which filter for suspended clay?

Dear all,
We have a new large-ish wildlife pond, 10m (30 feet or so) roughly circular,
and about 5 feet deep in the middle. We have a problem with the local soil
being heavy red clay- as a result the water is permanently a greyish-brown
colour and water can't penetrate to plants. I've tried floculating chemicals
like "pond clear" but it has little or no effect- I think we would need
gallons and gallons of it for this size of pond. Can anyone suggest a filter
pump that can help us, without affecting the wildlife? If not, then what
filter/pump would clear the water the quickest, that we can run for a short
time before planting up?
Paul D.

"Easynews" wrote in message
m...
Dear all,
We have a new large-ish wildlife pond, 10m (30 feet or so) roughly
circular, and about 5 feet deep in the middle. We have a problem with the
local soil being heavy red clay- as a result the water is permanently a
greyish-brown colour and water can't penetrate to plants. I've tried
floculating chemicals like "pond clear" but it has little or no effect- I
think we would need gallons and gallons of it for this size of pond. Can
anyone suggest a filter pump that can help us, without affecting the
wildlife? If not, then what filter/pump would clear the water the
quickest, that we can run for a short time before planting up?
Paul D.

How new is the pond? Have you given it enough time to settle own it's own?
No mechanical filter is going to be able to strain out the suspended
particles if something is constantly stirring up the pond bottom.

We can assume that your pond is approximately cylinder shaped, we can
estimate that it contains about 3500 cuft of water, or about 26000 gallons.
Further if we assume nothing is churning up the bottom of the pond, and we
used flocculating agents, it would take 21 bottles of pond clear (1 bottle
for about 1200 gal). Not a cost effective solution in my opinion.

I think your best bet is to figure out what is stirring up the pond bottom.
ducks? raccoons? koi? catfish? If nothing is stirring it up, then try this
experiment for giggles:

Fill a bucket with some muddy pond water, set it aside, see how long it
takes for the stuff to settle on it it's own.
There is a formula to calculate the rate at which suspended solids settle
out of water. But I'm too lazy to look it up. So this experiment should be
good enough, for example if it takes 20 hours for water in a 12" bucket to
clear up, it would take 100 hours to settle in 5ft deep water. If you really
want to know the formula, an engineer at your local water or sewer
department would know.

-S

--
"There ought to be limits to freedom," -George W. Bush Nov, 1999

does this pond have a liner? INgrid

"Easynews" wrote:

Dear all,
We have a new large-ish wildlife pond, 10m (30 feet or so) roughly circular,
and about 5 feet deep in the middle. We have a problem with the local soil
being heavy red clay- as a result the water is permanently a greyish-brown
colour and water can't penetrate to plants. I've tried floculating chemicals
like "pond clear" but it has little or no effect- I think we would need
gallons and gallons of it for this size of pond. Can anyone suggest a filter
pump that can help us, without affecting the wildlife? If not, then what
filter/pump would clear the water the quickest, that we can run for a short
time before planting up?
Paul D.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

wrote in message
...
does this pond have a liner? INgrid

"Easynews" wrote:

Dear all,
We have a new large-ish wildlife pond, 10m (30 feet or so) roughly
circular,
and about 5 feet deep in the middle. We have a problem with the local soil
being heavy red clay- as a result the water is permanently a greyish-brown
colour and water can't penetrate to plants. I've tried floculating
chemicals
like "pond clear" but it has little or no effect- I think we would need
gallons and gallons of it for this size of pond. Can anyone suggest a
filter
pump that can help us, without affecting the wildlife? If not, then what
filter/pump would clear the water the quickest, that we can run for a
short
time before planting up?
Paul D.



To give a few more details, the pond was constructed in November last year.
It is butyl lined, with a geotextile top layer, then clay soil. There is
nothing in the pond other than a few water beetles that arrived on their
own. So I'm mystified as to why the suspended clay isn't settling out. We do
live in a windy place and my guess is that wind and rain continually wash
more clay particles into the water. I guess that when the plants start to
grow up around the edges things will improve- but meantime is there a filter
I can use to clear the water?
Paul D.

the kind of filter that works with clay is a settling tank. Clay typically takes
24-48 hours to settle out of water. it forms a colloid with water which is the
problem. a single filter isnt going to do it cause it would clog up, but a series of
2 or 3 will help a lot. first I like the gray stuff here
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/.../5065/cid/1403
next would be this reticulated foam
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...21854/cid/1271
and the last in line is polyester padding, find it at Walmart, get the stuff that
ISNT TREATED for fire resistance or germicidal.
they are going to have to be cleaned out as they fill up with crud. so the filter
will have to be turned off and cleaned away from the pond.
I would suggest a gravity filter using a tall garbage can .. holes in the bottom
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/c...AVITY%20FILTER
use a separate pump to fill the can at a rate it can handle. put largest filter
material at the top, polyester at the bottom.
Using flocculating agents to clump the clay will help, of course.
Ingrid

"Easynews" wrote:
To give a few more details, the pond was constructed in November last year.
It is butyl lined, with a geotextile top layer, then clay soil. There is
nothing in the pond other than a few water beetles that arrived on their
own. So I'm mystified as to why the suspended clay isn't settling out. We do
live in a windy place and my guess is that wind and rain continually wash
more clay particles into the water. I guess that when the plants start to
grow up around the edges things will improve- but meantime is there a filter
I can use to clear the water?
Paul D.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:24:22 GMT, "Easynews" wrote:

Dear all,
We have a new large-ish wildlife pond, 10m (30 feet or so) roughly circular,
and about 5 feet deep in the middle. We have a problem with the local soil
being heavy red clay- as a result the water is permanently a greyish-brown
colour and water can't penetrate to plants. I've tried floculating chemicals
like "pond clear" but it has little or no effect- I think we would need
gallons and gallons of it for this size of pond. Can anyone suggest a filter
pump that can help us, without affecting the wildlife? If not, then what
filter/pump would clear the water the quickest, that we can run for a short
time before planting up?
Paul D.

Go to a pool & spa store where you can buy Alum very cheaply to flocculate.
~ jan

-----------------
(Do you know where your water quality is?)

~ janj wrote:
On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:24:22 GMT, "Easynews" wrote:

Dear all,
We have a new large-ish wildlife pond, 10m (30 feet or so) roughly
circular, and about 5 feet deep in the middle. We have a problem
with the local soil being heavy red clay- as a result the water is
permanently a greyish-brown colour and water can't penetrate to
plants. I've tried floculating chemicals like "pond clear" but it
has little or no effect- I think we would need gallons and gallons
of it for this size of pond. Can anyone suggest a filter pump that
can help us, without affecting the wildlife? If not, then what
filter/pump would clear the water the quickest, that we can run for
a short time before planting up?
Paul D.

Go to a pool & spa store where you can buy Alum very cheaply to
flocculate. ~ jan

-----------------
(Do you know where your water quality is?)

Hi, pardon my ignorance, but can you explain what 'flocculate' is?
TIA
--
ßôyþëtë

"BoyPete" wrote in message
...

Hi, pardon my ignorance, but can you explain what 'flocculate' is?
TIA

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=flocculate

Turbid water is formed by suspended solids. Basically stuff floating around
in the water clouds it up. To improve water clarity, you need the solids to
settle. Alum and other flocculating agents clump to suspended particles and
make them heavier so they settle to the bottom of the pond faster.

-S