Our pond

Hi Freddy,

I think I mentioned somewhere in the "first volume" of this tome, a conversation with experienced koi keepers when I first got into this, twenty-five years ago, that the common phrase amongst most of them was; "If I were going to do it again, I'd do it differently." There's always things you can do to improve your set-up. To be honest though, having looked at what others had done and then made my own decisions, before I started, I would do pretty much the same again.

Whatever system you have and there's some pretty impressive (and pricey) ones on the market now, it's still about achieving the same result. (This is a general comment for anyone daft enough to still be reading this, I'm not suggesting you aren't already aware of it).

Firstly, removing the solids. With mine, the filter pump is at the top of my sump, so the larger solids don't rise that far up in it. Most of the gunge, what there is, usually leaves, stays in the bottom drain and the long 4" connecting pipe to the sump, which gets shot out when the drain is purged.
The open-core foam I use has only had to be changed twice in all that time, it eventually starts to degrade, but with mine it took ten years each time. With foam, the more clogged it gets, the better it works. I never clean it. If I scraped it off now there'd only be a couple of cup-fulls as not much comes up from the sump. It has never got so clogged that the water has risen as far as the overflow. I'm a bit "belt and braces" there, as when I built them I put a 1.5" tank connector between the two top tanks so if one side got blocked the water would flow into the other tank before it rose as high as the overflows. That's never happened.

Secondly, having enough surface area in the medium and having sufficient "dwell time" in there to allow the bacteria to work.

Brushes are ideal as they have a big surface area, but I found flowcore (at the time) so much cheaper. The brushes would be far more efficient, but I wasn't restricted by size. I guess if I used brushes, my filters would only need to be half the size. But I'm of the opinion that you can't have too big a filter.

I would suggest you have some sort of system where you can occasionally drain off the content of the filter to waste. I've some sturdy valves in the 1.5" pipes under the decking in my filter room, connected to the bottom of both the lower tanks. When I drain mine, about three or four times a year an awful lot of dark brown sludge comes out when the level gets down to the bottom. (excellent fertilizer for azeleas, rhodos and camellias). I can also drain my UV filter, the same thing happens there.
Purging the filters doesn't affect their efficiency as I'm refilling with pond water.

My maintenance is restricted to purging the bottom drain once or twice a week in the summer far less in the autumn and spring and not at all in the winter and the draining of the filters and UV as mentioned. That's pretty much it. I give 'em a dose of malachite and formalin when it gets warm enough in the early summer and again seven days later. I do it again at the end of the summer before the water gets too cold for it to work. I don't actually test the water that often. I use these "bar strip" testers that test for everything, but they always come out OK. Our tapwater has a neutral PH.
I do actually constantly "trickle change" the water, but at a very low rate, I've a feed into one of the top filter tanks and I turn on its tap until it will just about maintain a constant dribble. This replaces water loss from the drain purging (about 70 galls a time) and evaporation and I'm happy to see the overflow weeping into the drain outside the kichen.

Edit.

Just to expand on the above this is a shot of the foam in one of the top tanks. There's about three to four square feet of surface area of foam in each and the water falls on it from two spreader bars made from 1.5" pipe in which I've drilled a lot of holes so it is spread evenly across the surface. That's about three years of "gunge," a lot of it will have degraded in that time. The foam is from a three year-old mattress "topper" which became surplus when we bought a "memory foam" replacement. It's about three inches thick. Any foam will do, as long as it is "open cell."



This is the clarity of the water entering back into the pool so the "more clogged the foam gets, the better it works" theory, substantiates this.



I'm not sure if this will be any help to you, but it's pretty much all I can offer.

 

I’ve got round to removing some of next door’s creeper which has invaded our garden over the years.

We had decided that I should renovate the waterfall. This was a compromise, because my wife originally wanted a water feature for the patio. I finally convinced her that it “wouldn’t look right.”….. Well actually…. what I said was…. “I think it’d look naff!” and to get a half-way decent one, it’d cost the best part of £300 or even more. Fortunately she thought about it and agreed.

The waterfall has been inactive for a number of years and only used for a short while on two occasions, as soon after I built it the birds would use it for a bath, their “dirty water” entering the pool. Since then my wife has made other arrangements for them using a large Pyrex meat dish adjacent to the food we put out for them in a bowl on the patio.

Anyway, I’ve ordered a new Oase Start 8500 pump, to replace the ten year-old Oase 5000, as a bigger pump is needed to drive both the waterfall and supply the filter because it has to cope with about a 7ft head of water. Even that was a compromise. Ideally, it could have been more powerful, but I thought 110 watts 24/7 was costly enough. I’ve had to replace two fence panels as they’d been “eaten” by the creeper and purchase quite a few plants to stock the area around the waterfall. Lots of cyclamen as my wife likes them (we’ve many others in the border, which keep multiplying). There’s a photinia fraseri red robin at the back which I'll train up the wires between the panel posts and a skimma jap rubella on one side and I've since taking the photo added a small acer palmatum emerald lace, to trail over the slabs at the head of the waterfall. I’ll encourage that huge euonymus to fill up the gap on the fence to the left.

The waterfall will be turned on by attaching a Hoselock connector at the end of a short length of hose from a new bypass attached to the pump in the sump, to the existing pipe buried in the pool collar which feeds the head of the waterfall…. “as and when required.” It’s all looking a bit “stark” at the moment, but it will soften down over the coming weeks.
I've already assembled the replacement connection for the pump to the socket in the side wall of the sump, which will be connected to the supply pipe to the filter. I hope the arrangement won't foul the standpipe when I fit it in the socket to drain the sump. I had a few unused polypipe connectors but needed to buy a new "sweep bend," just 65p from my usual plumbers merchants.

I do have a "plan B" (you have to don't you?)
If I'm disappointed with the flow from the waterfall I have a spare mains sumersible I could use for it. I could pull the cable through the conduit between the sump and the filter room which carries the cables for the other two pumps, I could either then switch it on from a spare switched socket in there, or connect it to one of the controls that come in under the patio from the lounge, but it's a bit of messing about and would mean I had three pumps in the sump. But there's enough room, so it's an option.

I did for a while have a low voltage submersible feeding the waterfall which I could turn on from the lounge. It was situated under the shrubs to the left which at the time overhung the pool. There's another supply from the garage to the head of the waterfall buried in conduit in the collar. But when that pump packed up I didn’t bother replacing it. Low voltage submersibles with any power are quite expensive and at the time you couldn't see the waterfall from the lounge because of all the shrubs in the bed in front of the pool, but I've reduced their height now. I use that switch function now for another set of garden lights. I’ve bought enough submersibles in my time, around six. They never seemed to last more than two to three years, even those with ceramic bearings and they were all “continuously rated.” until I discovered a report on Oase, although the current one is getting a little tired I can’t fault it. I’ll keep it as a spare.




There are "disguised steps" I built into the collar up to the "platform" at head of the waterfall so I can get to the rockery. Even so I managed to fall in a few months back. The platform came in handy when the other evening my son and I were lifting in the new panel behind it.






I’m avoiding adding up how much all this has cost.

As I know!...... for the money I could have bought…….. a really nice water feature instead!

I'll post some more photos when the pump has arrived and I've got it all up and running.

 

The new pump has arrived, (well pleased with it as it was a successful bid of only £105 on e-Bay). The average internet price is around £180, although the same vendor had another at a “buy it now” price of £160.00. I’ve fitted the connection I made up with the bypass for the waterfall. I’ve not used the supplied Oase “swivelling ball” connector as I know “sweep bends” offer far less resistance to the water. It looks a bit “Heath Robinson,” but the connections are “belt and braces secure.” Some doubtful aquatics stores sometimes try to sell expensive pressure piping and connectors to unsuspecting enthusiasts. These are totally unnecessary as these systems are “open ended” and there’s little pressure to speak of.



Hoover belts attached to the pump casing take the weight of the pump from fixings in the collar of the sump. The rubber suspension will also cut out any noise as there will be little vibration.

I bought a new waterproof cable connector just to be on the safe side. They’re were always a nightmare to assemble. However, the new one once assembled can be easily disconnected as the two halves just screw together. I've ordered two more, one to replace the old one on the sump pump and one for the old Oase 5000, which I'll substitute for the 8500 during the winter when the bubblewrap and the net are over the pool and I won't be running the waterfall, so don't need so much water running through the system. The fish will be sitting on the bottom and will appreciate less water disturbance. The connectors to both pumps are on hooks on the inside lip on the concrete collar of the sump, so always stay clear of the water but will get damp because of the humidity.

It’s all up and running, but there’s no “gushing” from the waterfall, just enough to justify its existence. The supply pipe to the waterfall is restricted considerably by the size of the Hoselock connectors, so I don’t think using another pump will increase the flow by much, as despite the new pump having to lift the water around six or seven feet to the filter, the water through the four 1.5” return pipes are fairly “chucking it out.”

My wife seems happy enough with it, so I’ll leave well alone now, it’s lunch at the local garden centre later, so I’m sure she’ll “move on” to something else.

Edit.

Nah!
I wasn't really happy with it.

I've since removed the two Hoselock connectors in the pipe that supplies the waterfall, because as I mentioned earlier they really impeded the flow, they are more suitable for mains pressure use.
I've substituted a piece of stainless steel pipe I had, which fits over both ends of the hoses perfectly (hmm with the addition of a bit of insulating tape), thus producing more than double the output, almost "gushing!" There's no discernable reduction in water going to the filters.










I've finally completed this by adding a ball valve in the bypass pipe from the pump. The internal diameter of the valve is greater than that of the pipe and there's no reduction in the flow in the waterfall with the ball in the open position, so I'm happy with the result. So now I can turn the waterfall on and off as necessary.
You can see the socket in the bottom of the sump which takes the standpipe when I empty it to purge the drain. The pipe on the right is to the second pump that sits on the bottom of the sump and is connected to the drain and used to remove the purged dirty water.

 

Hiya D/r. Sorry I didn't come back sooner, but I've been rather busy. Thanks for your comprehensive reply, appreciated. Unfortunately, I have very limited space in which to set up my filtration. For this reason, I've decided to go for a sieve, as I've been assured that maintenance isn't too bad. Regarding the build, I've had the hole dug, bottom drain and base laid, and am now up to the last course of blocks. I'll post a thread sometime soon. BTW, the waterfall looks great, so natural looking. I had one in my last pond, it constantly leaked ! :(

Cheers...Freddy.

 

I’ve finally stopped messing with this waterfall. I purchased a new Blagdon 35watt halogen 12volt pool light (through eBay, where else?). It came with a waterproof transformer suitable for outdoor use, a variety of fixings including; a stake, plenty of cable, four coloured filters and a spare bulb. The lamp is completely submersible if it needs to be.
I’ve fixed it on the fence post immediately behind the waterfall. It’ll eventually be screened by the photinia fraseri.

I’ve used “speed fit” pipe to protect the cable, clipped to the concrete fence post and base panel, running from the lamp to the point where a cable from the garage leaves its alkathene protection pipe under the rocks near the Japanese lantern. I’ve used a Blagdon waterproof connector to join the two cables; this has a three-pin plug and socket in each half of the connector, which just screws together and is then water-tight.
The transformer I’ve fixed to the inside garage wall above the sockets for all the garden lighting installations which are controlled by three of the four switches in the lounge.
I’ve plugged the spotlight into a spare socket in one of the lighting supplies. We've now "audible sparkling water" cascading down the waterfall which looks quite attractive at night...... but not for long as it's getting cold!

I’m well impressed with Blagdon pool products; they’re well made and not overly-expensive. I may get another lamp to put on the fence behind the pagoda to shine on it through the black bamboo we’ve ordered to go behind it.
Although she’s supportive, I believe my wife thinks I’m now; “looking for things to do.”
I will be soon changing back to my original lower flow-rate Oase filter pump and shutting down the waterfall as it’s nearly time to float on the protective bubble-wrap and cover the pool with the big net, before the wisteria leaves start to fall.




Sunday 17th October.

I changed the pumps over this morning, with the Blagdon connectors it was a less than five minute job.
The bubble-wrap and net can wait for a bit, although I collected a lot of fallen leaves from next door's silver birches that get blown by the wind and fall in our garden.
None of our wisterias show any signs of being anywhere near shedding and then when they do, the big one on the pool pergola is always the last, because of the residual heat in the water.

 

Looks nice.

 

As it was a warm, dry morning with hardly any wind, I decided to put the net over the pool. I suspend it about a foot above the level of the water by stretching three lengths of garden wire across from each side. This will enable me to float on the bubblewrap protection underneath it when it gets colder. It will also enable me to pull one length back a bit to check on the fish occasionally. The water's a few inches lower than usual as I'd just taken over a 100 galls out when I purged the drain. It will be back to its usual level by this afternoon as I constantly "trickle change" the water by having a feed just "dribbling" water into the system. I can set the level of the pool by adjusting the height of the overflows.



The system can cope with some leaves as they eventually gravitate towards the bottom drain and get removed when the sump is purged.
But it couldn't cope with this lot when they eventually fall.

 

I solved the problem of falling leaves by having the trees removed. Yes it was a bit "much" but the trees were old, had quite a few dead bits, and a general pain, so..........
I still get the odd one blown in by the wind but I now don’t need my frame with wire netting anymore, though I still have it.

But yes, leaves are a pain in the...........

 

Our problem is that our garden is rather "full."

You can see the patio in the first photo, the number of plants in big pots must be similar in number to the extras in some biblical film epic. Not quite, but there's about twenty.

Each year, I drastically reduce the heads on that wisteria, but I'm really only maintaining the status quo.
They are attractive, but the blooms are a pain when they fall, as are the leaves and more so the leaf spines which my garden vac refuses to pick up.
Pruning the unwanted sideshoots which grow several inches overnight, is a never ending job from early summer right through to even now.

But we wouldn't do without it...and the four others we have.

But as I'm sure you know; "if just one leaf falls in a garden, it'll end up in the pond."

 

I guess its true, never tempt fate. Went to the garden I can't see anything, its all covered in leaves. But we don’t have any trees, and guess who didn't put his net down. oh well, 1, 2, 3, 4,...............

 

Net? I should put a net down? ... I reckon I need to put a Chore in my Diary for next year too.

 

Diary? Diary? Don't need one, I'm married!

 

Surely its a Dowry you get when you marry?!

 

I should have been so lucky!