well of all things in the middle of a two year drought,
it rained about one & half inches in 30 minutes before i got around to
setting up the edging for my new pond.
the good news is that i found out where muddy water will accumulate around
the pond so i know which areas to build up to divert future mini-floods. the
bad news is that i got a buncha muddy orange water in the pond just as i was
getting it finished and after the downpour tapered off my pond looked like
a jawjuh red clay mudpuddle.
still haven't gotten to setting up the biofilter, so what the heck to do to
get the mud out of the water? got two 4" pvc pipes coming off the pond
and to a settling tank -- one pipe pulls off the bottom and one pipe pulls
off the skimmer. this red clay mud won't settle out in a bucket, though, so
not much help from the settling tank. newsgroup had a post about using old
socks as filter material, and sounded good to me except a sock is awful small
to filter out 1,000 gallons and besides all my socks have holes in them.
looking through my chest of drawers i happened upon an old pair of cotton
long johns -- thermal underwear i think they call them up north. hey, that's
just about like a sock, thinks i, and besides there's a lot more material
in a pair of long johns than in a pair of socks, particularly when we're talking
about long johns that are big enuff for me to wear :)
five minutes later i had the legs of the long johns tied on the pipes coming
into the settling tank, and had a big rubber band holding the waist shut.
three hours later the long johns have turned dark brown and have started to
clog and swell up from the water pressure, but the pond's about half cleared
up. took out the long johns, gave em a good rinse and put them right back
on the pipes. two hours later the pond is clear enuff to see the bottom. overnight
and i'm looking at a pond full of tap water. one more rinse of the long johns,
and at least for now they are an integral part of my filter system.
well, i've heard of 'long john silver' but i guess it was up to 'long john
filter' to save the day :)
glad to make a contribution to the newsgroup after learning so much lurking
around. if there's a buck to be made with this idea, remember you heard it
here first ;)
