Installing Pond Pumps

Replacing A Dead Pump & Adding A Backup

Comment

When we returned after a six month absence, our plants and Eucalyptus were near death. Only the Olive tree seemed to be unaffected. We have an automated system that waters everybody from our grey water pond for ten minutes twice a week. We would normally monitor everything from 3000 miles away through TeamViewer (recently switched to RemotePC).

About 2 or 3 months earlier our west coast computer had crashed. Our computer guy was nowhere to be found. Restarting a computer that is tied to an external harddrive (to save all captures from all 4 webcams almost indefinitely) can sometimes be tricky. Our solar guy and our neighbors could not figure it out. We were seriously involved in other life events at the time so we just let it go. The 2400 gallon water tank had been recently filled. If everything else was working properly, then there would be nothing to worry about.

What we discovered in November was that the seven year old water pump had wrapped itself in a blanket of algae, burnt out and died sometime during that computer downtime. A second more powerful pump had kept the water circulating, but still not fast enough to keep the algae build up at a minimum.

We replaced that pump and then installed another entirely independent pump and valve system to also water the plants in tandem so if one stops working, the other will keep everybody alive.

We also tried a couple of different algae fighters. First we bought a gallon of algae killer and gave it the recommended dose. Nothing seemed to happen but I was also feeling a bit nervous about using this chemical, since we otherwise make a point of using only natural biodegradable detergents, shampoos, etc. As seen below, local critters do drink from our pond. We donated the algae killer to a local thrift shop.

Then we discovered barley straw bales. Barley magically prevents the growth of algae but does not kill the preexisting algae, so I gradually removed much of that with a rake and screen, trying not to disturb the lily pads or snag the network of tubes and pumps.

For the first time in history, this pond became exceptionally clear, making all of those tubes and boxes very visible, so now it looks something like a junk yard down there. We may have to add more lilies, or I might try duckweed again, just to hide everything. I tried that and other plants in my previous and smaller pond in the beginning, but they did not take.

This new pond holds twice as much water and is more biocompatible and less toxic (as we learn such things as not storing the detergent in the washer where it can burst in the summer heat and then drain to the pond), so we may try duckweed again. Duckweed, if successful, does a nice job of covering the entire surface with a million nice looking little plants. The reason I think this new pond is more biocompatible is because I moved a bucket of dark rich mud from the old reasonably well working seven year old pond to the new one.

From the camera that I can zoom into the pond with, through RemotePC, all looks well. Also the couple next door, Gabe and Caroline, are now occasionally checking the pond and the plants to make sure they look, smell and sound healthy.

This summer the computer died again for no known reason (from 3000 miles away). I found a new computer guy, Larry Giron of Computer Zone (760-774-2842), an established business nearby in Yucca Valley. He got the computer going for a reasonable price. It died again a month later and he got it going again, this time suggesting that it could have a bad BIOS battery. When we return in two months, I'll look into that.