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Pond Efficiency with Water Quality and Energy By Russell Peters <mailto:pskoi@mindspring.com> To keep a healthy pond you need four elements. First you need good drainage. This is a system that removes waste from the pond to the filter. Too often I see ponds without bottom drains and skimmers. Most waste will settle out on the bottom of a pond and if there is no way to remove it, it will build up, become anaerobic and make your fish ill. Even worse it may kill your fish! Bottom drains will remove a lot of this waste and a skimmer will remove floating debris before it ever reaches the bottom of your pond. Second, you will need good filtration. There are two kinds of filtration, mechanical and biological. There is not a single filter manufactured as a single component that can do both of these processes well. I don't care what the manufacturers say, it is not possible. You need some sort of filter that can separate the mechanical (solids) from the water and you need some sort of filter for the biological filtration (nitrification). Third, you need good circulation in your pond. You can get this by using the water that comes out of your filter. If this water is returned to your pond below the water line (12" - 24") then it will create a current that will move the water in your pond so that it does not stagnate or sit too long before it goes into the filter. Fourth, you need good aeration. Good aeration is not your waterfall breaking the surface of your pond. You need to exchange the heavier bad gases that build up on the bottom of your pond (stratification) with oxygen. The best way to do this is with an air pump and air stones. The bubbles from the air stones will lift the water from the bottom of the pond to the surface and at that point the exchange of gases will take place. This lift will also create additional current to move the water in your pond. The best filter design for water quality as well as energy efficiency has been and will always be a gravity flow system. They are not hard to build and can be made for any size pond. The gravity flow filter is a system in which your filter is made up of three or four chambers and they are set up so that the water level in the filter is the same as the water level in the pond. This allows you to install your pump at the end of the filter. The pump pulls the water and solids through the filter chambers. As the water flows through each of the chambers the solids will settle out (this is the mechanical part of the filter) and the ammonia in the water is then converted in the final chambers (this is the biological part of the filter) so that it becomes harmless to the fish. Using 3" - 4" pipe in your filtration system reduces the resistance and the pump becomes more efficient. As far as pump efficiency goes , we carry a line of pumps from Aqua - Flo that are extremely efficient. They manufacture four different single speed pumps. They are the 1/15HP (horse power), 1/8 HP, 1/6 HP and the 1/4 HP pump. These pumps are low suction high volume pumps. This means that you get the best performance with the least amount of resistance. If there is too much pressure in front of the pump or if they are put in a situation that they have to create a lot of suction, they will fall short in their performance. The 1/15 HP pump uses 1.3 amps and will move 3000 GPH at 3.4 feet of head (this is the amount of resistance the pump can handle to run at peak performance), the 1/8 HP pump uses 1.7 amps and will move 3800 GPH at 4.6 feet of head, the 1/6 HP pump uses 2.0 amps and will move 4100 GPH at 5.78 feet of head and the 1/4 HP pump uses 2.5 amps and will move 4980 GPH at 10 feet of head. What does this mean? It means absolutely nothing if you do not set up you system properly. If these pumps are used on a system that is gravity flow or low pressure you will be able to run your pond 24 hours a day for pennies a day. For example, the 1/4 HP pump uses 2.5 amps of electricity. This is 287.5 watts. Right now a KWH (kilowatt hour) costs about eleven cents an hour. One KWH is 1000 watts. This means the 1/4 HP pump will cost approximately 3.1625 cents an hour or 75.9 cents a day or $22.77 a month to run. This is very economical and energy efficient. Is it possible to have a Koi pond and not spend a lot on energy? Yes. Is it possible to have excellent water quality? Yes! The techniques and principles I have discussed in pond design have been around for a long time. I think that with the energy crisis more and more pond builders will learn to build more efficient systems both for energy use and water quality. I do believe that many ponds are being built by landscapers and pool builders who do not know what they are doing. As the hobby of keeping Koi grows, more and more people will be asking questions and they should try to find the people with the right answers. The more the homeowner learns the more the pond builder will have to learn. Russell Peters <mailto:pskoi@mindspring.com> is co-owner of Peters & Sons Koi and Pond Supply, which features fine quality Koi and the best Koi & Pond products available. Through their construction services, they specialize in building the best ponds for your environment and budget. |
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