I hooked the check valve up tonight and tossed in the pump. In a few minutes
I had an empty VF and an overflowing pond. It appears the VF input pipe that
is attached to the bottom drain is too high, so the water was flowing back
into the pond. With the check valve, the backflow was stopped, but there was
no feed into the VF. So I decided to drain the pond partially. I started
that, and began excavating the pipe from the bottom drain to the VF. This is
when bad got worse. As I moved the pipe, the connection came off, and the
bottom drain began dumping water into the trench. *sigh*

So now I have the pond half drained.
The VF liner lifted up.
The main feed pipe from BD to VF disconnected.
The trench with the pipe full of water.

I am this close | | to filling the damn thing in and quitting.

What do I need to do to fix this?

Do I need to raise the pond up? Is it enough to get both ends of the feed
pipe below the water level? Is that enough? Can I leave both ponds as it and
just lower the pipe? I am so frustrated. I should have just given up on the
BD idea, and tossed the pump in the main pond.

BV.

Oh DRAT!!! I was so in hopes that you would post an
affirmative answer. I just don't know what to say other
than I'm so sorry for all the trouble you've had.....
Nedra


"Benign Vanilla" wrote in
message ...
I hooked the check valve up tonight and tossed in the pump. In a few
minutes
I had an empty VF and an overflowing pond. It appears the VF input pipe
that
is attached to the bottom drain is too high, so the water was flowing back
into the pond. With the check valve, the backflow was stopped, but there
was
no feed into the VF. So I decided to drain the pond partially. I started
that, and began excavating the pipe from the bottom drain to the VF. This
is
when bad got worse. As I moved the pipe, the connection came off, and the
bottom drain began dumping water into the trench. *sigh*

So now I have the pond half drained.
The VF liner lifted up.
The main feed pipe from BD to VF disconnected.
The trench with the pipe full of water.

I am this close | | to filling the damn thing in and quitting.

What do I need to do to fix this?

Do I need to raise the pond up? Is it enough to get both ends of the feed
pipe below the water level? Is that enough? Can I leave both ponds as it
and
just lower the pipe? I am so frustrated. I should have just given up on
the
BD idea, and tossed the pump in the main pond.

BV.

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
Dude,
Working with gravity and level is pretty difficult.

My set up is this:

My veggie filter is 2 feet higher than my pond. Pump picks up water from
my
pond (In your case at the bottom drain(good), and dumps it into the veggie
filter, then flows down back into the pond. Easy! Very Easy.

So what to do? Can you simply elevate your veggie filter and let the
water
return to your pond. If you decide to do a bio filter, then let the pump
run the water into the bio filter which will then dump into the veggie
filter and then into the pond. My 2 cents dude.

My problem is the BD...I put a lot of effort into it because it had this
magical reputation. If can solve my problem by moving the pump to the pond,
and pushing water to the VF, but then the BD is defeated. I am trying to
solve this and keep my BD in tact.

BV.

My problem is the BD...I put a lot of effort into it because it had this
magical reputation. If can solve my problem by moving the pump to the pond,
and pushing water to the VF, but then the BD is defeated. I am trying to
solve this and keep my BD in tact.

BV.




-- put the pump in the VF at the end of the BD run so it pulls water
from the pond





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico
If it can't be fixed with bailing wire or duct tape
its not worth fixing

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

"John Rutz" wrote in message
...



My problem is the BD...I put a lot of effort into it because it had this
magical reputation. If can solve my problem by moving the pump to the
pond,
and pushing water to the VF, but then the BD is defeated. I am trying to
solve this and keep my BD in tact.

BV.




-- put the pump in the VF at the end of the BD run so it pulls water
from the pond

I considered that, but it does not appear that the pump I bought can be
hooked up in that manner.

This weekend, if I can get the time, I plan to raise the pond edge up a bit.
I think I can get it up 3-4 inches. I am also going to drop the horizontal
run a bit deeper to be sure it stays below the water level totally. The VF
will get dug a bit deeper as well. I figure then if I can restrict the
output of the pump a little which hopefully will help to raise the level of
the water in the VF by allowing the pump to pull more up then it is putting
out.

Unfortunately we have all kinds of family stuff planned this weekend, so I
am not sure when I can get to this.

BV.

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in
message ...
I hooked the check valve up tonight and tossed in the pump. In a few
minutes
I had an empty VF and an overflowing pond. It appears the VF input pipe
that
is attached to the bottom drain is too high, so the water was flowing back
into the pond.

BV,

I'm not a ponder (yet), but I'll offer these suggestions:

1) Calm down, take a break, do something else for awhile. Then think
hard about what you're doing, before you do it.

2) Make a water level, and learn how to use it.

3) Options for fixing your situation:
a) dig your VF deeper, and cover the liner with rock edging, or
b) raise the sides of your pond, or
c) put your pump in the pond, and pump water UP to the VF.
Let the water return to the pond (from the VF) via an overflow. (My
impression is that that's how most here do it). But placing the FV
higher than the pond, and then using the pump to pump water FROM the
VF, just cannot be made to work.

Kelly

use a pump to pump the water to the veggie filter and have it over flow
into the other pond..

Benign Vanilla wrote:
I hooked the check valve up tonight and tossed in the pump. In a few minutes
I had an empty VF and an overflowing pond. It appears the VF input pipe that
is attached to the bottom drain is too high, so the water was flowing back
into the pond. With the check valve, the backflow was stopped, but there was
no feed into the VF. So I decided to drain the pond partially. I started
that, and began excavating the pipe from the bottom drain to the VF. This is
when bad got worse. As I moved the pipe, the connection came off, and the
bottom drain began dumping water into the trench. *sigh*

So now I have the pond half drained.
The VF liner lifted up.
The main feed pipe from BD to VF disconnected.
The trench with the pipe full of water.

I am this close | | to filling the damn thing in and quitting.

What do I need to do to fix this?

Do I need to raise the pond up? Is it enough to get both ends of the feed
pipe below the water level? Is that enough? Can I leave both ponds as it and
just lower the pipe? I am so frustrated. I should have just given up on the
BD idea, and tossed the pump in the main pond.

BV.

Hmm guess I don't understand why you can't put the pump after the bottom
drain. If it's submerisble, put it in a box and have the bottom drain
empty into the box and separate the pump with a screen.



BenignVanilla wrote:
snip
1) Calm down, take a break, do something else for awhile. Then think
hard about what you're doing, before you do it.

You are correct a few deep breaths will certainly help. I am just a bit
frustrated. After all these months of work and research, and I screw it up
by making a stupid error like this. It's enough to make you bonkers.

2) Make a water level, and learn how to use it.

I have one, and I know how to use it...Unfortunately, the area I am working
in is not really well adapted to using it to level the two ponds, so I tried
to eye ball things.

3) Options for fixing your situation:
a) dig your VF deeper, and cover the liner with rock edging, or
b) raise the sides of your pond, or
c) put your pump in the pond, and pump water UP to the VF.
Let the water return to the pond (from the VF) via an overflow. (My
impression is that that's how most here do it). But placing the FV
higher than the pond, and then using the pump to pump water FROM the
VF, just cannot be made to work.

Unfortunately, I cannot put the pump in the main pond and pump up because I
am using a bottom drain in my main pond. I'd rather not mess with the pond
edge if I don't have to because it so perfect right now. I am going to
experiment with digging the VF a bit deeper, and then deal with the
aesthetic problems this will cause.

BV.

How diddily and doo da day campers!

It's been a while since I've posted on the news groups and since the wife
and I are planning a new pond I've been reading A LOT! ;-)
I have one thing to say about our proposed project ........ OOOYYYYYY !!!!!
Heck, just now I read this particular thread about 3 times and it would seem
to me, if I'm reading this right (after all it's late heheh), that the pump
you have can't be hooked up to the piping for your bottom drain. That in
itself is a shame, cause that's what I had in mind to help the maintenance
aspect of our design: a bottom drain ( filtration suction ) to suck out all
the raucus out of the pond and an overflow chamber / settling tank with
maybe a short waterfall / overflow type thingy.
Seeing how I know nothing about this stuff, I may be way off base here, but
would a different pump be what you need? Something that you can hook to
your bottom drain piping and suck the junk into your VF? Or is another pump
a major expense? I have priced absolutely nothing for ponds as of yet.
PS - Good luck with it !
~~~
If you make something idiot-proof, they'll just come up with a better idiot
!

Benign Vanilla wrote in
message ...
I hooked the check valve up tonight and tossed in the pump. In a few
minutes
I had an empty VF and an overflowing pond. It appears the VF input pipe
that
is attached to the bottom drain is too high, so the water was flowing back
snip

The idea of a bottom drain feeding by gravity and being allowed to settle
out before the pump is to prevent the pump from chewing up all of the stuff
like a blender. It makes it easier to get it to settle, and there is less
likelihood of something big clogging the pump. This is the right way,
unfortunately, most of us haven't put the thought into the pond design,
before we built the pond.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Dohhh !!!" wrote in message
...
How diddily and doo da day campers!

It's been a while since I've posted on the news groups and since the wife
and I are planning a new pond I've been reading A LOT! ;-)
I have one thing to say about our proposed project ........ OOOYYYYYY
!!!!!
Heck, just now I read this particular thread about 3 times and it would
seem
to me, if I'm reading this right (after all it's late heheh), that the
pump
you have can't be hooked up to the piping for your bottom drain. That in
itself is a shame, cause that's what I had in mind to help the maintenance
aspect of our design: a bottom drain ( filtration suction ) to suck out
all
the raucus out of the pond and an overflow chamber / settling tank with
maybe a short waterfall / overflow type thingy.
Seeing how I know nothing about this stuff, I may be way off base here,
but
would a different pump be what you need? Something that you can hook to
your bottom drain piping and suck the junk into your VF? Or is another
pump
a major expense? I have priced absolutely nothing for ponds as of yet.
PS - Good luck with it !
~~~
If you make something idiot-proof, they'll just come up with a better
idiot
!

Benign Vanilla wrote in
message ...
I hooked the check valve up tonight and tossed in the pump. In a few
minutes
I had an empty VF and an overflowing pond. It appears the VF input pipe
that
is attached to the bottom drain is too high, so the water was flowing
back
snip

"Dohhh !!!" wrote in message
...
How diddily and doo da day campers!

It's been a while since I've posted on the news groups and since the wife
and I are planning a new pond I've been reading A LOT! ;-)
I have one thing to say about our proposed project ........ OOOYYYYYY
!!!!!
Heck, just now I read this particular thread about 3 times and it would
seem
to me, if I'm reading this right (after all it's late heheh), that the
pump
you have can't be hooked up to the piping for your bottom drain. That in
itself is a shame, cause that's what I had in mind to help the maintenance
aspect of our design: a bottom drain ( filtration suction ) to suck out
all
the raucus out of the pond and an overflow chamber / settling tank with
maybe a short waterfall / overflow type thingy.
Seeing how I know nothing about this stuff, I may be way off base here,
but
would a different pump be what you need? Something that you can hook to
your bottom drain piping and suck the junk into your VF? Or is another
pump
a major expense? I have priced absolutely nothing for ponds as of yet.
PS - Good luck with it !

I could...if I remove the screen I could hook the hose up to do so...but my
intent is to have the VF handle the sediment, so my pump does not have to.

On the upside...I got my VF working now...albeit a bit shallower then I
wanted...but working...!!!

BV.