Pond update 3

The summer tub pond has done well, it is now the beginning of September 2017 and over the past 4 days or so the water has gone crystal clear. I am not sure how algae blooms work but the only thing that has happened is that the days have been less bright and the sun is now lower in the sky resulting in less light.
The water temperature is 17 deg C at 09:00 the air temp is about a deg higher. The fish still seem very happy dashing about and feeding. I have an aquarium cycled in the greenhouse ready to receive them if the temperature drops much further I will leave the tub filled though as the resident Toad and Frog are still making use of it.
Approx 20 fry in the green house grow-out tanks are doing well. The external BOYU filter is working well, keeping the water in that tank very clear. The fish in the other tank with the Alfagrog home made filter are doing well but the water is slightly cloudy so I will have a go at making an airlift sponge filter to provide mechanical filtration.

Update 2 Garden Water Feature

12th May 2017

My water feature filter is now working.

After a couple of issues, I have now managed to get my pool filter system up and running.

The main problem was that the power head pump was delivering too much water to the filter, causing it to overflow. The pump was a 500 litre per hour one, also the output regulator was missing. I found a 400 litre per hour one in my spares box that had a regulator and I substituted this one.

I also replaced the filter outlet hose with a 3/4″ hose and shortened it to be no longer than required. The level in the filter now seems to be stable so I will see if it performs OK.

I am using the filter as a mechanical filter, i.e. no bio or chemical components, as I have no fish in the pond.

Update 1 Garden Water Feature

12th May 2017

My homemade pond filter up and running supplying my garden water feature.

Garden water feature

9th May 2017

My outdoor water feature is coming along. It consists of a plastic planter that is 20" in diameter by 15" deep. I am filling it with rainwater as hopefully, this will have less nutrients in than our local tap water. I intend to add a couple of aquatic plants.

The 3 plants that are in the pots surrounding the tub are bog plants so I have drilled some holes in the pot sides to create a soggy area in the bottom of each of one. All We need now is some rain, it has been very dry over the past few weeks.

Homemade gravity filter

8th May 2017

This is my homemade gravity filter. It is constructed from a 9″ x 6″ plastic container that has a clip on lid. 2 holes were drill top and bottom at the end. and plastic pipe was fed through the holes into the box. The pipes were drilled with several holes to create a spray pattern.

I placed a wire mesh at the bottom of the bow to prevent the foams blocking the outlet pipe. I also used silicon sealant to glue an overflow pipe vertically at the end of the box. This is to create a bypass of the foams to allow the water to escape the filter box if the foams become blocked.

There are 3 layers of foams installed black course, green medium, blue fine density, I have also placed a pad over the top to catch any debris, this can easily by rinsed and replaced.

The top spray inlet will be fed from a 500 litre per hour power head from Aqua one.

 I will post again with the results and observations of my testing process.