I decide to use an under gravel filter system,
the main advantage for me was
- the bulk of the filter is hidden underneath the water
- it provide a very large surface area
-
it was inexpensive compared to other option
-
it was much easier to install than a Wet/Dry system
would be
-
and the outflow would be directed to the water fall
for aeration.
At our local Lowes I found a marvelous material called
Ameridrain, it was designed for the building trades and is used to
drain water away from building foundations. It is light and easy to work
with,
-
I simply cut the material about 4 inches larger than I needed with normal
scissors and pulled back the fabric from the base
- cut the base to size
-
cut a hole for a lawn sprinkler valve box to fit
in
-
folded the fabric over the base to protect the pond
liner from punctures
-
set the Ameridrain in the bottom of the pond (that
was the hardest part because it floats!)
-
poured enough gravel to hold it down!
-
set in the valve box, and wrapped it with spare pond
liner to cover the side holes
-
placed the pump in the valve box, the hose
-
finished pouring the gravel and hooked up the hose.
Overtime the gravel gets clogged and has to
be cleaned, once a week I use a skimmer and remove any debris setting on
top of the gravel and once a month I wash the gravel with a pool bottom
vacuum
The
first year this set up worked great, but this year its only working ok
, i'm going to back flush the system and then seriously clean the gravel
and vacuum it really good. It appears that this is going to become part
of my spring and fall cleaning routine from now on.
