Arapaima Pond Build
- Thread starter Luc70
- Start date
Thanks Pacu-mom... I fully understand your devotion to your 2 fish since Mr.T came.
Ok, quick update from last Saturday's work.
1. Settling Tank No. 2 is done and over with...leaks are fixed and he's back online. Water Hyacinth going back in today to work on the water.
2. Bog area No. 1 is doing great. Growth is definitely starting to show. Nothing much I will do on it for the time being. It's good as it is.
3. A rough calculation shows that Bog No. 2 will make up for about 12.5% of the pond-surface area. Add in Bog No. 1, which is smaller, and we have 20% of the pond-surface excluding the settling-tanks filled with Water-Hyacinth which add another 2-3%
4. As expected, the water is more brown/green again. What I thought earlier holds. The bog/stones fill up with dirt, then start releasing it slowly again. So we need to wait for the plants to get their roots deeper into it.
5. Backwashing the bog is an option I want to try coming Saturday. Connect a hose to the valve in Bog 1, fill it with water to get a syphon going, then shut down the pump, close the valve from the pump and start syphoning water out of the bog and filling it up with tap-water at the far end.
Curious to see how much that will help getting rubbish out.
6. The 2nd bog and the Grow-out pond are going to be some serious beasts. Really thinking that the 3rd pump will be necessary to get more flow in the pond. Given the amount of water, that might eventually be the limiting factor in getting enough filtration, but lets see it for a couple of weeks with both bogs fully planted and running.
Mr. T. will be happy this week, cleaning lady bought prawns, so it's MacDonalds time for him...lol
He's chasing fry now since he figured the Tilapia being too fast and smart for him.
Fry is easy, hover against the waterflow and the fry will almost float into his mouth.
Enough for now...
Cheers,
Luc
1. Settling Tank No. 2 is done and over with...leaks are fixed and he's back online. Water Hyacinth going back in today to work on the water.
2. Bog area No. 1 is doing great. Growth is definitely starting to show. Nothing much I will do on it for the time being. It's good as it is.
3. A rough calculation shows that Bog No. 2 will make up for about 12.5% of the pond-surface area. Add in Bog No. 1, which is smaller, and we have 20% of the pond-surface excluding the settling-tanks filled with Water-Hyacinth which add another 2-3%
4. As expected, the water is more brown/green again. What I thought earlier holds. The bog/stones fill up with dirt, then start releasing it slowly again. So we need to wait for the plants to get their roots deeper into it.
5. Backwashing the bog is an option I want to try coming Saturday. Connect a hose to the valve in Bog 1, fill it with water to get a syphon going, then shut down the pump, close the valve from the pump and start syphoning water out of the bog and filling it up with tap-water at the far end.
Curious to see how much that will help getting rubbish out.
6. The 2nd bog and the Grow-out pond are going to be some serious beasts. Really thinking that the 3rd pump will be necessary to get more flow in the pond. Given the amount of water, that might eventually be the limiting factor in getting enough filtration, but lets see it for a couple of weeks with both bogs fully planted and running.
Mr. T. will be happy this week, cleaning lady bought prawns, so it's MacDonalds time for him...lol
He's chasing fry now since he figured the Tilapia being too fast and smart for him.
Fry is easy, hover against the waterflow and the fry will almost float into his mouth.
Enough for now...
Cheers,
Luc
Pond is full and remains full. Let's see over a couple of days...But with water up and skimmer working, there's more rubbish taken out and I'm trying to optimize this to squeeze every bit of filter&circulation performance out that I can get..
Tried the syphon for backwashing just now, which works perfectly, so now all we have to do is run the water-hose to the far side, open the syphon-drain and let it run for an hour.
Then see what effect it has on the water...
Tried the syphon for backwashing just now, which works perfectly, so now all we have to do is run the water-hose to the far side, open the syphon-drain and let it run for an hour.
Then see what effect it has on the water...
Lol. Good life for Mr T. Great work and fun read for Us fun work for you.
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Love it when stuff works...Came in today to see the pond exactly the same as yesterday. The leaks ironed out, there's still a 10cm extra that I could fill. Have adjusted the overflow a bit higher up, so we get more flow into the skimmer-drain.
Going to get the liner this week, Saturday roll that one in and start filling the grow-out pond, make 2 water-diffusers and fill the second bog with gravel. Lots of washing to do. Going to be fun seeing that one coming online....
Cheers,
Luc
Going to get the liner this week, Saturday roll that one in and start filling the grow-out pond, make 2 water-diffusers and fill the second bog with gravel. Lots of washing to do. Going to be fun seeing that one coming online....
Cheers,
Luc
Liner later today delivery. Figured to use the plant-shelf around the 2nd bog as a water / lotus flower pond. Just leave out the gravel, put water in and finished. Lots of guppies to take care of cleaning. Will be nice with different colors of Lotus-flower in it.
Hope to have at least the liner rolled out today. Tomorrow most guys out on jobs, so it will be only me and the cleaning lady working on it.
Hope to have at least the liner rolled out today. Tomorrow most guys out on jobs, so it will be only me and the cleaning lady working on it.
Well you guys have been waiting long enough.
There's quite some progress, and would you believe it? After last week's 'degrading' of the water, with no changes or additions or anything, from Saturday to today, the water improved massively all by itself. I'm back to the same clear water (still with a brownish look) as last week Saturday.
My only guess is that the bog/stones/bacteria are kicking into gear. If so..and we'll see that over the coming days....then I'm on the winning side of the battle with algae.. On top of that, the second bog will soon be on-line to help.
Anyhow, back to Saturday's work:
1. finished steel works, put in old BigBags.
2. Rolled out the liner and test-filled the 3 water-areas.
3. Though very minimal, it does flow correctly without spilling over the sides.
4. Need to poor some concrete to support the Grow-Out pond wall. Too high for only the steel frame.
Will poor the concrete around the steel-frame itself, which then becomes the 'rebar' in the concrete.
5. Pictures, which show the massive size of the almost finished pond.
6. Of course a picture of the first bog for growth-progress.
There's quite some progress, and would you believe it? After last week's 'degrading' of the water, with no changes or additions or anything, from Saturday to today, the water improved massively all by itself. I'm back to the same clear water (still with a brownish look) as last week Saturday.
My only guess is that the bog/stones/bacteria are kicking into gear. If so..and we'll see that over the coming days....then I'm on the winning side of the battle with algae.. On top of that, the second bog will soon be on-line to help.
Anyhow, back to Saturday's work:
1. finished steel works, put in old BigBags.
2. Rolled out the liner and test-filled the 3 water-areas.
3. Though very minimal, it does flow correctly without spilling over the sides.
4. Need to poor some concrete to support the Grow-Out pond wall. Too high for only the steel frame.
Will poor the concrete around the steel-frame itself, which then becomes the 'rebar' in the concrete.
5. Pictures, which show the massive size of the almost finished pond.
6. Of course a picture of the first bog for growth-progress.
Heheee... Came in this morning, and the water improved tremendously again compared to yesterday.
Big nice surprise, it's really clearing like crazy. I can see all the fish shooting around again and Mr. T. looks fantastic gliding around.
I'm rethinking my plans on the second bog a bit in the sense that I might leave some open water there. Gives me room to put in submerged plants with floating leaves like lotus. Only 1x2 meters full with large growers, rest with smaller stuff.
2 diffusers but only one connected for now.
Got a big grin on my face, just seeing that water improve so fast.
The verdict is still out until everything is up and running, but what I'll do is get some screenshots from under-water videos I've made over the last few months and compare them to give you guys an idea. The target is to get water as clear as in the very first underwater pictures in his temporary pond, where I could shoot from 2 meter distance and get clear pictures.
And, to anybody ever thinking to build a pond...bog..bog...bog... Getting more and more confident that those 2 bogs will be able to beat any and all of the best filters you can buy on the market. Grow-out starts to look more and more like the perfect Koi-Pond for me. Might make some money raising and selling those.
Back to work...
Cheers,
Luc
Big nice surprise, it's really clearing like crazy. I can see all the fish shooting around again and Mr. T. looks fantastic gliding around.
I'm rethinking my plans on the second bog a bit in the sense that I might leave some open water there. Gives me room to put in submerged plants with floating leaves like lotus. Only 1x2 meters full with large growers, rest with smaller stuff.
2 diffusers but only one connected for now.
Got a big grin on my face, just seeing that water improve so fast.
The verdict is still out until everything is up and running, but what I'll do is get some screenshots from under-water videos I've made over the last few months and compare them to give you guys an idea. The target is to get water as clear as in the very first underwater pictures in his temporary pond, where I could shoot from 2 meter distance and get clear pictures.
And, to anybody ever thinking to build a pond...bog..bog...bog... Getting more and more confident that those 2 bogs will be able to beat any and all of the best filters you can buy on the market. Grow-out starts to look more and more like the perfect Koi-Pond for me. Might make some money raising and selling those.
Back to work...
Cheers,
Luc
I just spent the entire afternoon reading this thread from beginning to end, and I must say I commend your dedication to your rescue fish! It looks amazing already and I will be waiting with baited breath to see the finished product.
Great job!
Great job!
