ITS GARDEN TIME 🌿

For sure @Shaz51 maybe you can hang em off the clothesline!! Hehehe

@DownMoreThanUp oooo I bet it's ever so soothing just watching them drift about 😍

Oh wow! @DownMoreThanUp That’s a full house in there hehe! Beautiful!!

I also missed your frog pic!! Love that photo do you know what frogs they are?

@Chasingsunsets @Shaz51 @Jynx

Yes we both love our fish pond. We bought just 4 gold fish for starters, and 3 Koi, in 2014 or there abouts. Sadly 2 of the Koi died over the years that followed. However the gold fish multiplied very quickly, within 3 years we had near 70 of them, which then grew to about 100 (we estimate to have at the moment).

The good thing with fish, is they determine their own fertility rate. So when there are so many in a small pond, they only replace themselves when others have died, or been taken by birds, and so their number stays reasonably stable from year to year.

It has been the filtration where i have struggled over the years. For no pond filter, apart of those thousands of dollars worth, can filter water with so many fish in it. So in the end i decided to make my own filter, and this has worked awesome and has saved me to have to do a long dirty weekly job cleaning the filters. Into a job once every few months, as easy as 5-10 minutes work. And it provides with very fertile soil for our garden as well.

The best part is is i build it for less than $500 dollars, and it has basically no running cost attached to it, apart of one, 13 watt waterproof ultraviolet light, worth about $22, ever 12 months.

i have been so happy with it and the water is far cleaner than it ever been before.

hiden behind the shed.It can clean the water at a rate of more than 3500 litres of waterper day. That is near twice the captscity of our pond!nicely out of sight and yet close a powerful bore pump that can clean it in minutes.

@DownMoreThanUp I’ll wait for your pics!!! I am VERY interested to hear about your filter!! I have had no luck in the ones I have had so ponds I have given up on for now!
would love to know how you made yours!!
That’s interesting to hear about the gold fish controlling there own numbers I was thinking at the start you might end up with heaps more hahaha

@DownMoreThanUp @That looks amazing your fish and your pump set up sooo cool!! Lucky you having bore water too !!

@Chasingsunsets i gladly explain how i did it.

Though you may not need such a big container. Years ago i got it from a farmer for $50. It used to have pesticides in it so i cleaned to very thoroughly and bred trout in it.

However though successful at first, i become unwell, become psychotic, and all the trout died for i was too sick to look after them. (i cried bitter tears finding them all belly up, when i got back on my feet again) And so the container stood empty for years. Until my filter idea came up

So i bought some lengths of 6 meter long PVC corner molds from Bunnings, and build a frame about 300mm high, on the floor of the container, with 6 legs made of the same mold. Just drilling screws into the plastic molds to fasten it.

Then i drill a hole in the container where i want the clean water to come out to bring back to the pond, with a special fitting from the irrigation shop.

Then i bought i sheet of sturdy plastic fencing with large diamond shaped holes in it, that i cut to fit tightly in the container and screwed to the top of the PVC frame.(with the clean water outlet underneath i but still at least 200mmm above the floor of the container.)

On top of that i fasten two large fine fish tank filter mat i got from Ebay, which filled the whole platform on the bottom tightly against the container.

On top of this filter mat, i first fasten another part of the sturdy plastic fencing, so the filter mat was tightly packed between two of them and then i fasten 4 powerful water nozzles pointing upwards attached through a special 25mm fitting that i got from the irrigation shop and i connect to my bore pump for when i want to clean the filter under full water pressure.

Then i bought a cheap but strong nylon fish net in a perfect box shape, just a little bigger than my container when placed on the mat on the bottom of my container, measures about 300 mm higher than my container is at the top.

Then i bought 2x 200 litres of beans for bean bags, you can get them cheap from Target. And this was the biggest and hardest job, put them all inside of the fishing net. These beans are so light they go everywhere, so the only way to do it is to open the plastic with the beans in it, inside the fish net, for otherwise, i found out the hard way, they go EVERYWHERE!

After that i tied the top of the net together using a special rope clamp to tighten the net together to absolutely max tightness, and then zippy tie the netting up with long 1/2 meter long strong zippy ties. After which i cut of most of the excess above that away and used a torch burner to melt the rest of nylon netting closed, so no beans can EVER escape when i clean it under pressure.

This i place on top of the mat with the tight part of the fishing net facing down. After i that i made a wooden frame that keeps the beans loosely in place, yet with maximum space for the water to come through, and i place that on top of the fishing net with the beans in it. Fasting it very firmly, so it cannot move even under much pump pressure.

S now when the filter runs full, 99 percent of the dirt in the water is taken out by the beans, which are under pressure pushed together, for the water is about 400 mm higher than the top of beans.

In the top part of the container right above the beans i place an ultra violet light.

The water comes in the filter only during the day. For the waterfall, feeding the filter part of its stream, only runs during daylight hours. About 12 hours in Summer and only 6 hours in Winter. For the filter works so well we can easily do that now. i run an aerator during the other parts of the day. Which is 10 times cheaper to run than our waterfall pump.

i use an automatic ball valve for the pond to stop the filter running empty when the waterfall stops running. i got it from from Peter Graham’s, a farmer's supplier, to which i have attached a fake duck, instead of the orange ball, so it looks good and as part of the pond, and is no eye sore like that original ball was.

i hope that made some sense. If you would like images of the parts i bought, or a more detailed account, let me know, and i will google the images for you, and do my best to explain.

Truly it is easy as. However i suggest you do a smaller filter, than ours, for it is too big for a pond about 1700-1800 litres in size, half its size would have still been good enough i reckon, as long as most of it height is maintained, and you use beans for bean bags, that is very important.

Not sure what size pond you are talking?

@Jynx Some very familiar succulents there. lol Plenty in my garden.

@Shaz51 @Chasingsunsets @ArraDreaming

purple irises are done. White ones are on.

also freesias

Freesias

online pics

still not my photos

My Tuscan topping path is looking good

wow @DownMoreThanUp a pool sounds kool. My place is tiny.

@DownMoreThanUp that’s fantastic, you did an awesome job! Your filter sounds very well constructed and thought about 10 stars I give it haha, impressive!!
mine was small but not running now. I’ll wait until I have a place of my own before I re attempt haha.
Thanks so much for sharing, I’ll save what you wrote for future but might be above my capabilities 😂🤭. But def need something different to the pumps I have used in the past ☺️

Love your flowers @Appleblossom

@Chasingsunsets About those frogs.😁

They are what we call motorbike frogs. For therir croaking sounds just like a motorbike taking off.

It was an old photo though, for the negative of my filter is that the frogs moved away, ever since the water has been so clean.

We have had those motorbike frogs in our pond for years. Bringing us a concert every night, all night long. Both of us had to get used to them being gone.

@ArraDreaming @Chasingsunsets @Appleblossom @Jynx @Shaz51

This monring was dark and cloudy but the garden is still awesome.

Don't they look wonderful?Always friendly greetings in the morning!