Pond Question

[MadReefer]

What media besides bioballs can be used in filter for a pond? I have an Eheim canister with no media. The pump is in the pond with a hose to the filter. It's make shift until I can get a better filter.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Phyl]

We used a cartridge style filter for our pond. You can put filter floss in there for now if you want, but you'll probably have to change it weekly. My mom's filter is a sand filter that she backwashes.

 

[MadReefer]

Phyl,
Thanks for the reply. The filter is to big for floss and the pads are outrageously over priced. Last year I tried to use pea gravel but think it's to small and makes the filter to compact. I was considering rocks the size of those white garden ones. I'll have to stop at HD or Lowes and see what is available. If the pond doesn't stay clear this year I am going to get rid of it. Of course the wife likes the pond more than my reef tank so not sure how that will fly.

Mark

 

[kathainbowen]

Phyl,
Thanks for the reply. The filter is to big for floss and the pads are outrageously over priced. Last year I tried to use pea gravel but think it's to small and makes the filter to compact. I was considering rocks the size of those white garden ones. I'll have to stop at HD or Lowes and see what is available. If the pond doesn't stay clear this year I am going to get rid of it. Of course the wife likes the pond more than my reef tank so not sure how that will fly.

Mark

Well, I couldn't in good consciousness recommend an Eheim for an outdoor feature (eheims are just too cool to condemn to outdoor life). However, since it seems like your only option, perhaps you could use it with bundled packs of media in Seachem's the Bag, or perhaps those biomax cube packs from Aquaclear filters?

I can see where the pea gravel could post a problem, but, perhaps, you could make a ghetto-ized biobox by running the return hose of the Eheim to the base of a water resevoir of some form. Fill the resevoir partially with pea gravel and possibly put a large rock on top of that to keep the lighter gravel down. Make sure the resevoir has a lower side to it, hanging over the pond. Hide it with tasteful plants that easily overgrow or just rocks. Voila, instant waterfall and pea gravel filter.

However, there could be another underlying issue to the situation that is causing the pond to haze or bloom with algae. I'd recommend a big assessment of your current setup to see what to do.

Evaluate how many fish you have (*since the pond is running on an Eheim, I doubt it's large enough for koi, so hopefully you have none of those). Try to evaluate if your stocking is appropriate. For goldfish, you should have at least 5 gallons of water for every one inch of fish at the least (so, figuring an adult comet will get to be able 12" at the least, you should have at least 60 gallons for that one adult fish). Estimate 10 gallons of water for each inch of koi (so, at 36"~ of a single koi at adult size, you should have at least 360 gallons for one koi). These are general rules of thumb based off of what I have found to work for easy estimate, but your own care will affect this. At the moment, depending on the size of the pond, with just an Eheim, it is most likely you do not have enough filtration to support either or koi or goldfish and still keep the water pristine. Try to figure your gallons to see if the Eheim is turning over enough water for you pond and also to see if you are not overstocked. If either situation is the case, you might wish to switch to a smaller animal, perhaps only a "summer" animal, such as paradise fish or livebearers, which you bring in during the fall.

If overstocking/underfiltering is not the issue (although, admittedly, they are the most common errors in pond keeping that lead to cloudy or murky ponds), there could be another issue at work that's less obvious. Check the coping for your pond and the lay of the surrounding area to make sure that runoff, particularly runoff rich in fertilizers or other additives aren't accidentally getting in (the Playboy Mansion actually had an issue with this where runoff coming downhill was making the ponds and the well known "grotto pool" turn green regularly. Ick!). Look for where trees, shrubs, or plants might be overhanging the pond and dropping in leaves and excess decaying matter that could be feeding algae. Also, look to where your pond is during the entire tract of daylight. If your pond is in full sun with little cover, it might just need some floating plants or waterlilies to help shade and compete with algae (believe me, I've got a tub in full sun with just a dwarf lily and a marginal or two, and I can see right down to the bottom all the time).

Stop for a moment before you think about dumping the pond all together and look at all the factors at work for your green before doing anything rash. G'luck, and I hope it helps!