Electricity Free Pond?

[Sirtrashcan]

Hey guys,
So i got an idea for a pond that i want to dig in my yard, but i want to do it without having to put pumps in it. Has anyone ever tried using a Heron's Fountain in their pond? My idea is to put in a Heron's Fountain to lift water into a bog that can waterfall into the main pond and have the main pond drain back into the fountain. i figured that if anyone has attempted to do it, it would be someone on here. This project will be happening at some point in the semi near future for my Long Nose Gar. I do have the time to plan this out because i can step his tanks up for the time it will take until he needs the pond.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Like the idea but not entirely sure that will work.
The principle works with pressurised containers and your pond would therefore have to be either part of the pressurised system (one of the bottles) or the highest point of the pressurised system (the area where the fountain discharges into) but then the pressurised system would have to be built below the pond and connected to it.
Would love for someone to show us practically how this can be done with a pond or tank and how the system would/ could then still be primed

 

[Sirtrashcan]

Thanks for the info! I have been staring this problem down for a while, and I am also learning that Heron's fountains are not perpetual and have to be restarted (usually by flipping it over). So i would have to find a way to reset the fountain and am now considering a mechanical pump thats run by a water wheel downstream of the waterfall or even built into the flow of the waterfall.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

am now considering a mechanical pump thats run by a water wheel downstream of the waterfall or even built into the flow of the waterfall.

You'll be saving yourself a huge amount of time and effort just running even just an extension cord to the pond to power a pump rather than trying to invent perpetual motion.

 

[fishdance]

You can use airlifts to raise water small heights efficiently. Keep the air pump/blower near your electrical power (under cover) and run air hose several hundred meters to the pond. I've got 25mm line running 500m lengths (buried, underwater and along fences) and 90mm pipe airlifts. You could airlift water up into the heron fountain or skip the heron fountain entirely.

However, you don't really need to lift water to filter a pond, use the same air to circulate & filter.

 

[C. Breeze]

I maintain 8 out doors vats/ ponds year round no electricity or air. Just plants fish and bugs. Water is green for about 2 months a year and clear the rest of the time. They range from 110-1000 gallons

 

[jjohnwm]

I have a plastic stock tank buried flush with the ground, immediately adjacent to my little backyard pond. Connected to the pond with two siphons, one at each end. One siphon has an upturned end with a vertical lift tube on the pond side. Drop in an airline and water flows into the pond from the stock tank at that end, and siphons into the stock tank from the pond at the other end. Fill the stock tank with gravel, plant some emergents, and you have a bog filter. It's only been running for one summer so far, seems to work nicely...but frankly the pond was without any circulation or filtration for the past 5 years and experienced no problems. If there is a power interruption or the air is otherwise turned off, the two siphons stop flowing but the water level remains the same in both bodies of water. It is a lot easier and safer to run a buried air line out to your pond rather than a buried power line.

If you decide to try this, remember that you must drop the water level in the pond when digging the hole for the stock tank so that water pressure doesn't collapse out the dividing wall between the pond and the hole.

 

[Sirtrashcan]

I have a plastic stock tank buried flush with the ground, immediately adjacent to my little backyard pond. Connected to the pond with two siphons, one at each end. One siphon has an upturned end with a vertical lift tube on the pond side. Drop in an airline and water flows into the pond from the stock tank at that end, and siphons into the stock tank from the pond at the other end. Fill the stock tank with gravel, plant some emergents, and you have a bog filter. It's only been running for one summer so far, seems to work nicely...but frankly the pond was without any circulation or filtration for the past 5 years and experienced no problems. If there is a power interruption or the air is otherwise turned off, the two siphons stop flowing but the water level remains the same in both bodies of water. It is a lot easier and safer to run a buried air line out to your pond rather than a buried power line.

If you decide to try this, remember that you must drop the water level in the pond when digging the hole for the stock tank so that water pressure doesn't collapse out the dividing wall between the pond and the hole.

Can you post a picture of this so i can see it?

 

[jjohnwm]

I rarely post any pics...just too lazy...and in any case there is very little to see. The pond has an area of cattails growing next to it; that's it. If you look closely you can see a couple of black pieces of ABS (the siphons) but there is nothing obtrusive about the set-up.

Oh...the fact that the water in the pond is frozen solid right to the bottom and covered with about 3 feet of snow hampers visibility at the moment as well...

 

[dogofwar]

I have two 10'x5'x3' deep raised-bed type ponds. I put them together last summer so only one year of experience. I didn't use filtration - just plants and rain / water changes and had amazing success with the fish - tons of breeding by sunfish + swordtails (one pond) and chanchitos (Australoheros scitulus "Rio Cuaro) + Gambusia in the other. I think this spring I'm going to add a couple of pumps and "dump" filters via and extension cord to get better visibility of the fish inside.