your pond is one of my favorites.

Great job.

Nardus

Thanks for the comments Mark and NArdus....Nardus....really please you like my pond that much....thank you.

Mark, regarding the moving media, really thought about it but decided that I will rather add in another bakki shower instead.

The area against the window, with the plants is where I wanted to build a chamber where I would have moving media, was going to try the vortexes but they were too big.

So decided to rather put in another bakkie shower over here, which I will do with the water is a little warmer.

In a nutshell, I am doign the following

I have 2 x sand filters
1 sand filter splits thru 2 x 25lt ultra zaps, the 1 split line feeds via my below water return, the other via my stainless steel above water return.

The other sand filter just feeds from sand filter to my 350lt bakkie shower.

What I am going to do is remove the split n the 1 sand filter and only have 2 returns back to the pond instead of 3 at present.

Each sand filter will have its own 2 x 25lt ultra zaps, then go thru it's own UV light, then the one line will feed the 1 bakkie shower and the other sand filter with it's own 2 x 25lt ultra zaps will feed the other bakkie shower.

My current below water return line I will run along side my wall join where I joined the new pond to the existing pond and up to feed the existing bakkie, and the line feeding my existing bakkie will follow around the wall to the new bakkie.

I have installed a 160lph airpump and have done air rings around my bottom drains which will compensate fr my ciculation that will be lost by removing my below water return.

Pic, hope it explains a bit of what I am doing.

Any comments?

Very good idea Cliff and well thought...Do U get lots of foam from the bakki?
I made a very simple foam fractioner for my bakki.

I also dont have any algae...never had..I backwash every other day and on the other day I wash my SF with a compressor.So my SF is cleaned every day...but then I am a panic mechanic!
What I did is I made a small through under the bakki collecting the water...with a 4" horizontal pipe and a T at the end...I used a small peace of pipe 4" and cut half of the bottom section, in such a way that when U putit in the T it scraps the surface of the water (foam) and directs it upwards...to a 2l top of coke bottle...or 4" to 2" reducer...
Occasionally get a lot of foam exiting from it.

Hey friends I am here!!!! been a while since i posted here

Great to have you here again Q

Hi Quinton, looking fwd to reading your interesting posts. What do you think of Cliff's idea of a second Bakki Shower? Personally i'd rather put the cash twoards a special fish as the one he has should do the job just fine.

Quinten,
Welcome back! Post your babies...I want to see them please!
Collin,
Is foam not caused by DOC?.Is it not associated with more feeding of higher protein food in summer?

Hi Cliff
Do you have a protein skimmer on you system?
Welcome Back Quinton!

Hey Quin, nice to see you back here bud!

Colin, I also dont get any sun in winter on my pond.......and have absolutely no foam, yet I have alge on my walls.

In summer it's the exact opposite, no alge but a bit of foam.

I dont have any foam fractionators, will probably do a diy'er when summer starts.

Mark, you think I should just leave my pond as is? I have 21 fish in my pond now, it is 30kl.

Most are babies that I got from Lionel (4) Karl (3) Costa (6)....then I have 8 which are between 40 and 58cm

The babies are all between 15 and 25cm's

Ok, that's allot of fish for the amount of water.

I'd keep the option open for a second Bakki Shower but not do it yet. Monitor the water parameters once the heavy feeding starts again - you'll soon see if the system can cope.

I'd do a protein skimmer now already. I run my skimmer 24/7 and am amazed at how much foam it produces even though the feeding is at 40% of the normal amount (my water temp is sitting at 14.1'C at the moment)

My 10c worth

Hi there Cliff ,

Like ur pond and you have a very nice collection of kois to , WOW .


Cliff did you ever think of putting in a skimmer? The one like a swimming pool ? To help with he foam?

I am not to sure if it will help? And the problem is also that you need to brake down ur pond and not to sure if you want to do that.


Regards

Hi Quinten, I do have a weir in like what you find on pools already.

I am currently getting a 2nd bakkie shower together that I want to install.

Mark, you really think 22fish in 30kl is too much? Sure if I had 22 big fish.

However 14 of those 22 are still under 25cm and the 8 bigger ones are from 40 - 60cm

When and if I get fish to around 70cm then I will keep a maximum of 10 fish in my pond.