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Ponds & Aquatic Plants

rock / no rock, pool filter / no pool filter

8 years ago

I've had ponds for many years, mostly in the 12-1500 gal. range. I've tried to make what ever I could to help filter the water. I see all the comments on rock on the bottom and the fact it collects gunk and is not good for the fish. I have always had no rock on the bottom of the ponds and there was always stuff that collected down there. This last build I decided to do it with 1/2" size gravel all over the bottom and shelf's. Looked good when I filled it then added my fish, overtime the water came back to the green cloud we all know. So I read as much as I could find on pool sandfilter adaptations for the pond. Ended up with a homemade skimmer feeding into 4- 4"wide brushes then to a pump rated about 1200 gph. From there it feeds to another pump ( pool cartridge filter setup w/ no filter ) then to the UV lamp and into a rescued pool sand filter filled with poly strapping. Packed as much as possible in there. Now to the rock filled waterfall spillway. In the second day it was going from the green cloud to clearing up, after a week and ahalf I can see the bottom ( 2.5' ) down. You know what I realized after watching the fish for hours, they clean the gravel bottom and move it around.

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Comments (3)

giadess
8 years ago
Yep, as long as it's not too deep for the fish to turn it all over, it's good. Problem people have with rock bottom is when they use larger river rock that can't be overturned and the space becomes anaerobic. Looks like you have a winner!
lmjk1221
8 years ago
EXACTLY! "Rock bottom" and "gravel bottom" - two totally different animals! But people lump them together and say NEVER put rock of any kind on your pond floor. A shallow layer of gravel is never going to collect any more "gunk" than, as you said, a bare bottom pond. It's easy to scoop, easy to swish around and the fish definitely pick through the gravel and find things that interest them. Plus LOTS of people who are way smarter than me will tell you that the gravel provides more surface area for the beneficial bacteria to cling to and grow in your pond. The more the merrier!
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Marlene, the filter will work in the sense it will remove turbidity - just as it did for a swimming pool. However, whether or not you replace the sand with new sand won't matter in the long run. First, the pressure drop across the sand bed is high (compared to biological filters and other systems often used for ponds) which requires a much higher horsepower pump to operate. Second, the filter will plug rather rapidly requiring frequent backwashing possibly more than once a day. Back in the days when we had a swimming pool I remember that the amount of water to backwash the filter properly required quite a few gallons. You could redesign the system to use things such as bioballs, etc. but the inconvenience for access, the problems of rebuilding....I guess I'd use something else. You could put it out by the pond, take the top half off and use it as trickle tower (fill with loose, plastic straps or other biofilter media and let water flow over the top of the media and out the bottom of the unit back into the pond - if you want a nice, shiny art-object out by the pond. :-) ---David
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brittanyhope18
8 years ago
Hi, hope your pond is going swimmingly ;) I plan on making a pond soon for my fish bowl gold fish and was curious as to how much your filter and the whole get up costs? I'd appreciate a ball park figure if you don't mind? Thank you! :)

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