce of filter
Jerri

http://www.fringeweb.com/Ponds/JerrisPond

My guess is that I heard the advice from you so if I didn't thank you then,
I thank you now. It really has made the pond care free.
DKat

"Jerrispond" wrote in message
...
). It was here that I heard about using lava rocks.


I have been using lava rocks in my veggie filters for almost 10 years, and
still love them. I only clean the gunk off the bottom and the rock every
2
years, and the main ponds every 5 years.....this is my only sorce of
filter
Jerri


http://www.fringeweb.com/Ponds/JerrisPond

another one
http://www.fuerjefe.com

K30a wrote:
Don't use lava rock.
The veggie filter will catch 'gunk' and the lava rock will be very hard to
clean.

My veggie filter is as simple as floating water hyacinths at the top of my
upflow mech/bio filter.
Things grow like crazy and I have to watch they don't plug the outlet.

Bonnie has a good veggie filter and pictures.
So does BV. Hope they catch this and post their
plans.


k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

"K30a" wrote in message
...

Don't use lava rock.
The veggie filter will catch 'gunk' and the lava rock will be very hard to
clean.

My veggie filter is as simple as floating water hyacinths at the top of my
upflow mech/bio filter.
Things grow like crazy and I have to watch they don't plug the outlet.

Bonnie has a good veggie filter and pictures.
So does BV. Hope they catch this and post their
plans.

One of these days, I'll post pictures...but not until the construction is
done. The area looks like $#^@& right now. Here is a synopsis though.

I have approx. a 3000 gallon pond, with a bottom drain. The bottom drain
empties into the VF, so my VF us gravity fed. My VF was unfortunately built
uphill from the pond, so I had a lot of liner showing. To resolve this, I
built a sandbag wall covered in stone across the VF. So water gravity feeds
to the lower VF, which contains water iris. A 1000GPH pump pushes water to
the otherside of the wall in the VF, which rises up, hides my liner, and
then overflows to a stream which flows back into the main pond. As this was
an afterthought, I also have a 4'' PVC pipe that runs under the stream. A
small amount of water flows through there.

In my upper VF, I have nothing but Water Hyacinth. They are massive now, and
my water (when I STOP MESSING WITH THE DAMN POND) is gin clear. The roots of
the WH are constantly coated in muck, and periodic squeeze (away from the
pond) of the roots, will remove tons of goo from the pond itself. The
multi-level VF, also helps with settleage.

Does that help?

BV.

BenignVanilla wrote:

"K30a" wrote in message
...

Don't use lava rock.
The veggie filter will catch 'gunk' and the lava rock will be very hard to
clean.

My veggie filter is as simple as floating water hyacinths at the top of my
upflow mech/bio filter.
Things grow like crazy and I have to watch they don't plug the outlet.

Bonnie has a good veggie filter and pictures.
So does BV. Hope they catch this and post their
plans.


One of these days, I'll post pictures...but not until the construction is
done. The area looks like $#^@& right now. Here is a synopsis though.

I have approx. a 3000 gallon pond, with a bottom drain. The bottom drain
empties into the VF, so my VF us gravity fed. My VF was unfortunately built
uphill from the pond, so I had a lot of liner showing. To resolve this, I
built a sandbag wall covered in stone across the VF. So water gravity feeds
to the lower VF, which contains water iris. A 1000GPH pump pushes water to
the otherside of the wall in the VF, which rises up, hides my liner, and
then overflows to a stream which flows back into the main pond. As this was
an afterthought, I also have a 4'' PVC pipe that runs under the stream. A
small amount of water flows through there.

In my upper VF, I have nothing but Water Hyacinth. They are massive now, and
my water (when I STOP MESSING WITH THE DAMN POND) is gin clear. The roots of
the WH are constantly coated in muck, and periodic squeeze (away from the
pond) of the roots, will remove tons of goo from the pond itself. The
multi-level VF, also helps with settleage.

Does that help?

Just curious; with a bottom drain into the lower VF, what happens if the
power or the pump goes out?

DT

"dt" wrote in message
...
snip
Just curious; with a bottom drain into the lower VF, what happens if the
power or the pump goes out?

I lose circulation, and potentially my main pond would overflow about 1/2-1
inch of water as the bigger VF area drains down into the lower. I used to
have a check valve in place at the in-flow of the VF, but I recently took it
out.

BV.

On Fri, 3 Oct 2003 17:35:24 -0400, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:

I lose circulation, and potentially my main pond would overflow about 1/2-1
inch of water as the bigger VF area drains down into the lower. I used to
have a check valve in place at the in-flow of the VF, but I recently took it
out.

My pump picks up from the filter, fed by the bottom drain and pumps to
the VF.
I drilled a 5/32" hole in the inlet pipe at about a 45 degree angle
to the flow just above the waterline of the VF. Works like a ventura
and allows a bit of air to enter the flow of water while the pump is
running and stops the siphon/backflow when the pump shuts down. I
have 1 1/2" black plastic pipe and 1800gph pump.

Regards,

Hal