I built a new plant filter.

[PondmaninAL]

I have been planning this thing out for a few months and today, I have finally finished it. I had a woman email me that had pea soup for pond water in her koi pond. She tried putting plants in with her koi and they emptied all her pots. My suggestion to her was to clean out the pond and add a plant filter. Well, I was able to get a local koi club to come out and clean the pond and I had volunteered to build the filter. She had a big preformed pond liner that was cracked and tossed to the back of the property. I managed to patch it with a universal patch that I bought from Unitliner. I originally patched it with RV roofing patch which is like single sided EPDM seaming tape. It didn't hold. Then I put the universal patch on but we still had a leak. On a final look today, I found a small crack that we missed. I patched it and filled it up. It hasn't lost a drop yet. I made a bulkhead fitting to overflow the water into a creek that lead back to the pond. As of today, it is completed. Well, my part at least. There is still landscaping to do around it and plants to put in. This is ideal for her and her husband as they love plants. The fish are just pets. I will get pics Wednesday when I deliver a small bridge to go across the creek. I'm happy with the results.

Also, during the construction, her Beckett 3500 pump died so I loaned her my extra HF 1585 GPH pump until her HF 4000 GPH waterfall pump gets here. They were pulling the pump out by the cord and it finally cut one wire.

What I haven't mentioned is, this was all volunteer work as her and her husband don't have much money. Of course, my wife and I got fed since my wife also repaired some body damage on her car. We also get other food from this woman to take home, like bakery bread and pizza.

[casey]

Sounds like you will sleep well tonight, anyway I do when I know I have done something nice to help someone.  In our family we say, "Good Job, Julia!"  That's a long story in itself but it's a major pat on the back.

 

[Ky Kim]

Can't wait to see the pics.  I agree with casey, you'll sleep well.

Kim

[Julles]

That's a nice thing to do for those people.  Was it a bog filter that you built?  ... that uses gravel and plant roots to filter the water, instead of a canister filter?

[PondmaninAL]

I finally uploaded the pics of the filter, creek, and simple bridge.





As Spring gets here, the homeowners will landscape around it, hiding the liner. I also added a spray bar to help aerate the water.

Modified to say that she did not want her pond shown because of the condition that it is in.

[Esther]

Good job Scott. Glad you are keeping busy. If she a member of your group? By the way, is she aware we all have seen messes around ponds before? Some of us have seen it more than once. Tell her that next year she will proudly show us a "before and after" picture.

[marla]

Oh that looks really nice.  We want to redo our little top pond that now is like a veggie filter, Koi and plants can be a problem, that's why only goldfish in my lily pond.
what is the grate for? plants?   

[Kat]

Nice sized plant filter & the bridge looks perfect for that spot.  Decent of you to help out that way.

[PondmaninAL]

She is not a member of this group, Esther. She really don't have much time on line since she volunteers her time to help the more unfortunate. She has been helping my wife and I with food and provided a few meals while my wife and I have been doing some work for her. She does enjoy cooking and is a chef and caterer. She also has a husband and son to cook for plus washing and cleaning. Actually, she is embarrassed of her pond since it is pea soup right now.

Marla, the "grate" is wire shelving placed there to put plants on so the roots can go down through it to become the filter media.

The bridge is treated 4x4's that were cut up. One was split for the main support and a couple of shorter ones were cut into 1" planks. This was just a simple and quick design. I'm planning one for myself but of a more complex design with rails.