Filter Size??

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I've been reading and a lot of articles say not to clean them
anymore than you have to.Does that make sense?

Yeah, you need the bacteria build-up in the filter to balance your pond
water biologically - once that is achieved you will have clear water as the
algae bloom has nothing to live on and starves. Ergo when you clean the
media in your filter, you temporarily slow down the biological action in
your filter. I use scotch brite type pads (5 cu ft in a 45 gal barrel) and I
use chlorinated tap water to back flush during the season and to clean the
media for winter storage and have never had a problem even though you keep
reading you can't use tap water for this. I think it is because the pads are
fairly dense and you can't get them completely clean and they get back up to
speed quickly
Gale :~)

You use these pads and and cut them to however size you want and this is
your bio-media? Good idea.
"Gale Pearce" wrote in message
...

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I've been reading and a lot of articles say not to clean them
anymore than you have to.Does that make sense?

Yeah, you need the bacteria build-up in the filter to balance your pond
water biologically - once that is achieved you will have clear water as
the
algae bloom has nothing to live on and starves. Ergo when you clean the
media in your filter, you temporarily slow down the biological action in
your filter. I use scotch brite type pads (5 cu ft in a 45 gal barrel) and
I
use chlorinated tap water to back flush during the season and to clean the
media for winter storage and have never had a problem even though you keep
reading you can't use tap water for this. I think it is because the pads
are
fairly dense and you can't get them completely clean and they get back up
to
speed quickly
Gale :~)

"Gale Pearce" wrote in message
...

every time you notice that your water flow out of the main filter is
retarded a
little (usually about every 3-4 weeks on average), simply pull the
pre-filter
out and clean it Here is a link to a page which describes my filter set
up
(which is similar to yours in function), and shows the details of the
pre-filter. The trick is to prevent detritis from building up in the main
filter, and only allow pre-filtered water to flow through the main filter.
That
way, you are reducing the nutrient load to a level the main filter can
quickly
digest, and won't suck up particles into it that cause it to clog.

http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/filter.htm

Scroll down until you see the pre-filter. I use a commercial pre-filter,
but
you can easily make your own.

Hi George - I find it interesting you have your converted pool filter
submerged in your pond, I had always assumed they would be used as an
out-of-pond filter

It was either that, or redesign the whole thing. Not an option for me because I
don't like the idea of puncturing my liner to run a hose/pipe through it to the
filter. And with the rocks around it, it provides a haven for other critters,
especially fry. And since it really doesn't matter if the filter is in the pond
or outside of it from a filtration standpoint, it was the easier solution.

You use these pads and and cut them to however size you want and this is
your bio-media? Good idea.

Hi Paul - www.grassrootsnursery.com in Michigan sells the pads in 1 cu ft
bags for about $18 - this would be cheaper than buying them in a store
Gale :~)

I don't get this. You see on the shelves in the stores these small boxes
that are capable of filtering a 1,000 gal. pond and people are telling me i
have to build a 50 gal. filter to do the same job. I'm
confused................................
"Gale Pearce" wrote in message
...

You use these pads and and cut them to however size you want and this is
your bio-media? Good idea.

Hi Paul - www.grassrootsnursery.com in Michigan sells the pads in 1 cu ft
bags for about $18 - this would be cheaper than buying them in a store
Gale :~)

On Wed, 25 May 2005 23:19:18 -0400, "Paul" wrote:

I don't get this. You see on the shelves in the stores these small boxes
that are capable of filtering a 1,000 gal. pond and people are telling me i
have to build a 50 gal. filter to do the same job. I'm
confused................................

It's like gas mileage on a car, best conditions, strip model, tail wind, 1
driver, no luggage. Those small filters on the shelf can manage a 1,000
gallon pond, with few fish, lots of plants, shade, etc. What we've found on
rec.ponds, is take the number they give you and divide by 2. So if they
claim 1,000 gallons, it will do 500 gallons. The smaller the filter the
more often you will clean it, who wants to waste time doing that? ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

Paul wrote:

I don't get this. You see on the shelves in the stores these small boxes
that are capable of filtering a 1,000 gal. pond and people are telling me
i have to build a 50 gal. filter to do the same job. I'm
confused................................

What you see in the stores are small boxes that makers _claim_ will filter a
1,000 gallon pond. They're full of S***. And pretty soon, that little
filter box will be too. I guess they work if you're prepared to clean out
the filter material every couple of days (and I bet they expect you to use
disposable materials, rather than cleaning it).

The ones you're being advised to build will require a great deal less
maintenance.
--
derek

I don't get this. You see on the shelves in the stores these small boxes
that are capable of filtering a 1,000 gal. pond and people are telling
me
i have to build a 50 gal. filter to do the same job. I'm
confused................................

What you see in the stores are small boxes that makers _claim_ will filter
a
1,000 gallon pond. They're full of S***. And pretty soon, that little
filter box will be too. I guess they work if you're prepared to clean out
the filter material every couple of days (and I bet they expect you to use
disposable materials, rather than cleaning it).

The ones you're being advised to build will require a great deal less
maintenance.

Couldn't have said it better myself, Derek & Jan :~)))))))))))))))))))))0
Gale :~)

I don't get this. You see on the shelves in the stores these small boxes
that are capable of filtering a 1,000 gal. pond and people are telling me i
have to build a 50 gal. filter to do the same job. I'm
confused................................

Err. Say what job you want to do, with what fish and plants, and so forth.

"Natural approach" is big around here. There's a thing called a "veggie
filter" which is basically a big tank filled up with the most invasive,
fastest growing water weeds one can find (it's no coincidence that many
of the preferred species are on the 100 Most Invasive Species list).

Anyway, the plants "eat" all the excess biomatter.

If you want to read a long history about all this, goto http://groups.google.com,
click on Advanced Search, then put rec.ponds in the groups list, and type
"veggie filter".

For another alternative, goto regular google and type "bog filter" and
read the first page or two of relevant hits.

This one explains it pretty well, though:

http://www.pondsolutions.com/bog_filter.htm

The beauty of both the veggie and bog filter is that they are hidden;
they appear to be natural elements of the pond.

You don't need to buy any premade product at all, by the way. Plain
old PVC will do perfectly well. I think hacking up something like the
clean out vault picture will probably make you happy a few years from
now, though.

C//

Ok, I'm getting the picture..............Thanks
"~ janj JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 May 2005 23:19:18 -0400, "Paul" wrote:

I don't get this. You see on the shelves in the stores these small boxes
that are capable of filtering a 1,000 gal. pond and people are telling me
i
have to build a 50 gal. filter to do the same job. I'm
confused................................

It's like gas mileage on a car, best conditions, strip model, tail wind, 1
driver, no luggage. Those small filters on the shelf can manage a 1,000
gallon pond, with few fish, lots of plants, shade, etc. What we've found
on
rec.ponds, is take the number they give you and divide by 2. So if they
claim 1,000 gallons, it will do 500 gallons. The smaller the filter the
more often you will clean it, who wants to waste time doing that? ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website