Whiskey Barrel Garden Parts – In the following video you can view the circular chain with filtration and pumping.

Completed Whiskey Barrel Garden

Notes: If you increase the size of the pump box and UV filter/bio-media box you could add another 80 gallons of water to the system, what would this do? With more water you have a healthier environment for fish, frogs and turtles. Hidden, in-ground pump and filter boxes also cool the water. I plan to make this system more consumer friendly and install it locally in Massachusetts as part of a water gardening service. I will also offer it online as a complete kit, barrels are my business, need some? Talk to me!

In order to determine how many bales of barley straw are needed to treat a pond; gauge one thousand gallons for every bale used.

Most barley straw is often sold two bales per pack.

These bales are often referred to as mini bales.

They are bundled in three and a half inch diameter rolls that are as long as a standard sheet of paper is wide: That is eight and a half inches in length.

There are calculators online to help determine how many gallons are in a pond.

The ideal place to secure each barley straw bale is at the surface close to the waterfall or filter conduit.

Most packages include a cork float. This will help keep the bale near the surface.

The bale takes about one month so show off its affect on the pond.

Each bale last about six months. After that time the bale needs to be replaced.

Five months in, set the next set of bales, or solitary new bale next to the barley straw bale that is going to be removed at the end of six months.

Manufactures of the product say that research has proven that the best results come from having barley straw mini bales in the water for at least one year.

Barley Straw bales are considered to be very healthy for the fish.

Consumers of the product say that Barley straw bales are the best way to keep algae from dominating a pond, or water garden.

Others have tried this product and have had poor results.

The effectiveness of the product may have to do with the algae in a particular bio-region.

While water garden enthusiasts try to find more creative ways to deal with algae, a product likes barley straw bales is working at curbing the problem for some people.

For filtration purposes the Acorus Calamus Variegatus companions well with species in the Iris genus such as versicolor cultivars and virginica cultivars.

Acorus Americanus; Acorus Gramineus Yodo-no-yuki [ever green]; Iris (Blue Flag, the bulk common term for all iris genus cultivars of the versicolor species) Versicolor [Herb]; broad leaf ( Typha genus latifolia species) [Herb]; and narrow leaf (typha genus anustifolia species) [Herb]: All work well together as companion plants that filter ponds and water gardens very well.

The Yodo-no-yuki cultivar will add a subtle variegated yellow cream tint that is barely visible in the hue of this filterers light green spears.

This set of water filtering companions grow best in temperatures no lower than 40º Fahrenheit, in as direct sunlight as possible. Shade will not hurt this combination, sunlight just fares the filtering companions better. Theyare also great bog garden filterers also.

Some of the other most recommended filter plants listed by genus then species for ponds are Cyperus alternifolius; Eichhornia crassipes; Glyceria maxima Variegata; Juncus Afro, and Effuses cultivar (variables), Ludwigia arcuta Grandflora, and puruviana; Mentha aquatica; Oenanthe javanica Flamingo; Pistia stratiotes Aqua Velvet; Sagittaria latifolia; Scirpus; as well as those mentioned earlier in this entry.

Many water gardens have bog gardens near by. This is intentionally done so that the dense root system of the bog garden will filtrate both the bog and water garden naturally.

The addition of a pump with a rain garden or bog garden will make the plants in each will create a very effective filtration system.

For stand alone water gardens that are constructed to naturally slow drain back into the earth via a filter directly the plants mentioned and listed above are an excellent way to cut down on algae. The most affective use of these plants happens when they are in the path of flowing water so if you are running flow hoses have them filter threw the bog and back into the pond or water garden. Create a natural filtration system!

Water garden vacuums come in many sizes. The most common is the mini vac which has been replaced by more useful medium sized/ priced vacuums.

The model prices range from twenty-four dollars for a particular type of vacuum head; to a little less than six hundred dollars for a total water garden/ pond vacuuming system.

An example of a great water garden vacuum is the Pondvac 3 made for ponds, but perfect for small to large water gardens.

Larger top line models run on about 110 volts and can suck vertically up to 7 feet straight up. The average hose suction length is 16 feet; while the discharge hose length is 8 feet on average. For the smaller water garden a pond vacuum of this size/ price is not required.

A water garden is a living-breathing environment, full of vitality. All living things have a process of consumption, waste, fertilization.

Trees can drop an unnecessary amount of leaves into a water garden, algae can accumulate, and other types of foliage waste can grow turning a well-planed water garden into a bog, or at least a an unpleasant, murky eye sore in no time.

This invites diseases that can ruin your plants health, and cause them to compete with unsightly epiphyte species at random.

Being able to safely remove unsightly material from a water garden can protect the aesthetic, a gardener spent so much time potting, irrigating and reclamation to create.

A water garden vacuum is useful to anyone who takes this type of gardening seriously.

Removing unnecessary build up makes sure that there is no safe haven for mosquitoes.

Having other carnivorous plants can also reduce these kinds of bothersome pests.

A well balanced water garden pond is best managed with a good water garden vacuum.

Savio Compact Skimmerfilter will even perform well in ponds up to a maximum of 2,500 gallons.

Any size however above 700 gallons reduces its overall performance to that of merely an efficient surface skimmer, removing large debris such as leaves and flowers.

The real performance of this highly compact skimmerfilter by Savio is the practical design of four filtration systems in one that blend inlet skimming action, mechanical filtration, biological filtration and UV filtration with a perfectly concealable outer shell.

Savio Compact Skimmerfilters design for smaller ponds and water features allows for an optimal water quality while concealing unsavory pumps, hoses, filters and still offering the lowest possible maintenance.

Surface skimmers on the whole need to be emptied manually, which is simple with Savio Compact Skimmerfilter.

Just lift the well concealed lid near the ponds edge where it is aesthetically buried and remove the basket contents into your garden or compost pile, and wa-lá, the skimmer is ready for more debris.

Savio Compact Skimmerfilter is perfect for your smaller pond or water garden needs, up to 700 gallons total, when full, leaving the surface constantly clean and the water crystal clear.

Find other products by Savio!

Savio Engineering, Inc.
505 Marquette Avenue
NW, Suite 810
Albuquerque, NM 87102 USA
Phone: 505-217-2854

As a focused product with an eye on perfection, these submersible filtration systems are a three in one package, with mechanical filtration, biological filtration and chemical filtration, all well hidden from the aquascape.

These special submersible filters by Pondmaster come in a variety of sizes that will fit the smallest tub gardens such as the 1000 series, which is 12 inches by 12 inches and suitable for up to medium sized ponds.

Pondmaster Submersible Filters have a range of filter sizes available for the different sizes of ponds.

This range includes ponds from small to medium, medium to large, 1500 gallons to 2000, 2000 to 3000 and 3000 to 4000.

These submersible pond filters all come with standard equipment, including tubing and fittings, carbon and polyester media for the different filtration systems, locking handles and a guarantee that is durability and quality.

Pondmaster submersible filters are excellent for keeping the water of your watergarden or pond a masterpiece and the ideal work of living art, with constantly running crystal clear water.

Pondmaster.com
Danner Mfg., Inc
160 Oval Drive Islandia, NY 11749-1489
Phone: (631) 234-5261

Atlantic Filterfalls use a pump to push water through, up and out into a swirling waterfall action that not merely pumps but aerates as well.

A pond skimmer is recommended as a previous stage to these excellent biofilters.

The larger spillways allow for a natural aeration and the open swirl chamber allows water to flow evenly and efficiently through three separate filtering actions including mechanical foam and a biological media bag.

Made by Atlantic Water Gardens, this special waterfall biofilter comes with media bags, removable grate and filter pad.

Atlantic Filterfalls come in a variety of sizes from the smallest model BF1000 that has a spillway of 14 inches and will filter some 3,000 gallons per hour to the largest model the BF3000 that has a spillway of 48 inches and filters 12,000 gallons per hour.

Easily assembled at home, the Atlantic Filterfalls kit installs perfectly and blends well with your watergarden, while making sure that your pond stays crystal clear.

Find other filterfalls by Atlantic!

Atlantic Water Gardens
4494 Orchard St.
Mantua OH 44255
Phone: 877-80-PONDS (7-6637)

The biological media surrounds a special agitation mechanism that is manually rotated back and forth in an agitating motion while expulsing unwanted debris in the backwash and then rinse cycles.

Protected by the agitation mechanism, is the UV bulb which can be bought in different watts, depending on how effective it needs to be. The UV filter helps eliminate that unwanted microscopic green coloring in the water as well as chlorine and other minor pollutants.

The biological filter will reduce debris on a microscopic level, making the water breathable again for fish and plants, and a magnetic pump can be used to pressurize the chamber, with large amounts of water, thereby further accelerating the process of breakdown.

The unique agitator design is used for expulsing excess debris inside the filter, and can be operated manually be just pulling a lever back and forth while running the backwash cycle.

The final rinse cycle is just the same as the backwash cycle, but allows clean water into the pressurized chamber and saves a lot more water than usual.

Pondmaster pressurized filters certainly do the trick of eliminating that green color and save both water as well as large projects of emptying the pond or water garden, twice a year.

Pondmaster pressurized filters need little maintenance, are available with or without the UV bulbs and can do twice the job with only half the size.

Pondmaster.com
Danner Mfg., Inc
160 Oval Drive Islandia, NY 11749-1489
Phone: (631) 234-5261

Tetra Pressure Filters come in three sizes:

Tetra PRF 1500 – For a maximum pond size of 1500 gallon, has a maximun flow rate of 750 gallon per hour.
Tetra PRF 2500 – For a maximum pond size of 2500 gallon, has a maximun flow rate of 1250 gallon per hour.
Tetra PRF 4000 – For a maximum pond size of 4000 gallon, has a maximun flow rate of 2000 gallon per hour.

Pressure Filters made by Tetra have a small advantage over common mechanical or ordinary biological filters and that advantage is summed up in one word, pressure.

With a pressure filter, it is possible to pump larger quantities of pond water into a smaller space, and clean out more efficiently with a special backwash cycle that breaks up that evil build up of crud that makes a good pump useless.

Tetra pressure filters have two main stages of filtration; the first involves a mechanical filter for larger debris in the form of sponges (the water is forced through at high pressure).

The second stage involves bio-rings, of material that an provide excellent environment for beneficial aerobic bacteria that cut down on microscopic wastes on an invisible level, ensuring that your pond keeps that water crystal clear.

Tetra pressure filters do twice the job with only half the size and can be cleaned with an easy to use backwash cycle that makes for no scrubbing or heavy elbow grease.

With low energy consumption the Savio Skimmerfilter integrates four processes.

1. Skimming action
2. Macro filtration
3. UV filtration
4. Biofiltration

With a pump system integrated into the filter itself, it sits at the water surface, pulling debris into the macro filter debris basket on top, acting as a net would to remove large debris from the pond surface.

Larger debris can be easily removed from the filter by opening a concealed lid and emptying the macro filter basket into your compost pile or directly on the garden as needed.

The skimmerfilter not only skims large debris from the pond surface, as it also removes pollution and chlorine from the water with a UV filter. Microscopic debris is then removed with a biofilter. In the end, the water is returned to the pond crystal clean, both on a large and microscopic scale.

Savio Skimmerfilters® sets new standards for the pond filter industry, ensuring low maintenance and healthier ponds with living ecosystems that create a dynamic relationship between nature and technology.

Company Information:
Savio Engineering, Inc.
505 Marquette Avenue
NW, Suite 810
Albuquerque, NM 87102 USA
Phone: 505-217-2854

Fishmate Filters in the USA are distributed by Ani Mate Inc. in Houston, Texas and offer one of the most complete ranges of pond filters for up to 6,000 gallons or 30,000 liters.

These gravity fed pressurised pond filters all feature three stage mechanical filters as well as biological filtration systems with innovative designs such as the special Fish Mate UV.

Used in series with Fishmate biofilters the water is sure to be purified, crystal clear with only the minimal maintenance of cleaning the mechanical filtration systems.

Three qualities best sum up Fishmate filters; easy maintenance, high efficiency and blending in with natural surrounding of the pond

Aquabead custom builds bead filters for common uses in the common pond sizes such as medium to large and large to professional, at prices that are competitive among professional koi keepers.

Aquabead is focused on koi and their many products all maintain that focus which is inspired by a passion for this ancient Japanese Art.

For those looking to buy a costume built design for better pond keeping between 1,500 and 20,000 gallons, Aquabead offers excellent bead filters with a lifetime warranty such as the BIOTEK series.

BIOTEK filters come in five different sizes as well. BioTek 1.25 is the smallest for 1,500 gallon ponds and costs 595 U$.

BIOTEK 1.75 is for ponds up to 2500 gallons costing $795.00, BIOTEK 2.50 is for ponds up to 5000 gallons, costing some $995.00, BIOTEK 4.0 is for ponds up to 10,000 gallons cost $1195.00 while BIOTEK 6.0 is for ponds up to 20,000 gallons and costs only $1495.00 (definitely worth the price)

BioTek Watergarden Series, Mashimizu (Pure Water) System, Medusa, Media BioGems, AlphaBio1, Pumps Artesian, WunderFlo, UV Lights Zapp Pure, Heaters ThermaKoi, PreFilters AquaSieve and Vortek SS are the most important products made by Grand Champion Technologies and sold atAquaBead.com.

Macarthur Watergardens for example custom builds purification filtration systems that include biological bead filtration technology along with other assortments to meet the specific needs of that owners pond.

The Medusa Mashimizu custom filter for example was designed by Macarthur for one single koi pond customer and blends different AquaBead technologies for removing larger particles in larger ponds.

Mashimizu (Pure Water) System was designed in highly aesthetically pleasing sump compilation to suit both the artistic and practical needs of the careful professional worried about healthy koi.

For serious Koi keeping professionals, one of the name brands in the US is Aquabead with its main brands ranging from as low as $1,200.00 to $3,000.00 dollars taking care of as little as 2,500 gallons to as much as 25,000 gallons of professional koi pond filtration.

From pond owners that do-it-themselves to professional koi keepers, finding a biological bead filtration system in the US can be cheap and efficient as long as the brand name is one that can be trusted.

First of all, how many gallons is your pond? Classifying the pond size goes from 200 1500 gallons as small to medium, 1,500 2,000 gallons as medium to large, while 2,000 25,000 gallons is considered professional size.

Usually sensitive fish like Koi, are the ones who need such sized filters and in the United States it can be tough to find a manufacturer that does them with quality and low price.

Bubble Bead Filters made by Aquaculture Technologies are reliable and always being designed for the competitive pond owner.

Aquaculture Technologies sells all sizes of bead filters from 300 gallons (around 300 dollars) to 20,000 gallons (around 3,000 dollars), so you can choose the filter size to fit your needs.

The inlet, outlet and sludge pipe sizes vary according to gallons of pond water being filtered, from ¾ of an inch (300g) to 3 inch (20,000g) slip size.

The smallest aquaculture bead filter will pump a maximum of 600 gallons per hour while the largest will pump 9,000 gallons per hour.

Backwash water loss in the smallest version is only 2,5 gallons compared to 150 gallons in the largest version.

Aquaculture Technologies are industrialized Bubble Bead Filters designed and built with experienced research and development that can be depended upon to keep your koi or personal backyard pond in excellent shape, healthy and clear.

Company Information:
Aquaculture Systems Technologies
108 Industrial Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70121
Local: 504.837.5575
Toll Free: 800.939.3659