Thursday, April 17, 2014

I am switching from conventional filtration on my smaller ponds which works well but is very hard at times to maintain (not to mention expensive) to looking at building an anoxic filtration pond for our large pond.


Good Day Dr Novak, 

I appreciate you forwarding the link to study your CD online.  As you have probably come to expect I have a few questions that I need to have answered before I can proceed.  I am switching from conventional filtration on my smaller ponds which works well but is very hard at times to maintain (not to mention expensive) to looking at building an anoxic filtration pond for our large pond.  I am also considering changing our smaller ponds to anoxic as well.  First a bit about my pond I am designing:

 

It will be a formal design with about 24" of the side wall above ground and is intended to hold about 1 fish for every 300 gallons of water in the pond, which is considered to be stocked heavier than the optimal.  While we may not stock the pond to this level, I still want the filtration to be capable of handling this load.  I realize I may have to execute additional water changes, but with cleaning the settlement chambers and flushing my mechanical filters, this would automatically be accomplished. 

 The ponds designed dimensions will be 14ft W X 36ft L X 3ft sloped to 8ft D containing approximately 24,000 gallons of water.  Side walls will be vertical or possibly slight slope in at bottom.  Pond will be liner type with stream flow from shallow to deep end of pond.  My skimmer circuits are planned to go directly to a 5000 GPH pump through a sand/gravel (SG) polishing filter to remove fines and be returned directly to the pond through sweeper returns or TPR’s.  My UV's would be on the skimmer circuit. 

 I intend to have 3 - 4" bottom drains and 2 - 3" mid level returns which will go to two separate settling chambers with micro-screen prefilters (100 micron) to two ESS8500 (8500 GPH high efficacy) pumps.   These pumps would feed two large polishing SG filters to the anoxic filtration system.  I intend to build the anoxic filter so that it would be 5ft W X 14ft L X 2.5ft D, which would house approximately 60 biocenosis pots/ baskets with approximately 25 to 30 planted (assumes 11" X 11" X 7" pots) and the filter would feed back to the pond via 2 - 3ft by 6" sheer waterfalls.  I would have piping with valves that would allow us to reduce or remove water traveling over the water falls and from the filter down the pipes directly back into the pond (to reduce cooling of the water in spring and fall).  We are located in Harrisonville, Missouri just south of Kansas City for location reference.  

 

That is the thought in a nutshell; I have only drawn it by hand to date, getting ready to start the CAD work on it.  My questions would be as follows:

1.     Q: We found a really good price on some planting baskets, but they are only 9" X 9" X 5", can we substitute these baskets (increasing quantity of baskets of course) and use them or some of them?

2.     A: These baskets are a little small but may work. Some hobbyists do use such baskets because of their weight compared to the larger ones, which are too much for then to lift out of the filter if required. 

3.     Q: Is my quantity or size of anoxic chamber adequate for the pond design, if I need additional baskets can I stack them?

4.     A: Yes you may, just make sure that you do not block or inhibit the intersection of topography between the two baskets. 

3. Q: Can we make an area just off of the filter where we could put Lionheads Goldfish (maybe a dozen) where they can not get into the plants in the filter, but their water is shared with it?

A: You can place Lionheads in the filtration system if you like; I have for many years now with no ill effect on the filtration system. FYI, they have lived that way for over 15-years now. 

5.     Q: The large basket in the pond like shown in your book is it necessary and can we make it a "floating" basket anchored in place or supported from the bottom?

6.     A: A floating basket is just fine; I have one in my pond to keep the fish calm so when onlookers are near they can swim behind it for protection. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask: An unasked question is for more dangerous than a question that asked, but may sound stupid! 

Thanks for your time, I really do appreciate it.  I know you help out more as a labor of love and honestly to help others. 

Sincerely, 

Tracy and Rebecca Wagoner

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