New pond...

00 MooRRii 00 · Post by **00 MooRRii 00** » 26 Jun 2003, 10:52

I orederd my new pond today! and am pretty excited about it because my big cats need an upgrade from their home, which is a 8x3x2.5 aquarium.

The pond is 12' in diam and 30" deep so it isnt a bad size. I plan on housing my TSN, which is currently 31", 27" marbled catfish and my 2 clarius both 21" and any other cats i pick up along the way, hopefuly a planiceps.

This pond is going inside my fish room with a constant temp of 25C i will also heat it with a couple spare300watt heaters that i have spare. I have alos built 2 large trickle filters for filtration along with some other forms of filtration? what do you all think? anyone care to share any past experiences?

Alex

FatCat · Post by **FatCat** » 26 Jun 2003, 21:00

No past experience with ponds unfortunately but I have one in the planning stages. So im doing research at the moment. Im thinking 10x2.5x20 deep. In reguard to filters I have found out some interesting tidbits that ill share in case you dont know. Aa higher flow rate is better for bacteria growth in your filter media rather than having a larger volume of media. The reason being that media is typically submerged and has access only to oxygen in the water which is not that great, so more flow, more oxygen, more bacteria= more work with less media. this principal is what makes Bio wheeles so effective due to their exposure to air and the bacterias ability to absorb oxygen straight out of the air as your water does on the surface. I plan on some form of bio wheel fabricaton in my process. This way im getting the most effeciency out of my biofiltration to cut down on large bulky filters.

00 MooRRii 00 · Post by **00 MooRRii 00** » 27 Jun 2003, 01:07

3 wet drys should do the trick. I have made them out of 55gal drums, and will have approx 1000gphr going through each barrel.

Post by **Barbie** » 27 Jun 2003, 02:21

The only problem I see with the reasoning behind the more flow to increase the filtration properties, is that the more bacteria, the faster the filter media will clog and reduce flow also. Its why trickle filters are so commonly used. Free falling water will still run over the media giving some filtration, and at least oxygenation if there is a failure or clogging of the media. It keeps the problem from becoming critical as quickly, IME.

Barbie

00 MooRRii 00 · Post by **00 MooRRii 00** » 27 Jun 2003, 02:37

Barbie wrote:The only problem I see with the reasoning behind the more flow to increase the filtration properties, is that the more bacteria, the faster the filter media will clog and reduce flow also. Its why trickle filters are so commonly used. Free falling water will still run over the media giving some filtration, and at least oxygenation if there is a failure or clogging of the media. It keeps the problem from becoming critical as quickly, IME.

Barbie

very true.

IMO/IME thats why smaller industrialy made filters like aquaclear dont work. WAY too much flow for such a small amount of media, bacteria has no chance to do anything benefical.

FatCat · Post by **FatCat** » 27 Jun 2003, 04:12

Bacteria dosent clog up filter media, solid waste, sediment, and debris do. That is why biowheels never clog up yet contain more helpful bacteria than all other filter media. 1000 gph going through a 55 gal container is considered very good flow in my opinion. Lots more water (oxygen) passing through the media for a healthier culure and the ability to respond quickly to rapid spikes in amonia. In all actuality 3- 55 gal drums running 1000gph each is probibally overdoing it but im sure that was the point. Cant have too much guarantee with our valued fish.

Post by **Dinyar** » 27 Jun 2003, 04:16

Worth keeping in mind what large commercial and scientific establishments that breed or raise expensive fish use: fluidized beds, large vats that work like canister filters or large trickle filters.

The statement that greater flow is more important to denitrification than larger media area is an oversimplification.

Dinyar

IndefactorX · Post by **IndefactorX** » 27 Jun 2003, 04:20

Your soo lucky you asked, you are gona wana get a UV filter for your pond because, in any case EVEN IF ITS INDOORS algal bloom is a *(#%, make sure you get a properly sized uv filter, and also note that the algae that grows on the side walls of your liner or whatever is good and you dont need to take any actions to remove it, but the free floating algae that makes your water look like green soup can only be handled by using a UV filter, some have also had some level of success using barley *such as the stuff used to make scotch* as a form of filter media. your going to love your pond when its completely set up, and also Nice choice of fish, i am keeping 2 albino channel cats and four koi as well as one blue channel cat

IndefactorX · Post by **IndefactorX** » 27 Jun 2003, 04:29

as for filters, there is a HUGE debate EVERYWHERE as to what works and what doesn't, the more you research into it, the more you are going to find people contradicting eachother and all of them making valid points as to why there's is right, to be honest, it would be much better if you built your own filter rather than buying a comercial grade filter, btw you should also consider making it a little deeper, an OPTIMUM depth for a pond would be 3ft, whereas 22 inches is considered minimal and it has to be at least that deep if you want to keep fish in it. i'll be posting plans later on for my 3 stage filtration system so just keep checking back at this site if you aren't a regular

00 MooRRii 00 · Post by **00 MooRRii 00** » 27 Jun 2003, 04:32

FatCat wrote:Bacteria dosent clog up filter media, solid waste, sediment, and debris do. That is why biowheels never clog up yet contain more helpful bacteria than all other filter media. 1000 gph going through a 55 gal container is considered very good flow in my opinion. Lots more water (oxygen) passing through the media for a healthier culure and the ability to respond quickly to rapid spikes in amonia. In all actuality 3- 55 gal drums running 1000gph each is probibally overdoing it but im sure that was the point. Cant have too much guarantee with our valued fish.

I agree it is over doing it IMO but it's better then under doing it that's for sure. You need rto keep in mind that all these fish are still relatively small compared to their potential size. I plan on growing this TSN to it's full potential 5' or atleast 4' and the 2 clarius should get 30" ea the marble will most likely grow a couple more inches also, which is ~13' of messy catfish + whatever else i choose to add to the pond in time.

I have never had problems with green water but you are right a UV sterilizer is a good investemnt IMO also.