I would never put mechanical filtration after biological. It doesn't make any sense.

Well it depends on the rating of your submersible.

The calculation is as follows:

kw * unit price * hours in day * number of days (Thanks to Wayne for that)

0.25 * R0.90 * 24 * 30 = R162

I assume you unit price is around R0.90 as most of ours is around there.

If you look under general discussion there is a post around kw costs after Eskoms price hike.

Ok, it's decided then......I will buy a .25 speck pump, connect this directly to my 50mm bottom drain thru a weir like found in a pool system, then will then filter thru a sand filter, then thru a 25L Unltra Zap, thru a 15w UV and then back into the pond.

Are these .25's very noisy???

I would say more of a hum than the .45 and up speck pumps. It isn't quiet

Hi,

ek is bly ek hoef nie nou 'n dam te bou nie!
Met al die raat sou my kop mooi plat ( of platter) gewees het.

A .25 is to small!!!!!!! Get rid of the "drum" go streight to the pump ( .75kW)>sandfilter>UltraZap Bio filter> uv light> back to the pond.

Never try to save money on your "filter system" you always end-up paying more!

Well did some tests over the weekend and a pool pump is just too loud for directly outside my sons room and with summer and having to have the windows open it will just cause more hassle than anything.

So I will be doing the drum, I am upgrading my pump to another submersible which does 8000 litres an hour, found another filter on the weekend which I will be buying this week end which is the Hydro - Bio Pressure filter, it's the drum looking one with the clean\work\pump outlets\inlets on the top with the 24w UV light. It says its suitable for a 13500lt pond and my pond is around 7200lts.

Also I get minimal sun in the mornings, by 7h30am theres no more sun on my pond so I definitely wont be having an algae problem.

Did plastering on the weekend....will post pics of that soon!

Heres my pond so far after plastering, will do waterblok and permastop this weekend and then fill up the following tuesday.

I've decided to go with slate tiling over the top and out\insides of the pond, I also designed a water feature this weekend which I'm pretty excited about and will show that once complete.

Heres my pond so far after plastering.

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Looking good !!

Great, and thanks for sharing.

thank you............all I can think of now is my 6 year old son "Sharing is caring.....dad!!!"

been abit quiet for the last 3 weeks, did the tiling around the top and waterbloked the inside of the pond as well, didn't have enough rock to finish the sides on this particular day which was sunday 2 weeks ago
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Then had some safety netting done, was a nervous 2 days wait with having to watch my kids 24/7
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Then finished off the side tiling yesterday and sorted out my garden area around the pond, also ended up putting my fish in there yesterday
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On my old pond I had 2 gravity filters, so I emptied all those contents into my current filter, and then when I transported the fish I emptied out about 25% of the current pond water and then transfered all the old pond water into the new pond..........so far the fish look very happy and the move was not stressful for them at all...touch wood

Anyways, I'm currently looking into changing my filter setup as cash flow resumes status at the end of the month.

Also, had an idea with my waterfall, tried a spout\laminar flow made out of pvc, it works nicely but I lose abit of water out the bottom of the pot I bought for it so am going to seal that up and reconnect it.....thats why I only have the pvc return to the pond currently....also not too sure about what I want to do with my return so giving it some time.

Thats all for now

nobody like my pond????

It came out very nicely. Well done. Need to see the fish now

Well done, I like it. Just the blue drum I don't like, but you said you are going to work on the filtration.

Congratulations.

Never updated this thread with the finished product pics....anyway this is my pond and filter setup as of today, decided to go the pool pump setup in the end, just invested in a speck pump as they're nice and quiet and just positioned it a little further away from my son's room and pond.

Only finished the waterfall about 2 weeks ago, after seeing Pieter's waterfalls, which are the best I've seen anywhere I really wanted something as fancy, just with my rock setup decided that a natural waterfall look would be better. Will do a fancier effect tho on the bigger pond I plan building near my entertainment area in the next year or so.

Pond was finished at the end of August. To date have not lost any fish due to sickness etc, just had some fingerlings sucked into the bottom drain. Must say that up to today I have been quite fortunate and that hpefully wont have any unforseen fatalities as my fish have now been in my pond for well over 2 months......touch wood

Pond

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Filter setup

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Hi Cliff,
Looks great, remember to open backwash you sandfilter at least once a week.

HI Jaco, thanks

By open backwash do you mean where the lid is off and let the water flow out the top??

I put a bag of zeolite on the top of the sand in the filter, when I do normal backwashes I see that some of the zeolite has already been washed out, I know it's quite light so worried that the majority of it would wash out the top section.....or wouldn't it?

I put it 3-5mm Koi sand into the filter, 2 bags, then 1 bag zeolite on the top. I also cut sections of my filter fingers away as shown on one of the other threads.

thanks again

Hi Cliff,

A very neat and tidy pond

But where are the fish Lets see

Hi Wayne,.....have these which were taken a good month or more ago...will actually take some updated pics tonight and repost, want to also net my fish and show them here properly.

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Hi Cliff,

Thanks for sharing, you have some sweet babies there

Cliff wrote:

HI Jaco, thanks

By open backwash do you mean where the lid is off and let the water flow out the top??

Yes that is what I mean, and turn over the gravel with your hand while backwashing, be careful not to electrocute yourself.

Hi Cliff

Fish look happy in their new home,glad you came right with your filtration, looks good well done.

Cheers
Lee

Just remember not to put salt in your pond ever unless you bypass your sand filter.

Salt + Zeolite = release of ammonia = dead fish

thats really only unless you really concentrate the water in salt, which on it's own will kill the fish. Normal doses of salt as done here where it's 1,2,3kg's per 1000 litres does not have that great an effect on zeolite. It has to be a serious concentrate of salt to release the ammonia from the zeolite.

Chris Neaves told me this the other day. When my yondan kohaku was lying on it's side I was worried to add salt when told to, but was advised on the above that unless it's a serious concentrated solution and is soaked in this solution that only then will the ammonia release, which the solution itself will probably kill the koi.

I didn't know that.

I thought any salt added would release ammonia..

Probably does, but in those doses nothing fatal......hopefully Chris see's this and explains in more detail.