Project Pond has reached 100%!
We have a pond in the back yard that was in quite the bad shape. After years of algae troubles and mainly lack in decent maintenance, I started the pond project when we got home.
First off I started by checking the state of the pond & the systems inside. One of the pumps wasnt working (the high powered one) so I cleaned it out & it works now. Next I checked where the pumps were sending their water & concealed the tubes.. That worked out ok, they re not so obvious now.
Next was the problem that the water is of a murky green. We cant see 10 cm into the water & since its about a meter deep, that means we seldom see any of the pretty fishes inside! I took a water sample & had some tests done.
Results: My water wasnt hard enough & I had a lot of floating algae jazzing up my water!
A wad of Mearl solved the water hardness problem. (or at least I hope it did) Adding the Mearl was quite Bombastic. It looked as if I was pouring white water paint into the water. The water had a slightly different color of green afterwards, but otherwise there were (obviously) no visible consequences
I already knew we needed a filtering system. My dad once started one, but that was plain shit to be honest and it failed soon after. We tried to reconstruct it, but that worked even less and well.. it was about 4 years without that crappy filter. My mom tried to fight the problem the chemical way; but that didnt help. All she managed was to kill off the Sturgeon; no big loss since we never saw the bottom dwelling bastard through the murky green. This did prove to me that I neednt bother with adding crap to the water.
I went to a shop where they did indeed tell me to get a better filter & I read up on the subject. I soon realised that I needed a 2 compartment filter; a chamber where dirt could collect and where the water could be procecced over an UV-C lamp. And a second chamber where a bacterial colony would filter the junk out. I started thinking about desinging such a thing myself, but realised that merely finding a suitable recipient would be quite the task..
So I checked up with the friendly water guy again (Aquariumzaak Normal in Erpe) and after a chat I realised that I d as easilly buy a filter instead of build one. It d be a better thing at a cheaper price (both material as time wise..) I estimated the pond to be a 1m x 1m x 4m water body.. Totalling a nice 4000 liters of water. We talked, checked out the best setup & I left home, quite content and ready to think it all over!
Once home I checked the pond (I was about to do the mearl & needed to be sure of the amount of water) and it turned out to be 7 meters instead of 4, making the water body more around 7500 liters! Quite the difference. I soon realised that this would necessitate a heavier filter and I prepared for the shock 😉 After all, its about double the amount of water & potentially double the amount of fish!
So I returned & told him the news. Judging his reaction, I wasnt too far off in my reasoning. He flipped the catalogue from the “convienient box” type to the “Huge motherfucker” category & we had a look. Luckilly, I didnt need that one and after quite some deliberation, I chose a non presurised model; with exactly the setup I described earlier and gave the man €300. That was steep, but worth it! I decided to give the current pump a try & not to get a new one.. you know; as not to make it a €400 investment!!
Once home I soon discovered some problems! I had a 1.5 cm cable and a 2.5 cm input on the system filter! By then it was after 19hrs so I couldnt run back for help. A 1.5 cm cable to Gardena coupling on the pump.
I went off on a fruitless search in the Brico in Gent, but they didnt have ANYTHING even CLOSE to what could be of any help.. And gardena doesnt make any couplings bigger than 3/4 inches.
Today, I went back to my now favourite Aquarium store and explained the guy the problem. I asked him I would probably buy a new pump unless he had any fresh solutions for me. And thats when he started sticking a 2 to 2.5 cm coupling thing together 🙂 And another €16 later, I was happily driving home 🙂 Once home I still had a small crisis when the cable turned out to be 1.5cm instead of the 2cm I thought it was, but I still had some stuff lying aound and after some frustration, thats now fixed!
So at 20:00 something; I turned on the system, tweaked the throughput to give the filter more throughput & blamo! Baby filled up & started pouring out filtered water 🙂
And now its time for that other countdown, namely the countdown to clear water & being able to actually SEE them fishies 😀 14 days and counting! I cant wait till it ll be clear! How exciting!
I’m glad its all working out! Now that thats over & hopefully done with, I can get to making ourselves a living room again!
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