Duck Pond and Homemade Filter

[@nechellelontine9755]

What i would give for a step by step tutorial for this system. Its perfect but im such a novice

[@alanbannister1874]

Yes, I’d love step by step instructions too. This would be perfect for my ducks, and the available yard space I have to work in.

[@memejeff]

Very cool. Have been hooked on this type of content since 2017.

[@patchvonbraun]

I was in Puerto Rico about 10 years ago--notionally on a "science mission" to Arecibo to test out some equipment. Ended up moving the equipment from the observatory itself to the back-yard of the head of the IT department for the Arecibo observatory. He had ducks, a couple of geese, and some chickens. The gander was weirdly protective of me, prevent either of my two colleagues from getting close to me while I was working in that back yard. One of the guys got an impressive bruise/welt on his leg from a goose attack.... Geese are weird :)

[@saveitforparts]

Wow that is a lot of overlap with my interests! Ducks AND radio telescopes 😂

[@patchvonbraun]

@@saveitforparts :) I owned a 37-acre farm for 11 years. We never had any farm birds, but did have a flock of 11 sheep, leased pasture for cattle and horses, and, of course, I had a 12ft radio telescope :) To this day, I strongly resent having to leave there, but, as they say "that's a story for another time..."

[@TamaraMMattson]

Hi. Yes please!! Step by step with supply list would be excellent!! Even if for a fee!!

[@saveitforparts]

I don't really have a step by step list, sorry! I just threw it together out of spare PVC parts and an old barrel I had lying around.

[@adrian-xy7zt]

Man you are ready for Y3K.

[@MrJG913]

What do you use as the "porous platform" at the bottom? Light diffusers?

[@donwhite5709]

thanks so much I did one with a bildge pump works great....

[@Paul-ih1vz]

Not sure if I agree with having a submersible pump as I believe it will get clogged with mud like mine does. Mine also had built in filters which clogs full of mud with a couple of days causing the pump to fail.

[@saveitforparts]

I have an external filter on mine which does have to get cleaned occasionally. We're considering some kind of full-size screen on the bottom of the pond to help it pre-filter better.

[@rebellindemoen4978]

Can you give me a rough scetch of what you have? You only have a little pond. I would like to convert what you have to a 1000 gallon pond and also add some hydroponics to it maybe. I have a black thumb, lol what you got is awesome and everything I would want in a homemade filtration system.

[@saveitforparts]

I threw a crummy sketch and some pictures from the build process on my website: saveitforparts.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/diy-duck-pond-filter/

[@shaunrogerson5346]

Hello,any chance of doing a video on how your canister filter is put together . Don't quote understand how if works ???? Shaun.

[@saveitforparts]

I can try to do something... it's all hidden in there though so it's hard to explain without showing the build process. And this was a project I did before I was really doing much YT.

[@saveitforparts]

Here's a bit more detail on the filter: saveitforparts.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/diy-duck-pond-filter/

[@coltonroys9342]

Is that a trough float valve? And is it separate from the filtration system? Hooked to water hose to keep it full?

[@saveitforparts]

Yep, that one was hooked up to a rain barrel to top off the pond. Unfortunately the goose likes to pull plastic things apart, so it no longer works :-P

[@MashVB]

Brilliant !!! Love this idea. I shall steat it :P. Thank you very much for sharing !

[@saveitforparts]

Please do!

[@MISTERPRESIDENTELECT]

People don't realize how much work needs to go into yard pond. The house I part owned in the last decade had a smaller pond higher up with a pump, just cycling dirty water. The main pond was full of mosquito larvae and tadpoles. I drained that sewer pit and covered it over... Nice editing, birds just hop to whatever needs to be done. Somehow I think they'll be edited out near Christmas dinner time, only to reappear in the compost bin, in the form of bones and feathers.

[@saveitforparts]

We put some goldfish in our big pond to help with the mosquito larvae. Haven't seen too many in the duck pond, I think it's not calm enough for them with the birds always splashing in it. The frogs and toads do try to make tadpoles in the duck pond but they just turn into bird snacks.

[@emmahinze701]

So the water filters on the way up instead on on the way down through the barrel?

[@saveitforparts]

Yep, that helps with cleanout, the heavy gunk settles to the bottom and we can back-flush from the top and drain sludge out of the bottom valve.

[@MikeRourke-jq5oc]

How clean does it keep it, though? What's it look like after a week or two

[@saveitforparts]

The filter keeps the pond clean. Any gunk gets trapped in the bottom, I flush it out once a year and dump the gunk on the compost pile. It's actually not too bad since the filter also grows a ton of algae (while the pond does not), and that eats a lot of the nutrients and "stuff".

[@misterbigstuff8503]

Is there aby precaution you tae against hawks in your duck run?

[@saveitforparts]

The fenced run has netting over the top of it. We do let them out in the yard when we can keep an eye on them, and mostly the hawks leave them alone (the goose is pretty large and intimidating). We had a juvenile redtail hawk this spring that wanted to get too close a few times, but it eventually gave up.

[@jimmyreedmack]

I'm trying to understand the aeration pipe...does the water just freefall inside the larger (3 in?) pvc after the 90 degree elbow at the top?

[@saveitforparts]

Yes, the water falls down the larger pipe, I leave the top open when it's running. It makes some turbulence / bubbles at the bottom, the idea being to mix extra air into the water.

[@saveitforparts]

Hey Jimmy, I put some more details of the aeration pipe on my website. KZbin doesn't always like external links but if you take my channel name and add a dot com at the end you should get there :-)

[@saveitforparts]

(In case the link works: saveitforparts.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/diy-duck-pond-filter/ )

[@xyooj96]

does it continuous flow, and how much electricity use per day?

[@saveitforparts]

Yes it does continuously flow. I considered a timer, but this seems to work the best. The pump is rated at 80W, so I'd roughly guess about 25¢/day on grid power in my area (maybe someday I'll go solar, the vent fan on the coop already is).

[@bluestarrbeauty]

Hi your ducks are beautiful! What breed are they?

[@saveitforparts]

They're Indian Runners. Started out all black but have slowly been changing color. We used to have a couple Swedish Blues as well.

[@samanthadavey8557]

I am wondering how you did the bottom of the aeration pipe is it closed off or did you put 4 separate holes for the water to circulate

[@saveitforparts]

There are several pipes coming out in a spiral arrangement to get the water circulating at the bottom. There are some photos here that might help: saveitforparts.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/diy-duck-pond-filter/

[@tracyg4269]

Does the pump and filter manage to keep the sludge from building up in the bottom? I know you mentioned having to clean the filter every once in a while, but what about the bottom of the pond itself? Do you have to clean it out during the summer, or does the pump manage to pull out the sludge as well?

[@saveitforparts]

I haven't really bothered to clean the bottom. I've gotten in there once or twice to pick up rocks that fell in from the landscaping, and it seems like there's less than an inch of mud down there. If it gets really deep I might scoop some out, but I figure it gives the snails a place to hide during the winter.

[@Jane-lk3fo]

Do you really not clean this pond but once a year? That’s a lot of debris in the bottom.

[@saveitforparts]

The barrel filter keeps the water really clean and clear, the sand and leaves and stuff that builds up at the bottom don't really seem to affect water quality. We even had accidental goldfish living in the pond one year after moving some duckweed over from another pond.

[@rachellewintondean]

What do you do for the birds in the winter months. We get -30 winters where I am

[@saveitforparts]

The coop (yellow building) is insulated and we have heat lamps and heated water bucket. We don't get quite that cold normally, but they appreciate the shelter.

[@mtaheny1]

What brand filtration and pump do you use in the pond? Also, how often do you have to clean the filter that is inside the pond itself?

[@saveitforparts]

I'm using a Tetra Pond 1000gph pump and pre-filter. In the summer I need to pull out and rinse the pre-filter about once a week. I might go with a wider or slightly different pre-filter this year.

[@Matt-cl4mp]

Does the canister ever requiring cleaning?

[@saveitforparts]

I usually backflush it in the spring and drain out the sludge. The larger debris collects in the bottom and the organic stuff seems to get handled by the algae that grows in there, so I only get a little extra sand and mud left over.

[@CreaticityIsLife]

Thanks for this great post. I've built a similar system for my little duck pond (an old cast iron tub, for 2 ducks). My issue is that the water doesn't seem to really get clean, ever. Even though I start with clean water, the ducks create so much muck that it is murky within an hour or two, and the filter doesn't seem able to keep up even though the water it returns to the tub is clear. Do you have this experience? On a positive note, it does seem to be controlling algae and general stinky-ness. I've had it in place for not quite a week, so maybe it takes some time? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!!

[@saveitforparts]

My filter seems to keep the water nice and clear. I do have to pull up the pre-filter and rinse it out about once a week, that's the only annoying part. I have a garden fountain pump (1000gph) and pre-filter like this: www.chewy.com/tetra-pond-submersible-flat-box/dp/155189

[@CreaticityIsLife]

@@saveitforparts Thx for the info. Because I am using an old bathtub with a drain, I am using gravity to empty the tub into the filter system. I have a two-part filter - the first is a swirl filter that gets rid of the big debris and from there it is pumped to the second filter, which is set up like yours. I have a pre filter on the tub drain and also on the swirl filter. I have to clean the pre filter inside the tub every day, but it's very easy. It does seem to be getting clearer, but the water is still tea-colored.

[@DaysOfSodaAndLantana]

Do you push out the muck on the bottom manually? Maybe some is staying behind and coloring the water? Has it gotten any better? Have you adjusted it at all?

[@oldhamegg]

What pump are you using?

[@saveitforparts]

It's a Tetrapond model, I think the 1000gph version.

[@angelavarela1272]

What pump is this? Do you have a link on where to buy it?

[@saveitforparts]

It's a Tetrapond WPG-1000. I think I got mine on Amazon. You'll also want a good pre-filter that you can pull up and rinse every few days, or the pump will get clogged.

[@mads855]

How many gallons is your pond? I'm wanting to do this for a pond in building this spring!!

[@saveitforparts]

I want to say this one is 150 gallons. We got three or four of these things around the same time and I've lost track of which ones went where! Two went into the garden fish pond, a bigger one as a deep pond base and a smaller one as a swamp filter.

[@mads855]

@@saveitforparts how large of a pond do you think two of these could filter? I really like this concept!! I have 3 sucks I just got today and I have some eggs I got also in the incubator

[@saveitforparts]

@@mads855 I'm not really sure, I think it also depends on how quickly the water is changed out (so how fast your pump works). Our filter is a standard 55 gallon barrel (because we had a bunch of them lying around). Our pump is a 1000 gallon-per-hour unit (TetraPond brand). However, it's lifting the water about 6-7ft, so the actual flow rate is less. Theoretically I think we're changing the water completely at least once an hour. So far it seems to function very well and keeps the green goo from growing in the pond. We've had a max of 5 birds using this (four ducks and a goose). Another thing to keep in mind is they love digging up mud and dropping it in the pond, so that adds to the sediment load. We do have to clean out the in-pond pre-filter once a week or so, that keeps some of the mud and bigger debris like leaves out of the pump. I'm sure there's a way we could cut down on that pre-filter getting clogged, next year we might try a mesh grate across the entire bottom of the pond with the intake underneath.

[@srjdog]

Brilliant

[@elizabethstephens8102]

What do you do in the winter?

[@saveitforparts]

Right now we have a smaller pond (kid's sandbox) with a heater in it, as well as a heated bucket inside the coop for drinking water.

[@user-tt3gd5nl7q]

I think your birds weren’t jumping right into the pool because the “white snake” at the bottom might try to eat them…

[@saveitforparts]

The goose's arch nemesis is still the garden hose... It does take them a little while to get used to new things.

[@keithlubin5782]

Is this filter still working?

[@saveitforparts]

Yep, still works pretty well. I did kill one pump and the new pump is starting to struggle. I think they eventually get some sediment in them despite the little pre-filter.

[@keithlubin5782]

@@saveitforparts I'm getting ready to build mine this weekend and am going to try two 55 gallon drums and use mechanical filter in the first and bio filter in the second. I am nervous as hell and hopefully I won't screw it all up.

[@barneymiller4088]

I hate when they don’t show the results after like 2 months.

[@saveitforparts]

Results of the filter? It's been working pretty well, I have to clean out the pre-filter about once a week.

[@adamsilvers3206]

Where did you get your plastic screening from or what is it called

[@saveitforparts]

The rigid white plastic grating was from office ceiling lights, I think it's called a light diffuser. Not sure where you get it in real life, I found some in a dumpster :-P