The installation looks so confusing to me, too, and I'm going to have to install two for my pond. Add in that air diffuser and forget it. In theory, I agree that the bottom drain should be able to go to a skimmer, but since I have not found any diagrams that do that, I wonder if there is some flow issue that would arise?
How much ice should be melted in the pond with a deicer?
The skimmer box I meant to write "clean it" not kill it (but maybe that was what I was thinking deep down and it just came out in my typing . . .lol!)
MM - Kill!!? LOL! Lord knows I've wanted to do mine in during the spring toad season. I'ts hard to say about the filtration you have without more specifics. But I'm getting a sense of a sludge build up and that's never good, no matter what the system. With sludge comes parasites and bacterial diseases. Parasite populations will continue to build in cold water. When the koi are the most vulnerable in the spring with a lowered immune system, if you have over wintered sludge, you could be pushing a big load of parasites into the water. Bad bacteria populations will also build in the spring faster than the koi's immune systems can ramp up. It's a double whammy. Questions MM - If you had to order replacement filter mats, where would you get them from? Have you stored the mats clean and dry under cover for the winter or are they stored in the filter itself? Are they stored dry or wet in the filter? Is there brand name for the filtration system?
ic - This looks fabulous to me. This is what I would aim for if I had a do-over.
http://www.pondtechnology.com/pages/koiponds.html
Snapple, that is the kind of system I want to emulate.
I really like Nexus filters, which are a vortex filter system, but there is probably no way I can come up with the extra money to pay for one. The next best thing is a bead filter, which is what I'm now considering. I plan on talking to Rick about both when I visit Iowa Koi on January 3.
ic - When you see the Iowa koi dealer be sure to have in mind what your maximum pond size in gallons will be. There are break points where some types of filtration have to be doubled ( ie. 2 sequential filters at the waterfall instead of one ) to handle the load, or where you can instead install a single bead filter. Break points are, of course, tied to the specific brand load capacity. That pond technology set up is a honey of a system. Oh how I wish!
If I enlarged my pond I could add a sequential unit to the Savio unit that I have already have in place and install a larger pump. It wouldn't take much work to increase the filtration capacity. I just have no space for a larger pond unless I take down some 25 yr old hemlocks. I don't see that happening. I'll stick to my 2500 gals and about a dozen big fat koi. I've stumbled on a balance of fish load, filtration and aeration. It would be wise to quit while I'm ahead.
Saps: My filters are sitting at the top of the waterfall, I had cleaned them the week or so prior to shut off. The waterfall is off, the pump is out in sitting in water in my basement. I never bought filters yet but would ask my pond installer about getting me some of telling me what kind they were. Ido not plan to turn my pump on/waterfalls on without a big cleanup in the top of the water falls. do you have suggestions on clean up of equipment? I worry that I will have dead frogs at the top, that froze to death in the pond.
I do have all the specifics on my pond equipment written down but can't seem to locate them at the moment. I will find them after the holidays. I am cleaning up the house for my holiday parties and that means I "hide" stuff away and may not find it again for some time. The house will look good but things will be lost. . .lol!
What I hate is finding a Christmas decoration left out after everything else has been packed up and stowed in the attic. Happens every year.
Do you really need to stow the pump in water? The new ones only require that they not be left in water that freezes. They don't relly have any seals that need to stay wet. Check the manufacturer's specs.
As for spring clean up, it can't be too clean. I scrub right to the corners in the fall at shutdown, so spring startup is fast and simple. Fall clean up though, is hours of hosing and scrubbing and wiping down. Filter material is rinsed clean of all particulate material. 100% of any sludge and debris is removed. I leave no standing water in the filter. The tub is drained through a bottom drain and then wiped clean of any remaining sludge. Nothing dead (?) should remain. How hard is it to get in that thing and clean it up?
I'll admit cleanup is messy. I usually wind up gunk in my hair from spalshing, not to mention soaked clothes.
We always forget the wreath on the front door! It is made out of different colored bells (red, gold, silver) and looks so pretty but I ALWAYS forget it and then find it again about February.
I can clean the tub-especially now that I have the pond vacuum. Lifting out the filters is a [deleted] and I am very strong. They are just so long and big in shape (and disgusting). Do you pressure rinse them or just a sprayer from a hose? I don't believe I have a drain of any kind at the top. I wish I had done a little more homework on this pond before I spent the money having it built. Snapple-I looked at the illustration of the pond you posted a few posts above. I like it a lot. In your estimation how much would the bottom drain and all the necessary equipment cost to add to an existing pond?I am thinking about changing the pond around-make it deeper, less of a side ledge, take all stone out-maybe make it a little wider and definitely add the bottom drain(s) and possibly another little waterfall and a bog for more O2. Over the bottom drain filtration I would consider a raised platform for sitting so viewing the fish would be easier. In the picture they show a wooden platform over it. Sounds like an expensive endeavor that my husband will kill me for doing it . . . Maybe it's time I go back to work full time so I can fund my pond addictive habit . . .
Regarding holiday decor-I always leave stuff out. I found a bunch of Halloween movies that should have been packed away and now I have to look at them the whole year-in my dvd rack. Last year we went to England to be with in-laws and brought home Christmas decorations that were of True Father Christmas and ornaments my kids recvd as gifts. They hung around the house all year.
ic - Last year I forgot a huge red bow and garlind draped over a big mirror at the end of a hallway. It was barely before Easter that I caught it. Funny that no company ever said anything on their way to the Loo!
I can't imagne what that whole system would cost MM. The bead filtration is the most expensive element, excluding labor. However, from everything I've read here and other places they don't regret a penny of the cost. I'd have to work two jobs for the equipment costs. DH and I could do the installation. Having done one, you realize that if you do your homework it's doable. If I had it done for me I would be even pickier about professional installation, insisting on building to my specs using only equipment I choose.
My DH was pretty smart when when we put ours in, even though this is not his favorite endeavor. He had two concerns. First he worried about how we would get to anything if it broke and we had to go back and fix it. Anything that would require tearing anything up for a repair was very, very carefully installed for the long haul. His second concern was how easy or hard it would be for me to manage alone. (Uh hem , HE really didn't want to have to be the one to out go there and get out the pump or drain the tub or anything else.) He did a lot of the plumbing parts with with easy screw off unions and valves that are a one handed snap. It takes me about ten seconds to unscrew the pump union and pull it up. I can pull it anytime to clean the intake and check the impeller. No clamps, wrenches or brute strength necessary. I drain the filter tub with a simple turn of a valve.
MM - You should be able to take the strongest setting on a hose trigger nozzel and blast the crud through and off. Yes, it is disgusting. It is absolutely necessary. It should be done from time to time during the season, starting about July 1st.
Ehhhh. I hate the thought of cleaning the filters. There has to be a better way. Maybe I can get my house cleaning lady to do it . . . She is young and strong and I'll pay her extra. . . Knowing her and her eastern European background she would "probably bleach the pond clean" like she does everything else in my house. . . LOL. It's a nice fantasy and I coould see losing my cleaning lady by asking her (not to mention all my fish killed from the bleach . . . )
MM - My cleaning gal would definitely NOT clean my pond!! I'm lucky she likes our three dogs and 2 cats, although there is some mumbling about "all the hair". Seriously though, those filters require periodic maintenance. Two things are guaranteed to happen with clogged filters. First the accumulated gunk ,over time, slows the water flow. It can slow so much that waste products (ammonia) build up faster in the water than the filter is processing. Secondly, the filters can get so clogged that they go partley anerobic wherever the gunk is the thickest. When they go anerobic the ammonia digesting bacteria (nitrosomonas) dies off and you "lose" the filter. You have no choice MM but to get hosed up, gloved up, suited up and clean up the filters. Heck, get liquored up if it helps, but don't fall in!
Next March at start up, being dry, they will be a little lighter to handle. Get after em' and keep on it. Do you have a garden utility cart? Instead of carrying them plop them in a cart and wheel them off to wherever you can give them a good hosing down. The runoff is fantastic for gardens, but extremely slippery if left on a paved surface. It can even puddle into a slippery mess on the grass. I hose mine off over by my compost bin. Then I shovel up the slop and throw it in the bin.
Snapple: My 9 year old son wants to know why I am laughing out loud while on the computer. The following line almost had me wet my pants!-" You have no choice MM but to get hosed up, gloved up, suited up and clean up the filters. Heck, get liquored up if it helps, but don't fall in! "
If I get liquored up, I will fall in and I will still have a dirty filter. How often do these filters need to be replaced? Do you replace them in stages so that the good bacteria stays (I'm sure you all will say this is a yes). How many weeks apart do I replace them?
Thanks for a laugh Snapple!
Linda
Replacement time frames depend on what the filtering material consists of and the wear rate from your flow, information I don't have. I'll go out on a limb and say that maybe annually at the very, very most. Every other year is the more likely scenario, but then again it depends on the brand and type of filter material. I havn't ever come across filter material that needs replacing more often. It doesn't make sense to have to replace it during the active ponding season, because no manufacturer would want to have the ponder cycle the pond more than the annual spring start up. But if you could find that brand/manufacturer name it would solve a lot of mysterys here.
It would be a good idea to clean 1/2 the filters in rotation, instead of all the filters at once. That way, you'd never lose all the filter bacteria at once.