Hi, so I currently have a 8k gallon pond. I have 2 - 3" bottom drains and 1 Savio skimmer with a 2" pipe that expands to 3". All three come into a 2" pipe like this:
I want to change this and found a 3" PVC insert (because I foolishly plumbed it with no unions or gaps to put in new plumbing and I don't want to drain the pond to do the new plumbing, these inserts will work great), to have all three go into 2 - 3" pipes, unless you all think of a better solution.
Anyway, right now all go into a 2" pipe that feeds a 1/2 hp H Limm (wave 2 I think) pump that goes through a Sacramento Koi 15 bead filter, then through a 75 watt UV and out to 3 TPRs and to the water fall, all 2" pipe. Looks like this:
I know I'm sending too much flow into the bead filter and I want to split it so about 1/2 goes there and another 1/2 goes through something else. I was thinking DIY S&G filter and a drip system, but open to ideas.
I'm not too keen on adding another pump, due to electric costs (wife is already unhappy).
I was thinking the S&G setup would look something like this but will probably need more than one barrel:
I was also thinking I would change the intake setup so I get 2-3" pipes. I was thinking I would send just 1 to the pump and leave the other for future use. I was also thinking maybe I run both to a Zakki Sieve (the one that takes 9k flow). I don't know if I need it but would be thrilled to have it if I didn't also have to put in the S&G filters. New intake would look like this, again unless someone has a better idea:
I know I'll need to split my out going line but don't know what filter should go to which out (waterfall or TPR) so I was thinking of doing this:
So questions in my head right now:
-If I use the Zakki Sieve do I also need S&G filters?
-Do I really need to spend $2500 + shipping for the sieve if I add the S&G to my setup?
-Am I thinking about my new plumbing ideas correctly? If I had 2 or more S&G filters, do I run them in series or parallel?
-What am I screwing up this time and should be thinking about differently?
So, last two years, the water has looked great until around August. It starts to get green and I would like it to be more clear (wouldn't we all). I've been pretty happy with the flow in my waterfall but I'm pretty confident I've been running too much through the bead filter and the UV, in fact, the green water might be because I'm running the water too quickly through the UV.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.