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Too flock or not too flock ?


Guest big bad burundi

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Guest big bad burundi

Purchasing some bi-carb soda today i was asked if i thought of using a flocking agent to help clear the pond.It is an alum based flock probally no different than what the water board uses i suppose.Is it safe to use in pond to clear it up,there are no fish in the pond as yet.

Please no guess work helpfull presise reply is what im after . biggrin.gif

Thankyou.

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Hi Der tongue.gif Ummm don't see why you would need to flock as you

then have to remove the solid waste anyhow smile.gif .. And thats what

your filter is for anyways rolleyes.gif .. And if your considering this

to shorten the "stocking" time i won't improve any water condition

for yer fish , Looks to me like you have plenty of use-able water

in your other tanks (pic's) so i don't know why you just did'nt do a

75% water change from your exsisting tanks , then top up yer tub

with fresh water /chlor neut / and then just use it straight away ???

Methinks you doing it hard for nothing laugh.gif ... Have fun ..

Andy...

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Hi bbb,

Have to agree with lungy here (again ohmy.gif ). Why use a flocculent? I would, as lungy suggested, draw the majority of the water you need from the existing tanks (provided the parameters are fine and they are not loaded with nitrates). You are simply adding to the cost of your project and not really gaining much as an end result.

merjo

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hi darryl,

not a precise answer sorry as I've never tried flocculants in a tank but I've used the stuff on a farm dam stocked with rainbow trout (and a 30,000 litre concrete tank with trout fingerlings.)

It didn't seem to cause the trout any problems (other thank making it easier for cormorants to pick off the little ones) and gave the dam a luvverly blue sheen.

The first option is obviously to just to do water changes but if you have an ongoing problem with turbidity (and I can understand.... why have a huge pond full of fish if it's too dark and cloudy to see the fish in there) then

- I definately woudln't put a flocculant directly in the pond as it can get quite difficult to remove the gunk that settles out, particularly if it gets to stay there for ages (we had to use a high pressure hose on the 30,000 litre tank as the fine clay we were settling out set like concrete)

- you might get some benefit having a bag of kibbled alum in one of your filter drums. The alum granules dissolve gradually and induce the fine particles to stick to your filter media (rather than to your pond floor). it means you need to take the drum out occasionally and hit it with a serious water stream to wash the gunk off but that's probably easier than trying to get it out of the pond.

--------

I forgot to add... Alum lowers the ph yet needs a high ph to work properly and keep dissolved aliminium below toxic levels (that's why the waterboard add lime as part of the flocculation process). If you use it have your tank very well buffered first and keep an eye on ph levels. Now that I think about it.. .this would be enough to scare me off using it in anything but tiny quantities for tanganyikan fish; can't imagine rapidly changing ph and aluminium levels being good for 'em.

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Guest big bad burundi

Cheers Laurie

Thanks for your imput i have since fixed the slight problem the pond had .I have used a natural mineral flock i have made myself actually.Its a by-product of the filter medium im using in my filtration,is used widely in sewage treatment plant and alike .Has no ill affects ive seen to date and im sure it wont in the future either.You may in fact be interested yourself if so send me an email i past along the details buddy.But lets just say i wouldnt be using a simular retail availabe product in any tanks no more.I will simply use some of this in the future as it does have some wicked benefitial properties to everything that come in contact with it so far biggrin.gif .

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