I could not stand the green water anymore! I found a 9 watt UV light at Lowes for $70 and put it in this evening. The name on the box is Garden Treasures. (Hubby is going to have a fit when he finds out......LOL) When should I expect the water to start clearing up? I have a Hozelock Cyprio Force 500 filter with a 258 gph pump (the instructions said 250 gph but I already had this one from harbor freight) and the UV unit is one that connects to the tubing going out from the filter with two ports. One of the ports connects to the outgoing water from the filter and the other port connects to the tubing going straight into the pond. This pond is somewhere between 300 and 400 gallons. I have used microbe lift barley straw extract, biological clarifier plus, algea destroyer and some kind of flocculant that I cannot put my hands on right now and the water is still murky. I have noticed that there seems to be a brown furry looking "dust" on the water lily stems. When I shake the stems it falls off in a cloud. I also have another filter in there with a fountain attachment but it is from last year and I do not remember what kind it is. Will I ever get to see my new fish??
I got a UV light can someone answer some questions?
Hey, I have a 1000 gallon luguna uv light sits out side the pond like yours does and my ponds about 700 gallons, my light is 8 watts. your water should clear up a little each day for a few days depending on how green(or brown) your water is..if not you might have to adjust your water flow so it's not going to fast so the light misses the algea or to slow so it can't keep up in really sunny weather....So you just have play with it for awhlie.....My filter pushes 1200 but I have a stream coming in to my pond also so water travles up for a few feet..I hope thats some kind of help for you but it took about a week for my pond to totally clear up but I noticed a change every day...
mysticsunshine you are certainly correct. With a UV light it is properly matching the wattage to the flow rate in gph as it passes the light. My first instinct would be to install it as is and see what you get. If the water begins to clear and you start finding a lot a of dead greyish green algae clogging your filter, then Eureka! If you have to slow down the flow then intstall a flow controll valve and slow the flow ever so slightly until you get the resluts you want. Hopefully that will be with enough flow to get the water properly filtered. One thing I learned the hard way was don't forget to pull the light out once a season, or more depending on your particular water conditions, and clean off any scale deposits from the quartz clear glass cover. It only works at top efficiency if the light is not obstructed.
thanks Snapp.. ya I had to fool with mine a little, but i did notice that my water isn't as clear as it usally is i was thinking it might be time to replace the bulb but I think I will try to clean it first too.......
Thanks for the info! I may yet see those fish this year! I will start watching to see if the water starts to clear. I think I will also do a partial water change in case a lot of what I am seeing is dead suspended algea. The stuff I am seeing on the waterlily stems and on the pump tubing really does look brown instead of green. I looked at the filter indicator on the cyprio pump and it looks like it has gone up. It is a red button and the instructions say that once it pops completely up to clean the filter. What do you use to clean the light bulb?
I do not know how the weather is around where you live, but it seems like it is cold here. The temps are staying in the 70's. I will have to get in the pool to clean the filter with the fountain and am not looking forward to that at all. But if it means seeing my fish I guess I can do it!
how long have you had your pond/
I had a Cyrprio too! I just switched to a Fishmate. I wore the Cyprio out (literally 5 years and the clips wouldn't stay put) The Fishmate is easier to clean.
I wiped the quartz cover off with Lime Off. It was simple. Rinse thoroughly!
Up until yesterday we had a mini drought and temps pushing 90. Yesterday we got 2 inches of rain in less than an hour. Cars went floating down some streets. Today there is a lot of carpeting and washer/dryers out at the curb for pickup from flooded basements. I've got an overflow on both ponds and they were pouring out the excess water into the yard. It has certainly been a spring of "toos" Too cold, Too dry, Too Hot, Too Wet, Too windy, you name it. Gardening and ponding is not for sissies.
I have a pond that started out as a hole for perrenials and I just kept digging until it was about 18 inches deep and roughly six feet across and I have had that about three years. It is more or less round. One shovelful at a time in heavy clay. I do not know how a managed that! LOL
The one I am having such a fit with is an aluminum cattle pool that is about 18 inches deep and about 8 feet across. We rented a dozer and buried it almost level to the ground. I left a few inches exposed so that I would not have runoff from the surrounding soil get into the pond. I had that for about 2 years with lilies and goldfish in it. I had been talking about getting a koi or two and hubby decided to surpise me on day with a visit to a nearby fish hatchery that also had koi. Well, the koi being the "upscale" fish that they are decided that would rather die than inhabit a pond that goldfish had been living in! I did manage to save most of them. I had to drain and clean it this spring so it is like I am starting from scratch. I have three water lilies and two lotus that I got from Texas Waterlilies this year that are starting to grow in this one.
Are the koi in the 18" pond? Koi need a lot of water. Especially in the winter to go deep and keep as warm as possible. With that depth be sure to keep the deicer operating. You could try a 1000 or 1500 watt stock tank heater that would keep water in that size pond at about 40 all winter. Good news, happy koi with little winter stress. Bad news, unhappy wallet with ugly electric bill. I run a 1000 watt in one pond and 1500 watt in another. In a bad winter (like last year) it can add $100 mo to the bill. Koi aren't just upscale, they are royalty. They require a royal sized treasure chest.
I had considered the pond size too. That is one of the reasons I just talked about koi and never actually got any. As it stands now I probably ended up with four or five that were about 3-4 inches long this spring. I did purchase a stock tank heater and never got around to using it last year. I definately plan on putting it in as soon as the water starts to get cold this year now that I actually do have some koi instead of just feeder goldfish from the bait shop!
That's funny - we bought the same UV filter (at Lowe's) on Saturday, for the same reasons, it sounds like.
We saw results within 12 hours of installing it, and the water keeps getting clearer every day ;o)
This year, I've battled string algae for the first time since we moved here in 2000 (finally got that *almost* under control after pulling out basket-ball size wads of it twice), then we endured green water that wouldn't clear up despite the sludge digester and bio-clear stuff I poured in every week for a month. The final straw was the bright green bubbly algae and "paint scum" algae that formed when my year-old pump burned out from getting clogged up. (Since we warmed up in mid-April, I've had to clean the pre-filter every other day, and a couple weeks ago we had a lot going on, and I failed to clean it. Ouch.)
I know what you are talking about Terry. I've been back washing twice a day to keep my pump from burning up. The plumber is coming next week to replace my beads in the filter. You are gonna wonder why you waited so long for the UV light. Your fish will be healthier also.
Jeri
Yow, guys. Warmer zones must mean a lot more algae. I can clean mine every three days. It is a Savio biofalls and skimmer system. Its been 6 years and I have no complaints about its ability to handle filtration. There is a very pricey product from Aquascape called S.A.B. (string algae buster) that does eliminate string algae. It has an enzyme that won't allow it to start to grow. It really works. The price is mind boggling. Try everything else first.
It's not algae Snapple. The system is building up a pressure for some reason. I don't know why it's gotten so bad. I have a plumber coming next week to change the beads in the filter and I sure hope that helps.
Jeri
Bead filtration is the very best from what I've read. I envy you there. I'm certain you'll get the glitch resolved.
The weather warmed up a little today so I climbed in the pond after I got home from work and cleaned the submerged filter. I also went ahead and cleaned the cyprio filter too. You would not believe the amount of green/brown gunk that came out of those things! I just cleaned the submerged one on saturday and have only had the cyprio for a few weeks. Is it possible that the light is starting to work so soon? I cannot tell a real difference in the appearance of the water.
I promise you will!!!
Jeri
yes, we definitely could tell a difference in 12 hours...most of what I read said you'd see a difference in 2-5 days.
I am sure that I will see an improvement by this weekend then. Something has to be working or the filters would not have been so dirty. :^)
Was there any difference today? Inquiring minds need to know.
LOL!!! Nosey Rosie's do too.
Jeri
When I went to feed the fish this evening after work I actually saw some murky fish shapes in the water and what could have been the outline of the big rubber tub that I put the lotus in. Cross your fingers and toes for this weekend when I can actually see it in the daylight....
Good I'm glad it's working for you. You should be able to see a big difference each day. Your fish should be healthier also. That pea soup water is devastating to me when it happens. The bulb is usually good for a year. It doesn't take long to figure out something is wrong when it goes out.
Does you UV light have that new bulb wiper on it? I want that the next time I change.
Jeri
No, it was a cheapie no frills version from Lowe's. I was wondering if it hurts the bulb to turn it off and on. I need to turn the water pump and filter off to clean it and the bulb is connected to that water line. Should I just leave it on or will that make the bulb get too hot if there is no water around it?
I disconnect mine before turning the pump off. Then I backwash. Turn the pump back on then plug in the light. I can't remember if the directions say do that or my DH. LOL
Jeri
Thanks Jeri! I was afraid to blow up the bulb before I barely had a chance to use it!
I don't think it would blow up but I don't think it would be good either.
Jeri
tetley do you have a scimmer? I was wondering how you have your filtration system set up? And I know just how you feel about the red clay, i dug mine out by myself to and it's 9 by 8 and 30 in deep....: in the deepest part :(.....The best thing I ever did was put in my scimmer, no matter how good the bio and filter and uv light was the big difference in my water was with my scimmer and I clean it about 2 to 3 times a week and thats it I never touch my bio....hope you see your fish soon!!!!!
tetleytuna how is your water looking now? I hope you can see a difference.
Jeri
The water has cleared TREMENDOUSLY. I can see everything in the pond now and I am amazed out how much bigger the fish look since I saw them last.
I love UV lights!!! They are a ponder's best friend!!!
Jeri
Amen!
How does a skimmer work? Can I put one in my bottom pond that does not have a mechanical filter or UV light? This one is at the bottom of a long stream that I constructed last year. The stream is about a foot deep and has sand and lava rock in it to serve as a biological filter. It has three waterfalls that are more or less evenly spaced going down the stream that help oxygenate the water. The pond is about 18 to 20 inches deep. The pump that I currently use in this pond is forever getting clogged by leaves and debris. It is near a large climbing rose arbor and also has a lot of honey locust trees nearby and I think that is where the majority of the leaves are coming from.
I am SO happy that I have the clear water in the upper pond now. I go out there first thing in the morning before work to feed and watch the fish for a few minutes and also spend some time when I feed them in the evening. I must be easily entertained to find them so fascinating! LOL
This message was edited Jun 12, 2007 10:04 PM
You and me both!!! I could spend the entire day at mine.
Jeri
I was just wondering if your pond is staying clear now, tetleytuna? We've been battling algae (finally getting it cleared)...
Brenda
The water has stayed very clear.The only time is has clouded up a little is when I have needed to check the pump. The pump is a 256 gph that had a small sponge filter with it but it clogged up too quickly so it took the filter off. I have found that I need to check the pump about once a week to make sure that it does not clog.
Excellent! Glad it's working well. This thread has been very informational for me...
:)