pond water flowl balance
#1
pond water flowl balance
I've recently created an artificial duck pond about two feet deep and 9' x 13' or so oval size, a depression dug into the ground and lined with pond liner material and filled by domestic water source (hose from residential outdoor faucet). The pond will be used by ducks off and on, not permanently nor regularly. It's a simple crude system of siphon hose out going out of the pond downhill into a drainage ditch and with the water inlet supply as just mentioned. I can seem to get a close flow inlet/outlet balance by controlled trial and error, either increasing or decreasing the inlet flow to try to match the siphon outlet flow, but am finding it quite difficult to achieve the optimal even balance I need in order to keep the pond water level fom either gradually draining all the way down or from overflowing. I tried filling a bucket to a particular level from the outlet end of the siphon hose while timing the seconds it takes to fill to that level, and then tried to match the inlet flow using the same method. Like I say I can get it very close, it seems, but it really needs to be an absolutely perfectly matched inlet/outlet flow or over the course of time the water level will either diminish or increase if not constantly monitored/adjusted to keep it the same. Any suggestions on a good way to get this under control would be appreciated.
#2
Member
Pond Water
Install a float-controlled valve such as you would have in a commode tank.
By the way, why do you want a continuous flow? Won't you have a huge water bill?
By the way, why do you want a continuous flow? Won't you have a huge water bill?
#3
Oops. The word I mis-typed as "flowl' in my topic title here should actually be flow instead. Too late to edit.
#4
Wish I'd planned ahead for something like a float valve installation, not sure now how I'd get it mounted into the pond. Open to further suggestions here. Thanks
Last edited by sgull; 03-13-11 at 11:11 AM.
#5
Group Moderator
I would put the float valve on the infeed water supply. Maintaining a weak siphon can be annoying so I would not mess with it on the outflow side. I have not had a siphon discharge work long term unless there is strong flow. Small bubbles tend to collect in the high point of the siphon unless the flow is strong enough to wash them out so sizing the pipe is important.
#6
I would put the float valve on the infeed water supply. Maintaining a weak siphon can be annoying so I would not mess with it on the outflow side. I have not had a siphon discharge work long term unless there is strong flow. Small bubbles tend to collect in the high point of the siphon unless the flow is strong enough to wash them out so sizing the pipe is important.
#7
In lieu of a syphon system why not just a simple overflow.. Then whatever you input will simply flow out and be exchanged.
You only need to turn on inflow maybe weekly for a period to exchange some water and make up for evaporation. (my pond inflow is on a simple timer)
even in AK, you're going to have considerable algae build up that the ducks will love to eat.
fred
You only need to turn on inflow maybe weekly for a period to exchange some water and make up for evaporation. (my pond inflow is on a simple timer)
even in AK, you're going to have considerable algae build up that the ducks will love to eat.
fred
#8
Fred that would probably be fine except in this particular situation a simple overflow wouldn't be practical considering that the runoff cannot be allowed to simply saturate the ground surrounding the pond and would need to drain into a drainage ditch 60 feet from the pond, which would probably entail having to install a buried drainpipe for that distance which because of the additional work involved (especially with rocky and difficult terrain at the area) it wouldn't be feasible. Until I can somehow figure out how to get a float valve mechanism situated and functioning properly I'm resigned to having to just keeping the inflow and outflow shut off most all the time and just using the basically unregulated siphon system only when needed, and while monitoring.