Well Summer is here and I have green soup. Pond size is probably about 800 Gallons, I have two ponds, a smaller one which feeds a larger one. I am in the process of getting more plants and we started the pond not too long ago. Pump has been running 24 hours for the last 2 months, from Jan - Mar, I ran the pump on only during the day. From Oct 2010 - Dec 2010, I ran it 24 hours thru winter.

Pond is concrete based which I have read causes more algae, although what I am seeing is a algae bloom which of course is pretty common.

I have read a UVC is the best way to go, since there are so many choices, can anybody recommend or know what I should be looking at. My concern is I have a 8000 gph pump which a 2" pipe which feeds from a 100 Gallon Skippy Bio Filter. I get quite a lot of sun during the day.

Most clarifiers look like they can handle only 200-800 gpm. I have seen fairly expensive UVC's for about $900 which is way too much and out of my price range.

1. Is a UVC the best way to go ?
2. Should I just wait it out, everything I have read suggests the green pea soup won't go away on it's own.
3. I have a 8gpm house UV which I am not using, I was thinking of temporary using this until I can figure something out.

Thanks

I've got a great diagram and step by step pictures of this filter if you are interested.

Your's Koily, Lorraine

Add lots of plants and have patience. Newly filled ponds need to cycle. You can rig up a temporary shade which will help.

Black pond dye will help too. I use it in my greenhouse pond and water feature without plants.

What about doing a partial water change ?

Your's Koily, Lorraine

Your's Koily, Lorraine

My e-mail address is: koilady@execulink.com

Your's Koily, Lorraine

Problem with buying a UV system is that they so expensive, I have a 8000 gph pump which I pump 50ft uphill, so I estimate it is probably more of a 4000gph which feeds thru a 2" pipe into the top pond ..I still get an impressive flow rate and buying a 4000gph UV is way out of my budget .. I gerry rigged my house hold UV (only 8gpm) to run 10% of the water thru it and allow the remaining to flow out .. i believe it still works, but doesn't do the entire pond.

Regards,

I have tried adding hornwort and water hyacinth and neither seem to be doing especially well - leaves needles falling off the hornwort seems to be adding to the load instead of reducing it.

We have a round concrete pond built in 1940--same time as our house. Size is approximately 6 ft 8" x 6 ft 8" and 21" deep. There's a stacked rock semi-circular retaining wall behind it that rises 54" (75" from bottom of pond) to the top. There's an old spigot at the top of the wall, a small square outlet about halfway between the top and a ledge with a scooped out basin. So, back in the day, we presume water was pumped from the house (we think we've located the pipe but valve is very old and very hard to turn so we haven't tried it for fear of it breaking) to a pipe that runs up the side of the semi-circular retaining wall to the spigot atop the wall over the pond. We assume the water came out of the spigot, splashed in the basin and fell down to the pond below. There's a 20" vertical pipe, about 1.5"' in dia. coming from the bottom of pond to about 2" below the ledge surrounding the pond. We presume it's an overflow drain.
We've never actually seen it in action. Since the water came from the house, should we presume that the pressure to pump the water up to the top came from the house and there was no auxiliary pump or recirculation of the pond water? (Those were the days of "unlimited" resources!)
The good news is the pond is still water tight. The bad news is it fills up with rain water, grows green slime and Mosquitos (we put mosquito dunks in to abate).

Other info: We live in Minneapolis--it's cold! We've let the pond water freeze over winter as well as have drained it in the fall and the snow melt fills it partially with water the next Spring. The pond is in the shade with a few trees nearby--so some leaves fall into pond in the autumn.

Here are our questions:
1. Is anyone familiar with ponds built around this time so we can get a better idea of how the system was set up without ripping up our yard?

2. We don't want to waste water from our house that would end up emptying into the ponds overflow drain, so how should we go about retrofitting this pond? We'd like to have to water fall from the top of the wall as it did originally, but we don't know what condition the plumbing underground and behind the wall is in.

3. What size pump and filter do we need? What brand? We don't want to spend a fortune but also don't want to get a cheap system that has to be replaced in a few years. We don't want fish (unless they eat Mosquitos) but do want plants.

4. How to prevent mosquitos? We have a few resident leopard frogs. We're hoping that having movement in the pond will prevent Mosquitos--but have also heard that one needs more than a few ripples to fully abolish larvae.

5. What is the purpose of the small square outlet in the retaining wall between the top spigot and the splash basin?

6. Anything else we should know?

Thanks for any and all info!

Gretchen

The divine definition of patience is ponding.

(Here's lookin @ you mckool)

OR...empty your wallet, buy a UV & add tons of chemicals & additives on a regular basis. As for me, I prefer patience:)

blessings,
~digger

Running water will eliminate good % of the mosquitos

Look toward a skippy type filter, IMO.

Figure the volume of the pond and then size a pump to turn that volume every hour or very 2 hours.

You'll need electricity to the area for the pump - run a separate circuit and you'll be okay for expansion, ie lighting, for example.

Plumbing - think it through, at least a size larger than you "think" you'll need so if you get pond additcted you won't be re-doing the already. School of hard knocks speaking.

Few thoughts for beginning the process