Filtration ideas

[John S]

Bradford Angler:

John S

 

I have plants in mine too for a couple of seconds then the carp tear them to pieces, only thing I can seem to grow with any success is the white large lillies (but they are well covered in stones, not pebbles ! at the root end) and my carp are not as big as yours

 

what depth do the general plant grow at ??

The marginal plants (everything except the oxygenating plants and the water lilies) are literally growing at the surface of the pond in baskets or perforated troughs anchored to the pond surround. The water lilies (5-7) are in baskets covered in about 2 inches of gravel/pebbles, and the oxygenating plants were just thrown in and left to sink where they wanted.... Every year we pull out as much of the stuff as we can for the compost bin, knowing there will be enough left in there to populate the pond in just a few weeks (please note - leave the plants at the side of the pond for a day or two to give any wildlife in there the chance to return to the pond).

 

If you keep having problems with the carp uprooting your water lilies, anchor them to the basket (making sure that they cannot be damaged) and place a heavy weight into it. If the carp remove the soil it doesn't really matter, the lily will quickly put loads of roots out of the sides of the basket anyway, and there will be enough nutrients in the silt at the bottom of the pond to keep them thriving happily. In fact, if you keep them in the same basket for more than 4-5 years, you will probably have to cut the basket away from the roots if you don't want to damage the plant itself!

 

Bradford Angler:

 

the other thing I get to grow is water millfoil (parrot weed ?) on my water fall cascade, it looks lovely when it grows out of control (lengths around 8 feet long, takes most of summer) and then it eventually touches the pond and the carp drag it in and devour it too . .

We have the same thing (I think). We also used to have water chestnuts, but then I learned that you can eat them....

 

We also used to have a plant called (I think) a water pineapple (because of the shape of the leaves). It was supposed to sink to the bottom of the pond in cold weather and rise to the surface when it was warm - Yeah right, this is England. I chucked it in and never saw it again

[greg long]

Bradford Angler:

John S

 

I have plants in mine too for a couple of seconds then the carp tear them to pieces, only thing I can seem to grow with any success is the white large lillies (but they are well covered in stones, not pebbles ! at the root end) and my carp are not as big as yours

 

what depth do the general plant grow at ??

 

the other thing I get to grow is water millfoil (parrot weed ?) on my water fall cascade, it looks lovely when it grows out of control (lengths around 8 feet long, takes most of summer) and then it eventually touches the pond and the carp drag it in and devour it too . .

 

maybe I better read that the pellet notes say start feeding when the water temp goes above 10'c eh ??    

 

it is a nice pond I have, but looks so black and uninviting when there is little or no plant life....

Plants grow at all different depths check with the supplier when buying. Especially with lillies as they will not flower well unless at the correct depth. Also remember that with lilies etc. depth is from the crown not the base of the pot.etc.

[John S]

Newt:

John S - could you possibly draw a picture of how you have things set up?  Sounds like a great solution.

Newt (and anyone who's interested), here's the basic plan for our filter system. The plastic strips in the settlement tank are literally the same type used to securely fasten large boxes. The plastic piping was all bought from homebase, but to get a more leakproof connection to the header tanks themselves I used silicon sealant as a 'wet grommet'. The water fills the settlement tank to the level of the pipe, then goes by gravity to the bottom tank.

 

Since one is directly above the other, if I was building it now I would have the downpipe going straight through the centre of the bottom of the settlement tank onto the splash plate....

 

The foam filters need cleaning regularly during the summer, I always use a bucket of pond water to do this in.

 

If anyone has any questions, please ask

 

 

[Newt]

Thanks John.

 

Any way to drain sediment from the sediment tank? And gravity or pump?

 

If pump driven, I sorta like the layout poledark posted and think yours would be most excellent with the sediment tank on bottom and reversing the filters so the coarse one was on bottom. What say you?

[John S]

Newt:

Thanks John.  

 

Any way to drain sediment from the sediment tank?  And gravity or pump?

 

If pump driven, I sorta like the layout poledark posted and think yours would be most excellent with the sediment tank on bottom and reversing the filters so the coarse one was on bottom.  What say you?

The settlement tank can be drained almost completely by removing the inner pipe, however it is not all that efficient - all the more reason for having the pipe coming straight through the bottom of the settlement tank instead. The water arrives at the settlement tank via a pond pump (which also provides a fountain), and returns to the pond by gravity. One thing I did leave out of the diagram was the overflow pipe in the bottom tank. This does not join the main return pipe but runs parallel with it, that way if we see water coming from that pipe we know there is something wrong with the filter (which is btw situated in the shed).

 

I like the idea of a reverse-flow system like poledarks; maybe I'll use that when it's time to rebuild mine....