Any ideas?

[landey1230]

I need some help concealing this eye sore of a filter.  I can wait till the potato vines to overlap, but I think it will be a little too much.  I appreciate any input I can get. 

[landey1230]

Here's another pic.

[miguynmkoi]

Welcome!  You have a nice set up there.  Boy are yo in luck.  Check out the posts today by Spanishleprechaun.  He has a few ponds he's worked on that are similar to yours.

I would think that if you could move the box back with the help of longer hose and pipe for the water outlet you could put up a few more rocks to hide the box.  Plus if you read the other posts by Spanishleprechaun you will learn how he controls how the water flows out over the rock shelf in a sheet motion.  Very nice!

Good Luck!  Show us what you do.

[landey1230]

Thank you.  I absolutely enjoy this forum.  My wife says I'm obsessed.  I can't argue with that. 

I have seen the pictures he has posted, but that is out of my league.  I once had another filter and ran 1in pvc from it to the water fall.  The filter began to leak where the pvc was attached.  I would like to do that with this one, but I find it difficult to remove the spout.  Here's what it looked like before.

[miguynmkoi]

Waterproof Glue or silicone something will prevent it from leaking.  Your waterfall setup is very close to the way Carlos has his designed.  Come on you can do it!

Who says I'm obsessed with Ponders? 

 

[landey1230]

I'm going to try it.  I'll keep you posted. 
I went back to Carlos' post and saw what he used to control the flow of the waterfall.  There are always great ideas here.  You're right, I guess it was my lucky day.  Thank you.

[Mikey]

You've done a great job thus far.  One quick option is to continue piling up rocks to conceal it.  Another option to consider if you have adequate liner is to move the filter back further toward the wall and then pile more rocks in front of it.

[Esther]

Yup, we piled rocks. My DH cemented them in place and we aren't experienced at cement work at all. I kinda felt that it reinforced the sides of the filter too.

[landey1230]

Thanks guys.  I'm going to move it back and connect pvc to the filter so that it can reach.  I'm really considering a skippy.  That's another project.  Boy, I would like to start over.  I'm sure many feel the same way about their first pond. 

[Esther]

Luckily I found another watergardening forum that had many of our same members, about 8 months before we dug our first hole. I had been reading it and hearing a lot of the information for a long time. But I understand your frustration. Even with knowing a lot of stuff ahead of times, we have changed a few things after they were done, not many though, and nothing major. WE have had very good luck with our installation. That was lucky that we didn't have to change anything much too seeing we cemented the rocks around the Skippy and down the waterfall.

But don't feel like a failure just because you are changing things. That is just part of the learning process and most of us are upgrading one way or another all the time. If we aren't working on it, we're thinking about it. That seems to be part of the fun of this hobby.

[miguynmkoi]

Boy, I would like to start over.  I'm sure many feel the same way about their first pond.

  Get in line!! 

[landey1230]

Those are kind words of wisdom, Esther.  Thank you.  I have seen your skippy in a previous post.  I read how you built it, as well.  Your set up looks easy to immitate.  I like how you formed the beggining of the waterfall from it.  If you don't mind, I would like to make one just like yours. 

[mcp]

Landley, You have a great first pond. Much better than the first one I built. We all wish we had the knowledge of this site when we built our first pond. Skippys are very easy to build and work wonders. Like others have said if you move it back and pile rocks around would be nice and effective. You probably have the site but if not here it is:http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm
Here is another excellant one that is Genes design:http://www.koiclay.com/diy/pg1.htm
Hope you find them helpful and show us some pictures of what you build.

[Rocmon]

A couple of thoughts.

One is that outflow pipe would probably take a rubber coupling comes with a couple of hose clamps (plumbing supply store) to which you could add additional pipe length and move the filter back a ways and build a rock pile w/plants around it.

Second—I don't know what the inside of your filter looks like but up flow is supposed to be better. Attach your pump input hose to the outflow at the bottom and cut an opening very near the top to "overflow" out of the filter. Rearrange the filtration inside to work in upflow (course at the bottom fine at the top.) You could attach a spillway like in the skippys or simply cut a round hole and put in a bulk head fitting and run a pipe out from it. The filter could then be lowered into the ground by the height of the filter unit.

Was that 2 cents worth?

Oh, a pond is never finished... If your not messing with the existing one, your planning the next.

[landey1230]

Thanks for the site mcp.  I appreciate everyone's help.  I'll take 2 cents any day Rocmon.   

I'm going to take everyone's advice with the skippy.  I think if I try to convert this filter into something else, it might make things a little worse.  For one thing, it has to be level.  I'm sure so does the skippy, but this one is uber sensitive.  If it is slightly tipped, than there's a leak.  I just need to find the appropriate container for a skippy.  I can handle the construction.

As far as ponding goes, I enjoy the hobby and it does keep me busy.  I would love to build another, but only for water plants.  I have seen Sean's and how he built his using 2 by 12 and a liner.  However, the wife can't handle the pond over load.    Now that the weather is cooling down here in AZ, I'll be spending more time outdoors.  I'll keep everyone posted.   

[spanishleprachaun]

  Landey  --- Feel free to give me a call anytime in the evenings after 8:30pm.  More than happy to talk pond and options you could go forward with at this point. UPFLOWS are the way to go when it comes to better filtration-- use that style all the time.  Versions of SKIPPY filters have had great success in many of the ponds I built... I like the use of UNISEALS when it comes to the curved bodies of drums and watertanks used as skippys.  AMAZING leak protection with those suckers and the principal of  a - PRESSURE SEAL is how they work.  Give em a call.. happy to help out fellow ponders

210-836-6892

[landey1230]

Wow.  Thanks for the support Spanish.  I'll use those products to seal.

Well, I got rid of some of my koi today.  After investigating this site, I found out you cannot have so many koi to with a certain amount of water per koi.  I'm trying to do things the correct way now.  Instead of doing things my way, I'll ask for help.  Much easier that way. 

[barb]

What a beautiful pond!  I can't wait to see how you finish it.