Yes there is a big difference between a sterilizer and a clarifier. A sterilizer if sized correctly for the pond and the flow rate is correct than it will sterilize the green water so that it will clear. A clarifier if sized correctly with the correct flow may or may not work. A UV clarifier is a term that came about so that UV manufacturers could rate their UV anyway they wanted to. The problem you run into is there is no standard that sterilizers have to meet so some of these do not work. To my knowledge there is only one manufacturer that uses the Bolton standard to rate their UV's. Does this make this UV better than other UV's? I don't know but at least it does conform to a recognized standard and you know that it should work.

How do you determine what wattage to use? Follow the recommendations of the manufacturer of a good sterilizer.
Mike

Thanks, Mike.
Another question. I already have my pond set up, running, plants, fish, koi, and a visiting bullfrog. It is a basic set-up with the filterfalls at one end, tubing going around to the other end to the skimmer in which , is the pump.
In looking at the pictures, there is an intake and output thingy. How and where do I hook a sterilizer up? Would this mean having to undo the plumbing to add a sterilizer? Does anyone make one where it can just be placed in pond separate from main pump and plumbing? If so, how would one do that?
Thanks, Vickie

Vickie,
Yes there are several companies that make UV's that can go in pond. Some come with their own pump so you just plug them in. But I do not like the idea of putting an electrical devise in the pond. The easiest way is a UV that is out of the pond with it's own pump. This way you can easily put the UV anywhere you want to. You didn't say how many gallons your pond is?
Mike

It is right around 1100-1200 gallons. I don't know the exact gallonage. It is slightly oval, but not square either.
Here's a pic showing whole pond earlier after it was built
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Thanks.

Vickie,
What are the dimensions of the pond with depth?
Mike

It is 9 by 11 and 2 feet deep.

Savio makes a UV that goes into the skimmer box, you can actually install two of them if you like, and this makes it easy for removing when necessary. I have one and I like it very much.

The buried ones either have to be put in a buried box or buried in the ground. They're usually "in-line" types that would be placed between the pump and some type of discharge feature.

Vicki,
I would say that the pond has about 800 gallons so if I was to put a UV on it I would look for a sterilizer that will handle a 1000 gallon pond. Why do you want a UV?

Pondbucket,
I do not know if you know this or not but I know of two skimmers that have caught fire with Savio UV's. One burned bad enough that it caught the deck on fire that the skimmer was set into. Luckily the homeowner caught it before it burned the house down. Both of these UV's were ones that were made after Savio UV recall. If I were to use a UV in Savio skimmer it would be the Emperor Aquatics UV for the Savio skimmer.
Mike

Mike,
It is just something I have been thinking about, especially since I have green water. The only thing is, my pond is only about 6 weeks old, so it may just be a natural thing it's going through, and may clear up on its own. I haven't been able to find anything else that would help clear the water without having to resort to chemicals, which I really prefer not to do. One thing about living here, is it is hot ALOT, high 90's to 100's for a few months and that may be a problem. But, that said, I'm still a newbie. :)

The first thing I always tell customers is to try water Hyacinth first if they are willing to wait a few while they start to grow. Once they start to grow they usually will clear the water.
Mike

I have about 20 WH and 30 WL and 3 bunches of parrots feather in the pond now. Plus, 4 different taros, a dwarf papyrus, and pennywort along the shelves. They have all been in there for about 3 weeks. The WH and WL don't look too great and I am not sure why. I think I might wait a while before doing anything drastic. It's not like its an emergency, as the ph is good and the goldies and koi look to be happy and healthy. I am just being slightly wacky, wanting water to be clearer. I know that some algae in the pond is good anyway. Thanks for all your help, I appreciate it.

Vickie,
Is the WH in the pond? If they are the fish are eating the roots and that could be why they don't look good. Try putting some up in the waterfall box. Use a wire or string across the front to keep them from blocking the flow out. They should grow great.
Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the heads up with the EA UV for the Savio. I know you've had a lot of trouble with the UVs so I'm sure you know all about them. My Savio is post-recall and I've had tremendous results with it, running it only a week here and there at times. I'm sure if a homeowner truly had a problem with a Savio UV, post recall, that this would make for a nice lawsuit. It would be hard for me to imagine a better setup for a UV than the private chamber utilized in the side of the Savio skimmer. It is just a nice design - and it works for me. I'll look into the EA UV unit when it becomes time to replace my bulb/lamp.

Vickie,
I feel I'm right ahead of you on your issues since you're doing roughly the same thing I did last summer, and we are using some of the same equipment.

You are correct in thinking that our climate and setups are going to be perfect for all kinds of algae growth. We'll get algae early in the year, pre-spring for sure when nothing else is growing and the water temp is cool. Then because it is a new pond you'll have the algae out competing the young, small plants you pot in both your bio-falls and pond. It will take weeks for the bio-filter we have to even come close to doing a job on the extra nutrients our water has... and it still won't keep up except once you get tons of submerged or floating aquatic plants established.

Mikes recommendation on WH is a good one but unlike him I wouldn't worry too much about the fish mixing w/ the WH because with that size bio-falls you're going to need all the extra filtration you can muster!

I would put them everywhere you can, or are wiling to accept, and then fertilize them the way drh1 recommends, search stump remover - I use Gordon's, because last year without it my new pond only did so-so with the WH and I think it was because they didn't have any extra help. This year with David's (drh1) recommendation of a tspn a week they are absolutely thriving with big long floating roots (filtering).

Now even though I seeded my biofalls media with Microbe-Lift several times last year I was still having some green water. It went pea-soup green about six days after the initial filling. Then it went CLEAR overnight about six days later. But because my bio-falls box, same as yours, isn't so big and the plants outside of it not so established I started to get a little green water again and some string algae on my stream and rocky areas.

I got the Savio UV from www.practicalgardenponds.com and added it to my skimmer box and it really did well, for me. I still battle the string algae but I'm resigned to that fact since it is largely a problem of lack of fine filtration. I've changed out my filter media (was lava rocks) in my bio-falls a couple of weeks ago, going to Springflo media instead (started over on the biofiltering as a result). I'm cleaning my prefilter in my skimmer more often, sometimes when I add H202 or stir-up the mulm in the pond I'm cleaning the pre-filter twice daily, just depends.

I also added some activated charcoal to the skimmer box recently.

Because I was trying to get a hold of the string algae problem I may have had more and more mulm accumulating on the bottom of my pond, or maybe even having some of it become suspended in my water and floating; so, I did add a Pondcare product known as Accu-Clear to help bind the small particles together and I think that has helped with filtration and water clarity.

I'm just hoping that with a couple of good sweep-outs of my pond, yes sweep as in using a broom, I hope I can get ahead of the detritus that accumulates. And I have to say, I fear for you in as much as I see you have installed a rock bottom to the pond. I know there are many that do but I would be too worried that this is going to make maintenance tougher.

I think that it is smart that you stay proactive with insisting on relatively clear water because having particulates and other growths floating around makes it harder to get back to that CLEAN SLATE look you started with in the beginning.

Good Luck, I hope that some of this information can be used to your advantage.

I'm having some barley straw shipped to me next week. I know it doesn't clear what is already there, but maybe it will help stop more later.
I am currently in the process of clearing out all the rocks from the bottom. After everything settles a little, I will be getting the rest out. I had read some posts re: river rocks in bottom AFTER I had put them in. Fortunately, I didn't have very much as I had ran out. I haven't found any Activated Charcoal around here yet. The only thing I've been able to find, are those little filters with AC that go into home aquariums.
I didn't think of putting WH in filterfalls. I will try that. I had thought of adding the pennywort, but the root system already looks wild and I'd be afraid I have a mess in there before long. Can pennywort be potted up? I had also wondered about adding a couple more layers of filter pads in the bottom of the falls, with one finer than the other, finest on top as it is an upflow type. Would that be a good idea? If so, what filters would you recommend?
Thanks very much for all of the replies.

pondbucket,
I do not know how many of the Savio units have had a problem. I have seen pictures of two that did have a problem and it is clear that the skimmers actually caught fire. Both of these units were located in the southeast of the US. Both caught fire within a few weeks of each other in the late fall early winter. It would not surprise me that it had something to do with the weather conditions and so on. But their units are not UL approved but that really doesn't mean that much. I like the idea of putting a UV in the skimmer but the problem is trying to control the water flow around the UV. It would be nice if they had a better way to control how much water flows past the UV.

Vickie,
I do not believe that barley straw is going to do much for your green water and it may cause it to stay green longer. I know as soon as I say this that I am going to have people jumping up and down but I am going say it anyway. Most new ponds would do better if pond owners would add string algae shortly after the pond is up and going. Once the string algae gets going it is going to keep the water clear. What are the down side of string algae? People don't like the look of the algae. It can grow very quickly. But even you don't plant it you will have string algae growing for a number of years until the pond develops the right bacteria to control it. In my area that takes about 4 years.
I can't say much about Pennywort as I do not know that much about it. As far as adding more layers or different layers of filter mats to the biofalls I would not. First lets talk a little about most biofalls. The way they are designed the pads are suppose to grow bacteria but in use they grow very little. As the pads start to grow bacteria inside them the pads start to clog up and the water is forced to flow around the pad to get out of the biofalls. Since the water is flowing around the sides of the pads there is no O2 or Ammonia getting to the inside of the pad and that bacteria dies back. So the only filtration that you get is the bottom surface of the pad, the sides of the pad and some of the top surface of the pad. That is why adding a properly designed filter to a pond can make a big difference. Adding a media such as shredded PVC under the pads of a biofalls can make a big difference. But your pond is so new that I think if you just give it some more time it will clear.
Mike

Mike, another silly question for you. I have added beneficial bacteria. Can you actually see the build up of the good bacteria in the pads? Inside the pad of the falls, there are brownish blobs of ?? in several spots and I just wondered if that was something that needed to be washed out or if its the good stuff?
Pondbucket, thanks for all your info too. It is nice to talk to those who have similar weather to mine. Makes it easier to explain the type of weather I live in.