Frontosa pond

[Guest big bad burundi]

I have finally got the funds and have purchased my frontosa pond. :D

The pond measures 2220x1820x1200 roughly around 4800 litres. : :

Shed is heated with gas heater no problems there,but filtration a different story.

I figure 4x200 litre drums running as wet drys will coupe reasonabally well,but what can i use as medium in such volume that wont cost the earth.

Any ideas would be appreciated taking into consideration i also live in Adelaide ,so ideas would need to be available loacally preferably.

[YeW]

Daz -

Many ppl run such large tanks (or ponds) off very large sponge filters. I know at an store I used to work at they had a many 1000 litre system running off several large (25cm thick) sponges.

Not sure what it is called but on top of the sponge they used a thin (maybe 5cm thick) coarse piece of filter material... it was made of stiff thick threads similar to thick fishing line.

[Ducksta]

I would be thinking along the lines of purchasing a nice fat roll of leefscreen, or shade cloth, or something similar. :^:

[Guest big bad burundi]

Yes well air operated does make sense i have high powered air pump running 24/7.

Just unsightly would like the filtration be external or prefer it to be i should say.

Good thinking ducksta very cheap and much surface area.

How much to hire under water video im thinking also ,a quick dip with the frontosa.

Get down under with the fishies. :rolleyes:

[Guest big bad burundi]

Yes well air operated does make sense i have high powered air pump running 24/7.

Just unsightly would like the filtration be external or prefer it to be i should say.

Good thinking ducksta very cheap and much surface area.

How much to hire under water video im thinking also ,a quick dip with the frontosa.

Get down under with the fishies. :rolleyes:

[Ben]

How about scoria Darryl?

[Guest big bad burundi]

Just never been a fan of that medium Ben :rolleyes:

[Electric]

Good to see such a serious frontosa keeper :D

Wouldnt mind seeing under water pictures or video

Good Luck

[Tiger]

Hi.

I,m with ben ...........200ltr drum full of scoria or river pebble

maybe a smaller drum as prefilter full of coarse sponge offcuts.

a 6000 ltr an hour pump and your water will be crystal clear !

works for Koi ..........and they are dirty

[zacariabottleneck]

G'day

Thought about one of those above ground pool filters(1/2 h.p. motor with a 100ltr sand filter).You can pick one up cheap and don't they power.

Cheers

zac

[Guest big bad burundi]

yer mate not exactly cheap to run and not able to run 24/7 either.

[bimbo]

would love to see some pics daz

if it was me i would go for something like gutter guard sort of stuff, we used to have a roll of stuff similar in the garden for peas to climb on and would be about the same height as a 200L drum. other than that i would be looking at some sort of really course sponge.

you could also try something like shade cloth but some people reckon it is treated with stuff bad for fish and others use it and reckon it is fine, same as scorria i guess.

:rolleyes: James

[Anthony Osmos]

heres a thought if MONEY isnt an issue use a 2 stage pump e.g. 2hp pump that runs on 1hp 24/7 and uses 2hp for flushing/churning dirty water

as for how much Water you want to push through your system is up to you but if your pond size is 4800L i wouldn`t go for any thing Smaller than 10 000L/H as this would only push your ponds entire water through filter roughly twice every hour i would double this flow rate if not triple for cristal clear water

if you were in sydney id say goto Kenthurst Fish & Filtersbut have a look and maybe you could come up with a D.I.Y. system. Kenthurst Fish and Filters have a large range of air driven filters that are cheap to run and very effective maybe also you can steal an idea or two,

as for cheap filter medium there is a lot you can use in the way of Sponge or Plastic mediums

in bulk a cheap medium would be cut up milk_coke bottles or if you have a concealed filter like a swimming pool filter you can fill with cut up Mcdonalds Straws (heaps messy if not contained)

[bimbo]

one type of pre filtration used in aquaculture filtration systems is a swirl seperator. very simple to build and no medi required.

all it does is to have the incoming water flow into a round tank creating a wirlpool effect. all of the larger solids accumiulate on the bottom of the tank in teh centre of the wirlpool where they can be drained off via a tap in the bottom. the water which is free from larger solids is then taken from the top of teh tank into another fine filter, then a bio filter.

i hope you understand what i mean, i know this doesn't reallt help with bio media but it is a simple way to reduce bio load.

Cheers james

[Guest big bad burundi]

Here is my idea

Filter idea

The drums will be full of shellgrit and substrate primative but should be effective enough.

[Ducksta]

Darryl shell grit and substrate is cheap if you have alot lying aroung, not so cheap if you are buying it for the purpose :

As for the pump, the turnover on most aquaculture ponds is less than the total water volume, it is simply the amount of media it travels through which accounts for the bioload.

Personally, I would try a planted sump - or heavily planting a good section (ie. half) the total volume of the tank, as plants, we all know, are the best filters on the market This would require good lighting though. A trip to a decent hydroponics store should sort you out :^:

[Mbuna]

yeh im with Ducksta.

go for a plant filtration setup.

You could pump the water into a tank or pond outside the shed which grows water plants in direct sunlight and pump the water bak into the shed and into the frontosa pond.

[E4G13M4N]

Shell grit is cheap from some of the grain and fodder stores..

But instead of shell grit Darryl try canunda shells a tiny bit more expensive but a lot cleaner 20 kilo purchase = 20 kilo canunda shells ..

20 kilo shell grit = 14 kilo shells after being washed

[Guest big bad burundi]

We have family on the west coast that grows oysters,i do beleive that they also crushed would be great also.

What yas think.

What are and where do you get those shells from Mark ?

[E4G13M4N]

Oyster shells work well as well ..

The cannunda shells are from Magill Grain & Fodder from memory around $9 for 20k

Cheaper than driving to the West Coast, unless you are allready going there of course

[Willy Wombat]

I agree - broken oyster shells will work very well in your filter. Also they will be a good source of carbonate ions to buffer your tank. Good luck with your pond. You will need some mechanical filtration media along with the oysters as they will only provide the biofiltration - they are fairly inefficient at removing particulate matter.

Have you considered also creating a fluidised bed filter? If you cant get them to work they are brilliant, and you can use sand as your substrate!

Cheers

WW

[Donbennie]

pond? what bout those swimming pool filters lol

now u can swim with ur fishies

[Ducksta]

As has been established, pool filters are not designed to run all day, but only for 2 4-5 hour runs per day (totalling 10 hours)

[Cichlids_au]

Hi Dazza

I don't like the shell grit idea because it will pack down and become hard over time and be a pain in the butt to move.

Try using foam packing noodles, they work a treat for me :^: and are light as well :^:

[Guest big bad burundi]

Now if only i knew what you were on about Mark :o