Sunset feeding time

[mikroll 246]

Koi and goldfish feeding at sunset (and Happy hour for me). 

[koko 14,377]

That is just stunning. You did a great job.👏

[Acro 691]

Super beautiful!  I want to swim in there with the koi and goldfish!  :D

But really, thanks for posting those photos! 

:D

[mikroll 246]

Thanks , and if you ever make it to Italy your welcome to sit on the bench and feed them too. Never tried swimming in that pond but I guess it can be done.

[mikroll 246]

Finally got the second filter working again. Had a bad leak (1000+ liter a day) and could not find it. So after a month of screwing around just re cemented the entire filter and the water fall. Now works GREAT!! In just a week have collected many handfuls of mulm nasty stuff. ( so is working) pictured is the filter with now the plants being added . 

[Acro 691]

On 7/4/2020 at 3:37 AM, mikroll said:

Thanks , and if you ever make it to Italy your welcome to sit on the bench and feed them too.

After the pandemic, I may take you up on the offer!  :D

[dahling8 97]

Great pics!  The pond & fish looks so beautiful and natural.  Even the filter looks beautiful and natural!

[mikroll 246]

Hi Dahling8. Thanks! And you too can sit on the bench and feed them if you ever make it to Italy!

[J.Allen 9]

On 6/24/2020 at 1:54 AM, koko said:

That is just stunning. You did a great job.👏

I second that.

[mikroll 246]

The leak is back!! Have worked hard trying to locate it by diverting water flow from the two filter units. Loosing about 500-1000 l overnight. Finally believe it to be in the first two compartments of the water fall filter. Last time it was the streaming bed of the fall that had holes in the plastic liner.  Roots penetrated the foam sides and bottom of the filter box. That is now getting the super tile cement treatment. Pictured are view of filter and jungle that has grown in just shot time. Got so frustrated with the leak that I took it out on the park bench by repainting it green. 

[J.Allen 9]

That’s a nice looking hen you have there.

If you run the pump overnight have you tried turning it off over night and seeing if it leaks more or less? 
 

how is your pump plumbed in on the suction side? Do you have a skimmer , a main drain, and a vac line like a swimming pool or something different?

 

best regards, 

Jordan

[mikroll 246]

Hi Jordan ,   Hen is actually the gardener with her other mates. They are allowed out of hen house  jail for a couple hours  before sunset to pick bugs and weeds. Shepherds are locked in kennel for this event of course.

By the questions you seem to know and have ponds too?

Yes have tried closing the pumps (there are two independent systems) . This isolation technique found first leak in the stream of the falls unit. This time was more difficult as it seems to be in the actual filter unit . The two filter systems are connected by an overflow pipe witch allows excessive water from the fall filter to flow down to the secondary filter box serviced by its own pump. 

The filters are bio .  3-5 chamber full of plants that love fish S.  This filters are around 15 years age   And can support many fish. 

Pumps are  economic 30 watt , washing machine units , made for Front loading units, Hoover, Candy. These suck the water and as they are located in a well below the pond surface level  do the job very well , 24/7. They cost little and last a long time.

No skim (except when adding water )

 This pond has no drain, pond construction provides a stepped, sloped bottom . About 8000 volume.

No vac , but sump pump 19000 evacuates quite well when needed. 

[J.Allen 9]

I've not yet had the opportunity to build my own pond , however I have a few years of experience with pools, sprinklers, wells and water treatment ( I can't seem to escape working with water) I have worked a few pools that were better suited for Koi than humans.

Do you find that now that you have emptied the filter box that the leak is still occurring if so at the same rate or slower?

what is the actual bottom and banks of the pond made of? dirt with rubber liner? concrete? gravel with liner?

In pools the most common places for leaks to occur is around the collar of the main drain on the bottom, the mouth of the skimmer, and the breach of the wall for the pool light. * if your pumps are front loader and suck water through the side wall of the pond my hypothesis would be the constant flow has eroded around the material and has caused a weeping leak. You might be able to detect this by using some type of fine tip syringe with food coloring, with all equipment off inject wherever equipment or fittings breech the pond  to see if you can see where the dye gets sucked out. You may have to scrub yourself down with a plastic brillo put on a rubber male contraceptive (or 2 for good measure) with once around with tape for watertight integrity ( prevents possible infection)  and take a swim so you can see.

If you've already isolated it to the secondary filter box, it might just save you headaches to build another box around the outside of your filter box made wood with a 2cm gap off the original box and pour hydraulic cement in to form a new outer-box fused to the old box in an effort to seal any pinholes or cracks you can't see. My thinking is outside of the original box rather than patching inside so that as the concrete cures over time any efflorescence that might form will have minimal surface area contact with the water the fish live in and any salts that might collect will be more on the outside.

If you suspect that the crack or leak is in the bottom, and the box cannot be fully emptied or lifted up to seal underneath it may help to take the water level down as low as possible and line the bottom of the box with a screen like material, then gravel, then some type of clay, mud, or sludge from elsewhere in the pond to form like a natural plug for the hole or crack, another option would be to line the bottom of the box with gravel and hydraulic cement that, then whatever roots may have penetrated the bottom of the box will just keep growing into the ground and as the plant stock grow in girth and begin to get chocked by their own growth they will throw out new roots above the choke point in the stalks.( If removing the plants temporarily for inspection and repair is not an option) If you did need to hydraulic cement the bottom of the box even though hydraulic cement will setup under water its probably best to let it be hit with sun and soak on its own before exposing the ecosystem water to it and then circulating that water to the fish. I would steer away from any type of epoxy or putty since these things usually have many different chemicals with often unmentioned voc. Super fine sand may even work to plug bottom holes once it gets mixed in with some mud, detritus, biofilm and water.

what are your thoughts on this?

Best Regards, 

Jordan

 

 

[mikroll 246]

1. Leak this morning is about  400- 500 l so seems to be less than the 1000+ that is driving we nuts.

2. Today rerouted with big hose (pictured) the pump bypassing the filter and the stream and falls to flow directly back into the pond. Looks like the big leak is again in the stream bed. Tomorrow will tell.

3. Now wil completely cement all of stream bed and filter tomorrow if weather permits.

4. Many thanks to al for the helpful suggestions and ideas .