Could This Work With Ducks?

[Amiga]

LLCoyote,

not to worry!

When I got my runners, I had absolutely 0 idea how much I would need to learn, and how much I would need to do myself. I became the architect, engineer, carpenter and plumber in addition to duckherd, charwoman, and manure manager.

But I did it, and BYC Duck Forum folks helped so much!

(Between you and me and whoever reads this, I think most of'em really enjoy it!)

I have read a number of reports of people learning plumbing on the fly, and getting it right!

So from what I read, the plumbing's not that bad - making a simple sketch ahead of time saves grief. I don't think I'd mess with a filter, but make sure (ask those who've done this) what diameter pipe seems to work best. You may want a strainer (what's the right word for that?) over the drain outlet to keep big chunks out of the pipe. You'd need something soft with a handle - an old broom? - to swipe chunky stuff away from the drain opening. I don't know how tight your area is, but think about how far away you want to "daylight" the drainpipe, and into what - a depression, the berry bushes?

Once you get your pond area dug out, you'd want to dig a lower channel for the pipe. You will probably need to get (buy or borrow) some tools and equipment, probably some adhesive, maybe some clamps, some pipe (I like Schedule 40 - it's really durable for the jobs I've worked on), and probably a few other things I cannot think of right now.

Again, Hattiegun's done this a time or two, I think.

Oh, right, you want to make sure that the pipe points downhill. Don't laugh, I don't always think about slope first thing!

I dump the concrete mixing pans out and I have the Day Pen graded so the water flows quickly into a shallow channel that feeds a garden a little bit downslope, providing the garden bed with water and fertilizer.

The sunken fiberglass mini pond I just bale out with a bucket and refill. But they don't use that daily, so I don't have to do that but once a week or two.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
Buyin a sump pump to suck up the solids and gung may be less of a hassle than digging an undergrond drain and putting a drain in your liner and hoping it doesn't leak.

And for a filter, it would help to have one, not something ready made, a bi theg biofiler built out of a trashcan would work. You can look up biofilters and how they work. Also research the concept of duck ponics and aquaponics, which is basicly pumping the pond water with its duck waste, through a biofilter and then into a growbed with plants ( either a few veggies for you or the ducks, or something like duckweed for the ducks) and then the filtered water runs ack into the pond.. so what happens is the the filter medium in the biofilter catches the solids, and also this provi edes a reservoir for the benificail bacteria to break dow the bad stuff, then the water goes into the plant bed where the plants use the nitrites that's in the water from the duck waste, and then it goes back in for the ducks to mess up again and continue the cycle.

ETA. The biofilter media that catches the solids will need to be rinced out regularly. And I would also recommend starting a culture of daphnia in your system, if you did this biofiler/duck ponics method. They are tiny organisms similar to brine shrim but they live in fresh water and they are filter feeders . They are coominly used as live fish food, which is what I keep them for, and they feed on the single celled algea that turns water green, as well as on other decaying organic mater and it is really amazing how well they can clear up dirty water. I can send you a starter culture if you decide to try some, the are too small to be eatten entirely by the ducks, and should be able to pass through the filtration system if you accommodate it for them.

 

[70%cocoa]

I know that all this info is probably daunting but don't be daunted - you will find a solution that works!

It can be done.

As Amiga said, plumbing is not that hard. Just go to a hardware store and find someone who knows about plumbing and explain what you need (with a diagram as suggested). I knew nothing about plumbing two years ago and it scared me but once I gave it a go I found that it wasn't that hard. It's just like meccano or lego, really! With water added.

 

[LLCoyote]

Ok, so I'm loving the idea of aquaponix and duckponix it really sounds like a good idea, but it's really complicated XD My biggest question is: How do you get the water to move through the plant filter? I think I'm missing something really REALLY obvious XD ever have that feeling? Thank you guys so much for your information and help! It's facinating!

 

[Amiga]

From my reading about aquaponics, and from the setups I've seen, you need energy of some sort to bring the water up to a plant filter, then gravity brings it down and through and back to the pond/pool.

That's where slope comes in again. For those who have plant beds, they make sure there's a slight slope downward toward the water tank (for fish), so the water moves, but slowly enough for the plant roots to take up nutrients (a.k.a. poop).

One of my many dreams is to have an aquaponics setup. Did I mention the worm bin dream?

 

[grawg]

Quote:
You know what I'm getting for Christmas? 2 pounds of worms

I'm going to make a couple 55 gallon flow thru bins and try out two species. Not 100% sure how the DW is going to take it...

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
You use a pump to pump the water from the pond to the biofilter then set the system up for gravity to do the rest, the water over flows from the biofilter into a pipe that goes down to the growbed, and the overflows into a pipe back to the pond

 

[LLCoyote]

Ok, I've got another question. My dad has gotten involved in my project (I just couldn't keep my mouth shut!!) Now, he says he's having it professionally made, which is great, but he now wants to put FISH in the pond. So I've got some more questions.

Is it possible for ducks and fish to exist together in one pond without harming each other?

Will any certain type of fish help with the waste issue?

Are some fish aggressive, will they attack my ducks?

Will my ducks bother the fish too much even if they are larger fish?

My father, though I love him with all of my heart, thinks I know absolutely nothing about anything in this area since he's built a pond (Well... attempted) before. So I need some advice from you guys and maybe since you have experince and you know what you're doing, he'll listen to that. I am positive that the people building this pond will know NOTHING about ducks. Just about digging holes and putting filters in them XD

 

[70%cocoa]

Unless they are large fish the ducks will eat them. Mine eat goldfish up to about 2 to 3 inches long.

Fully grown ducks should be fine as far as duck safety goes. The only time I have heard of ducks having a problem with other things living in a pond is with eels, which will eat ducklings and sometimes take a bite out of a duck. To be on the safe side I'd buy fish with a preference for insects and pond plants.

Ducks poop so much that you'd have to have pretty hardy fish to survive. Also, with fish, it will be very difficult to drain the pond to clean it. But if your Dad's plan is to do a very very big natural type pond then it should be fine to have fish. Don't start with anything too expensive though..

 

[RAREROO]

Is he wanting ornamental or game/food fish ? You are going to need big fish to keep ducks from killing them and even then it would be good to have something for them to hide under while the ducks are in the pond, the ducks can still kill a fish even if its too big to eat, mine killed an 8 inch cat fish that I had had for a few years after they raided the little goldfish pond he was in over the winter. So give them somewhere to hide for sure. But some medium/larger sized catfish or tilapia would be good if you want something that you can eat. A couple drawbacks to them would be that larger catfish may try to eat ducklings and the tilapia won't likely survive winter temps and they are big veggie eatters too so if you put duckweed or plants in the pond for the ducks to snack on, the tilapia would probably gobble up a bunch of it. Or large koi may work too but I wouldn't invest much in any fish that I wanted to live and put it in a duck pond.