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| Name: Dana G | Date: May 29th, 2007 5:39 PM |
| I'm pretty sure it was you who said they made their own too..... ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 30th, 2007 1:23 AM |
| ‹(•¿•)› ↑ |
| Name: Layne | Date: May 30th, 2007 3:39 AM |
| hi maxie where ever you are... ↑ |
| Name: Irene | Date: May 30th, 2007 4:32 AM |
| Yes Dana, it was, Maxie is our Gardener in BC, She is Awesome, and I miss her, Maxiiiiiiiiiiiie hun I miss you xxx ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 30th, 2007 4:56 PM |
| Maxie....you get lost in your garden???? Thanks Irene :) Also Maxie, do you have a pond skimmer ? and if so did you make it too? I was looking on how to make them and they look quite complicated! THANKS ♥ ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 30th, 2007 7:27 PM |
| sniffle...sniffle.....Maxie hates me : *( ↑ |
| Name: maxieellis | Date: May 31st, 2007 5:05 AM |
| Wow! Freak me out, lol.....havent been around in days. I look and here i find me name?! ....oooooooooh, long story....none of it good...has to do with my pop...he is not doing well. *shrugs* dont know girls......dont know. Ok.....dana......um well, i would suggest instead of lava rock you use charcoal. Ya know, the kind you buy for aquariums. Then, on top of that, .....yup a scratchie.....(scoth brite pad, but much thicker type of media) which you can purchase at a good Pond and Garden center. Over that, just yes.....old window screen will do.....with a reusable snap tie. The big........thick.....snap ties, you have to pinch back the tab that secures it in place, then pull the tie back through to loosen, in order to well clean the media and the charcoal. They recommend what?, if i recall correctly, like every two weeks.....if you pond is crystal clear.....not necessary. I do mine every month. The charcoal provides oxygen for the fish....as well as, serves as, an excellent form of different media. Lava rock.... I dont think that will work for any "specific" reason. If you have finely ground it....well not toooooooo fine....but smashed it with a hammer lets say....into small "charcoal" size pieces.....i am sure that it will "aid" the filter process......but if its large chunks as we normally purchase it, no its not going to help in any respect. I use charcoal.....as its, "small bits",this is what you want for any form of filtration. It provides oxygen.....and i find that oxygenaters, just seem to make a mess out of the pond. Some, well lots actually, are very invasive....so i dispense with them.......though do indeed have, plants in there.....marginal and deep water aquatics...but thats it. I cant recall for certain if you found out how many gallons your pond was........but trick is....when you put a pump in the container......it needs to circulate the equal amount of water per water as your pond holds. Eg: 100 gallon pond......100 gallon per hour pump. Heres my way to do this. -Empty Tupperware container. For about a 100 gallon tank....tupperwear should be...about, 1.5 inches deep. 8x8 square. 200 gallons, double it, etc.. -Notch out a place, just big enough for the cord of the pump...to fit nicely into....on the side of the Tupperware container, the "rim" itself. Why....it helps when you tighten the snap tie.....and closes better. -Set pump in the center. -Attach tube to pump....at least 3.5- 4" long. -One, one pound bag, of WELL rinsed charcoal....poured all around the pump. -Cut hole in center of your media (the scotch brite pad type of stuff) place well fitted into all corners of container over charcoal. (hole was for the tube from pipe) -Put screen over top of all. - Snap tie around (UNDER rim of container) tighten. TA DA!!!!!!!! Pond Skimmer......humm well if you mean something to remove stuff like leaves, pine needles that sort of thing floating around......i use a dollar store butterfly net. Works great! The long bamboo pole type for kids, they sell them right now actually. Two bux lol! Hope this helped. No i dont hate you lol. ↑ |
| Name: Dawn C. | Date: May 31st, 2007 5:11 AM |
| MAXIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! ↑ |
| Name: maxieellis | Date: May 31st, 2007 5:12 AM |
| wow....maybe i should have left this till morning lol...its late and been a rough few days. Ok.......*should pump per hour ~equal to~ the amount of water you pond holds. 100 gallon pond......100 gallon per hour pump. Second. Hole in your scotch brite media.....is for......the tube from the PUMP......noooot...pipe. lololol. ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 31st, 2007 11:27 AM |
| Thank you !!!!!!! Thank you !!!!!!!!! Thank you !!!!!!!!!! That really helped, guess I'll be redoing it a bit....scotch brite, good idea.....I have a big pump so I should be pushing plenty of water, I also use the overflow for my waterfall. (about 1,000 gallon pond) I was using quilt batting too, I clean it a lot, but it already made my pond clearer....I can see my fish when on the bottom, which I couldn't do since I opened my pond......My plants are in a swamp filter to the side of my pond, where I have a small pump pushing water through, I have koi so they destroy ANY and ALL plants in my pond, I do have a water lilly in the pond now, but they eat it too : (......had to try though..... Sorry your pop isin't doing well.....Hope everything turns out alright. .....BIG thanks again, really appreciated it.....the skimmer was more for my sister, she tends to get a scum on the top of her pond every so often, not sure what from. I thought it might help her out.....I do use a net...lol....I'll post a pic when I get my pond all nice and clear.....lol.....and if I can't get it clear, well you can see my dirty pond! ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 31st, 2007 11:44 AM |
| Sorry more questions..... I was googling for activated charcoal and can't find a site to buy it, well I found one for 18lbs $179, didn't really want to spent that......where do you purchase it in bulk ? And is that about how much it does cost???? ↑ |
| Name: maxieellis | Date: May 31st, 2007 3:17 PM |
| Well humm......you got a bigin lol......huge pond! 1000 gallons thats a really good size! That will be the next one that goes in around here. So lets see. You need a container like a big 12x12 cake, tupperwear container. They are also much deeper than 1.5 inches which is what you want. Dana.....i dont know where you are.....but i strongely recommend you take a trip to say even Home Depot....or look up a good Pond and Garden Center in your area. I know home depot sells the rubber pond liner. The felt for underneath but i dont recall if they sell filer media. I doubt it as they sell pond pumps and filters complete......but double check. I got mine from a place around here called Tripple Tree....i will look up the site (if they have one) and see if i can post a link to a picture of the scoth brite type stuff i use. That place is just a huge very very good Garden Center. The also specialize in ponds........and all that you need to do one. Big or small. I am sure there has got to be one in your area. The reason i push this........is because.....often (i know lol cuz i tried in the begining) materials left in the pond for a long time........will just break down. They dont have the "last" in them. So for 18 dollars a linier foot....it was worth it......and i still have some. The charcoal....yeah in bulk.....dont i know it......hard to find. I even went to petCetera and so on to look for it..........so far NOPE. For mine as it is just a small pond.....both are i got away with small packages. You may have to purchase about six of those to do your pond. I would use at least six.....maybe eight. The cost for a one pound bag here.......this is Canada remember....is about 7-9 dollars. Depending upon where you buy it. They also come in cartons. Like milk cartons (the paper type that is) and a smidgie bit more expensive.......but still.....in the end......its what you really need. So Pond shop or Pet shop you should be able to locate the six to eight bags you need. Scum on pond hummm.........i dont know. I think you mentioned this before.......and said its in the sun.....which makes no sence as it then should be clear. The sun burns off all algie you do need to help it along by scooping it out come the spring but the rest of the job is done by the sun. So if in fact its in the sun......i dont follow why its got that. Does she have a pond filter........does she clean it.......frequently enough also.......all may play a role in this. Good luck to you. i will go look for the site and pic when i get home from taking my daughter to school. ↑ |
| Name: maxieellis | Date: May 31st, 2007 3:45 PM |
| Found you a site.......looks very informative. The TriPle Tree site didnt work out. The dont show any pics. This one now, if you go to the page on this link..........and just scoll down....there in the middle of the page is the diffrent media....pic of, and the white one is the one i use. You can get, very elaborate but i dont think it necessary for either of our two type and size of ponds. What i am doing......will work well for you also. Inexpensive when you consider that a store bought one, the size you need in particular would cost hundreds of dollars.....literally. Check out the site and the pic......you will find all sorts of info there as well as.....perhaps an answer to the pond scum issue for your sister. http://www.emperoraquatics.com/pondmedia.php ↑ |
| Name: maxieellis | Date: May 31st, 2007 4:26 PM |
| early when i wrote the first post. Um....just thinking......1000 gallons........use for sure eight to ten one pound bags.....that would do perfect. Just cover with the other media and screen and man.......i kid you not in a few hours ....wont take long...your pond will be sparkling clean! For now until you locate the "white" media shown in the pic i use....continue to use the batting. But do check it often enough......i have a feeling it will start to break down........and you DO NOT want it to sort of mix up.........broken down into mushy bits.......into your charcoal. That will just wreck it. How do you clean it? I take mine out of the pond. Remove the snap tie. take off the white media and place it in water FROM the pond........must be water from the pond. Let it stand in there....until you complete the rest. You need a TINY hole strainer. Any dollar store (if you dont have one) will carry it. TINY........as you dont want the bits of charcoal that are smaller all running through the strainer holes........and losing it. Dump in the strainer all the charcoal. Use a small pitcher or bucket to use pond water to run over the charcoal. Repeat and move around the charcoal until water runs clear. Replace in Tupperware container, around pump. Be sure to unplug your pump. Never run a pump dry. Take the white media out of the water. Squeeze off excess water. Get clean water again from pond and put the media back in. Squeeze and move around in the water like you are cleaning a dish cloth. Remove from water and squeeze out excess. Repeat with one new bucket of water......until you see it looks a little closer to the original color. YOU NEED to keep it wet. you NEED to use pond water. You DO NOT want to remove All the wee worms and such you see in it. They AID the pond. You simply want to remove the silt that collects on that media. Replace all............put the screen back on........snap tie......back in water. Note: when you remove this.......or turn pump off, before removing from pond.....it will stir up the pond silt.....or silt from the filter. No big deal. It happens. Once you put the clean pond filter back in......in no time all that is crystal clear .....again. ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 31st, 2007 6:13 PM |
| Well I checked the site you mentioned, now I know what you mean for the media filling, lol.....definitly I had the wrong idea before! hhhmmmm....they look kinda like legos, and I got thousands of those puppies...wonder if they would work? I have seen those white things somewhere, but I can't remember where, I may have to check around to pond places I've been, most places just want you to buy there systems....well I've seen systems for $1000 or more, and I love my pond, but hey my family does have to eat! I can buy the milk carton container charcoal at Wal Mart, quite expensive, might have to just buy a tub when I go every time, and slowly replace my lave rock....it's $6 for a small (not even 1 quart container) I didn't know you had to clean it out with pond water, thanks there....I've been using just clean well water, will have to stop doing that I guess.....I'm still learning as I go, I tend to jump into things, and learn the hard way...lol....sometimes thats more fun though, but my pond is already 100x better than it was last week! :) I have my filter system outside of my pond, the pump is in the pond, and I have the hose from my pump running to the bottom of my container.... http://www.blondieswebdesi gns.com/water_garden/filter/biofilter5.html this is the site I got the idea from for my filter, I like not having to stir up my pond when I clean out the filter, I used a large garbage can from Wal Mart, plastic. Before I just had a filter wrapped around y pump, I was constantly cleaning it and it made a bigger mess when I did in my pond than it was worth. Well my pond isin't where I would like it, but here is a pic of it now, and LOOK closely and you can see some of my koi !!!! YEA !!!! I'm just happy about that! LOL http://i160.photobucket.com/a lbums/t177/DanaLG27/fish001.jpg I really appreciate the info, you'll never know how much! BIG THANKS!!! So far besides the fish and the the filter system I just made I have no money in my pond, I did it all for free....I had a friend of my brother in laws give us the liner, my parents live in the mountain so I hauled in all the mountain rocks, well ok...hubby did that!....and my father in law gave us his pump when he purchased a new one. So we've been very fortunate there, I know some who spend thousands getting their pond up and running, and I have a fabulous koi lady who is always giving me free small ones when I buy a fish....by the way, were in Pennsylvania. So do you have koi in your pond? How big is it? ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 31st, 2007 6:16 PM |
| .....and over this last winter I was out there everyday making sure I had an air whole in the ice, what do you do over winter? I didn't lose one fish so I guess my method worked, but I busted my butt off and on really cold days I was almost afraid to go somewhere, I'm thinking pond heater next winter? I heard some of those can burn your fish though and stress them? My mom left her pump running all winter so the water never froze, but I heard that can ruin your pump too......sorry about all the questions, just wondering what you do? ↑ |
| Name: maxieellis | Date: May 31st, 2007 8:40 PM |
| Hey Dana.....saw both pics. Your pond.........lovely!! The filter system......works equally as well. Yours will do very nicely no doubt. I cant see your filter system in the pic.....so i presume its hidden. Thats the only thing i didnt care for with one being outside the pond.....ya see it. Or, need to make it a little house or something???? and keep it quiet. When we do the big fall and stream the pond will be pretty big actually........so i have then to consider what you have just done. One outside the pond. Just to heavy to lift out when i will need to clean it. So.......thank YOU,,,,,,,for the info lol. I know what little white plastic things your talking about.....i dont use those. Though sure they work..........i just cant imagine how you clean them well and i bet those are pretty expensive. Like way to much money and effort for my likeing lol.......i use the really "scratchie" scoth brite but thicker as seen in the pic........as the topper to the charcoal. Way easy to clean and not at all expensive. That will remain up to you. The lego idea...humm well have a look at those others real close. If they are open at both ends......then well....wrong i am about trying to ensure they are all clean....would be easy then. Lego.........has one closed end. So you might want to look the proper media as we saw on the site........to compare. If they are closed to......gee whiz......na not much diff at all! Good idea then. Just leaves the clean part........i dont like that much. To fussy a procedure i am thinking for me anyway. My pond. Well heck.......the one in the front is only 100 gallons. The one in the back.....i bet a wee bit smaller. Its just an effect and peaceful place to sit. I will take some shots today and send them to you if you like. Need your addy though. The next one......and i will send you a shot of where it will go..........is gonna be mighty large. NOthing like these other two. Huge fall i want.......big long stream.........and huge pond. But the one outside my kitchen window and the one i just built in the back.........good enough for there. Oh,,,,,the pump i have for the one in the back i am replacing.....not enough fall for me in that spot. You lose gallons per hour as it elivates. From pond level..........to the top of the fall. So i want a bigger one.....phoned hubby he is suppose to pick it up on the way home from work.....humm well see, its at his buddies......so doubt he will forget lol! Oh too.......i will take the filter out of the pond and take a shot of that too. Just so you get a very clear pic of what i am on about. Just should you want ever to do another some where else. Money into pond. Well.....nope rocks i got for free. My girlfriend has 10 acers........she has an entire field of them. Pick till ya drop! The blast rock i get from another pal of mine......they live waaaaaaaaaay up in the hills here......and had some work done there so between the excavator and the blasting......they got a stock pile of them all off in another area. Again.....pick till ya drop! lol. The liner on the first pond by the kitchen.....we purchased. The molded pond and fall catch basins i got off of craigslist super cheep. The pumps not as fortunate as you.......we paid. But i get a great deal......super super cheep via a friend of my hubbies. So we only pay his cost......and nothing extra. Though yes, have purchased from homedepot too. Sometimes its just easier lol. Quicker i mean. All in all though Dana......not a lot of money. To have someone come in and do what you and i have.......2000 and up......easy. Labor is the big factor its very labor intensive this building of it. Then they just jack up the price of everything that goes with.......so under 300 for both my ponds. Yes yes yes.......you can so leave you pump runing in winter. Indeed!!!!!!! In fact you SHOULD. If you do get a freeze over.......then no big deal.....dont chip the ice.....not good for the fish but they do require an air space made in the ice. Just boil a pot of water.......and set it on the ice in a couple of places. In seconds you have air holes. Dont let go of the handel lol.......just set it on top holding it........and move to another space when that one is done. To keep your pump running in the winter is all around much much much better for soooooooo many reasons. The fish in winter go way to the bottom. They sort of go into a dorment state over winter. Once it begins to warm....up they come again. That is why it is important to be at least 18-24 deep in at least one area of the pond and since koi are large............you need a good size space if not the entire pond. I just have goldfish lol. I dont want koi actually......the friggin racoons, cats, whatever eats fish will likely just scoop them up and have them for supper! .31cents for goldfish i get upset but not lose my mind lol. I have two that i have had for about four years. They are getting bigger. I have lost some indeed......but i just nip out to the store......and buy some more. Sad but true. In the large pond we are gonna build......still gonna be goldfish just lots and lots of them 100 at least. Koi here are very expensive........and i dont want to make the racoons and cats toooooooooooooooooooooo happy at my expense. So if you post me your addy......later today i can send you the pics. You did a awesome job and it looks so very lovely there. A great place to sit and relax! ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 31st, 2007 9:23 PM |
| OK..... I thought you meant you use the scotch brite and media, I'll just buy the scotch brite then, way cheaper! Yes I have my filter hidden, didn't want to see a large white tub...lol....it's hidden in a bush! You can still see it from the back of the pond if you look for it, but it's not too noticable. I just have a huge flat rock over the op of it. In the pic you can see my pump hose, I lower my pond when I put a new koi in because I had a new one jump out and die once, so now I'm more careful. After about a week I fill it back up. If I lived where racoons would eat my fish I'd have goldfish too...lol....I pay $5 for a small koi, and they grow so fast anyway, I don't have a ton of money in my fish like some koi finatics do. Plus mine are reproducing now, I have 2 babies that made it through the winter, one died : ( and of course, my favorite one! I figure if they reproduce too much I'll start up a business. I gave my mom 2 babies too, but her's both died over winter, or her bigger ones ate them. Not sure which! I did just pay $35 for a butterfly koi about 12" long on Sunday. Had to have this one, soooo pretty, but I am done now because when these grow, I'm gonna be maxed out! I keep saying that, but there seems to always be one more! my email is: [email protected] I had a small pond first, but after one summer of it, I had to have a bigger one, I'd love to have a bigger one yet, but space and money are a factor now, a really big liner and they shoot the prices up fast.....Don't think I'm lucky enough to find 2 free ones. I'll try leaving my pump on this winter, easier on me I'm sure. Can't wait to see your ponds, bet they are nice...... : ) ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: May 31st, 2007 9:35 PM |
| OH....and don't worry about a pic of your filter, you can wait till you clean it the next time if you want to, I'd hate to have you pull it just so I can see it. I'd love to see your ponds though. ↑ |
| Name: Layne | Date: May 31st, 2007 10:24 PM |
| Hi Maxie....Sorry about your dad:( ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: Jun 1st, 2007 11:01 AM |
| Well this morning it is even clearer, I'm so happy, I thought it would take 2-4 weeks, thats what the internet said! Now I need some nice rocks on the bottom because I can actually see the bottom and it's ugly looking...lol.....if it's not one thing it's something else : ) ↑ |
| Name: hdc_momof2 | Date: Jun 1st, 2007 11:10 AM |
| lol dana! you'll figure it all out as ya go hahahaaa ↑ |
| Name: Irene | Date: Jun 1st, 2007 11:20 AM |
| OH MAXIE hun r u ok, how is your dad???? Please email me let me know news, Ill pray he is well and up & about very quickly, xxx ↑ |
| Name: hdc_momof2 | Date: Jun 1st, 2007 11:30 AM |
| same here maxie! i'll be praying hon xoxoxo ↑ |
| Name: Dana G | Date: Jun 1st, 2007 1:26 PM |
| LOL....I know Heather, but it's fun picking someone elses brain that knows what their doing! ↑ |
