Pump for Duck Pond

MicheleMomof4 · #1 10/18/04, 08:36 PM

We just dug a 2ft. wide, 10 feet long and 3 feet deep duck pond. We had been using kiddie pools for our 2 girls.
I was curious what kind of pump would I need to keep the water clean?
I ask the question in the Poultry forum and they thought it might be better here. We have access to a cheap above ground pool pump and wonder if this would help?

DayBird · #2 10/18/04, 10:28 PM

The swimming pool pump will probably clog up much too quickly. Ducks have an odd habit of sitting in a pond and "dibbling" in the resulting mud around the edges. What have you lined the pond with? If it were concreted with a wide lip around the edges, the dirt dumped into the pond would be greatly reduced. How about a very wide gravel edge.

Get a big pump designed for a goldfish pond. Make sure it has a trash guard to keep leaves out of the impeller. Pump the water up into the top of a 55 gallon drum filled with gravel. Lava rocks would probably be the best. If you could filter it through some form of foam that could be rinsed or replaced all the better. Drill a large hole on the bottom and drain teh water back into the pond.

Alex · #3 10/18/04, 10:52 PM

Yes you need some type of filter. Above post is a good idea - a home-made "slow-rate sand" (or gravel) filter - good. You could try gravel and sand in layers. And, its a good idea to rig up a "back-wash" method, where you reverse the flow for a while, and dump the "backwash" to drain or other use.

Sounds good, give it a try.

Alex

MicheleMomof4 · #4 10/19/04, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DayBird

The swimming pool pump will probably clog up much too quickly. Ducks have an odd habit of sitting in a pond and "dibbling" in the resulting mud around the edges. What have you lined the pond with? If it were concreted with a wide lip around the edges, the dirt dumped into the pond would be greatly reduced. How about a very wide gravel edge.

We have it lined with the pond liner material, I dont know the name off hand. We have enough to make a wide lip around the pool. Would this help?

Quote:

Get a big pump designed for a goldfish pond. Make sure it has a trash guard to keep leaves out of the impeller. Pump the water up into the top of a 55 gallon drum filled with gravel. Lava rocks would probably be the best. If you could filter it through some form of foam that could be rinsed or replaced all the better. Drill a large hole on the bottom and drain teh water back into the pond.

DH says this is a great idea, thanks!

DayBird · #5 10/19/04, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicheleMomof3

We have it lined with the pond liner material, I dont know the name off hand. We have enough to make a wide lip around the pool. Would this help?

Put that down and cover it with stones and gravel, the wider the better for helping to keep the pond clean. A sand filter would probably clog up too quickly. I'd use gravel, lava rocks if you can find them, with the biggest no bigger than a ping pong ball. A layer of sand at the bottom of the drum would help to "polish" the water. The larger sized gravel would trap larger particles of trash while the sand would trap smaller particles. If you just used sand or sand in a layer at the top, it would clog up in a matter of days. You have to remember that a filter doesn't remove trash, dirt or other pollutants from the water. It just provides a place for decomposition to occur. The only way to remove this from the water is to physically remove it. Think of an aquarium, you do have to change out that filter pad.

10 X 2 X 3 = 60 cubic feet of water.
60 cubic feet of water X 7.5 gallons of water per cubic foot = 450 gallons of water. Give or take some depending on how high you actually have the water level.

What you're doing is making one enormous pot for "brewing" manure tea. Look outside the box. Don't think of it as the ducks making the water dirty. Think of it as the ducks making an excellent, organic fertilizer for you. Use a filter. There's no way to help keep it clean without one, but do drain off at least 50 gallons of that water each week to use in the garden, more in the summer. Make sure to use mosquito dunks to keep them away.

MicheleMomof4 · #6 10/19/04, 10:07 PM

Thank you!
This has been such a learning experience! We are doing as you suggested. DH is going to build a gravel type filering system. I think he is still going to use the pool pump just cause it will pump the water just fine and is much cheaper. He said he can rig it to the gravel "filter" easily.
Now here is a question you may not be able to answer. If we do as follows and also take off the 50 gallons each week (which was the PERFECT idea I think!). How often do you think we would have to drain it completely and refill it? I said a month and DH says we can go longer. Anyone want to settle a bet for us? :haha:

DayBird · #7 10/19/04, 10:13 PM

I'd say take 100 gallons out each week without draining it completely. You then may not have to ever drain it completely. That would be a real pain and potentially costly.

How about using some other drums to harvest rainwater off of your roof. Use this water to refill the pond. You "could" get a 12 volt pump and wire it to a solar panel and battery. You'd then have an off the grid organic fertilizer factory.

Or, if you have an area where overflow could run off (which you probably would need anyhow), you could just drain your gutters directly into the pond. The water would then be partially changed everytime it rains.