Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Filtering water from river?

They just finished my 1.5 acre pond this week. I just limed it as per instructed by the biologists. After I get all my habitat built and placed I am planning on filling it with the river. The biologist doesn't like the idea. He has agreed that a fish kill after it is filled will work. He strongly recommends not using it to maintain water level do to contamination with fish and eggs. My question is there anyway to filter out the fish and eggs using a trash pump? Would letting the water run through the pasture grass work?
Thanks for the help.

Ha ! There are a few of us who have not listened to the biologist It does not always work out the way we planned after doing so there are some threads here in the forum where fine screening filters were added to trash pumps. I think I can remember where Al(Fireishot) did something similar when transferring from one pond to another. I am not an expert on raising up back threads but u can google it with using pond boss in the search or just go to the past threads and do a little looking around. I am sure someone with better suggestions for searching will join in. And using grass or pasture for a filter is not good. There are quite a few fish like Green sunfish and Bullhead catfish just to name a few, that can and will survive that process and make it into the pond. Best of wishes for u and your new pond

Cpeaks, congrats on completing your pond. I'm not real educated but the biologist is(should be). I do know you are going to get things in your pond that you'd rather not have. Filling from a river will speed up your process but almost surely add some not so cool things. Bill Cody once showed me a drop of water under an electron microscope and I was amazed at the amount of life in one drop. My fear besides nasty fish, would be invasive plants and/or chemicals. I know EVERYONE is anxious to get their fish going asap but in 3-4 yrs if you do things correctly, you will be amazed at the results. That sounds like a lifetime but will flash by. The days are long but the yrs are short. I put 6 Koi in my pond and it took 5 yrs to get rid of em. One or two bad moves can set ya back quite a bit. I'd go with filling it and killing it off.
Just my personal opinion and others more experienced will probably chime in. Good luck which ever rout ya take.
Beware of Bill Ds 1 cent.

Chesapeakes, IF I was going to fill the pond from the river, I'd use Pentair's mesh filter bags over the pump's discharge outlet. They're capable of filtering zooplankton, so I would think they'd filter fish eggs also. Having said that, I would still Rotenone the pond after filling. Starting out with a clean slate would sure make long term plans both cheaper and easier.

I might also put out construction silt fencing above the pond area that's getting the river water. That'll help keep silt down.

Is the river above or below the pond?

I pump water from a creek to keep my pond full in the dry months. I use a Honda 4" trash pump which works great, but don't expect it to "filter" any unwanted species. The spec. sheet says the pump can handle 1 1/8" solids. Plenty of room for eggs,fry, and small fish to pass through. I introduced both good and bad species into my pond. Small mouth bass good, green sunfish bad. It will definitely happen over time.
Filtering is difficult for that big of pump, pumping that volume of water. I haven't found a good solution. I don't think letting the water run on the ground will be effective. I have seen small fish swimming in my spillway many times after a big rain.

On a side note, I would recommend buying a quality pump, and save yourself some frustration.

My $.02
Eddie

It is below the dam, uphill about 75 feet. I was going to use a pot driven pump on my tractor to fill and then trash pump to maintain. But it sounds like I would be better off using a well to maintain after the kill off. The pound is deep and the builder estimated 2 years to fill. Thanks for the help.

Better to use a filter on the intake side. I made my own from metal window screening, about 1/16" mesh, with large area, and it works well.

As FireIsHot said, Pentair filter bags on the outlet, and also use 1/16"-3/32" mesh screening on the inlet side. Create a large inlet to reduce clogging and low pressure areas.

Aluminum window screen wrapped over a 10' length of PVC pipe with lots of 1"-2" holes drilled all over the length, capped on one end and threaded on the other, can do well as a non-restrictive pre-filter inlet.

I use an electric pump that is brushless to maintain our pond level. The pump will pump 5500 gph with a 2". Very little hydro and pumps up 25 feet. I have had minnows go through the pump but are not in very good shape when in the pond.

Like stated above if there is minnows or fish in the river that are a concern to you and your plans filter the water and start pumping.

Cheers Don.