Duck Pool Filtration

[anp]

Hi everyone. I have 5 Aylesbury ducks in my back garden. At the moment they are swimming in a 6 ft kiddy pool (not even a foot deep) which I change the water once a week. It gets REALLY dirty as you duck owners know. I am wanting to make a pond that is a bit deeper and wider with a pond liner and some sort of filtration system but everywhere that I read tells me that there is too much sediment for a filter. Does anyone have any ideas on what else I could use? What do you use? I don't think the kiddy pool is deep enough and gets way too dirty. Please help me, any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks all!

 

[anp]

Please help if you can

 

[MarieNC]

We're trying to figure this out ourselves. We have two pools (a kiddie pool and a 50 pound livestock water trough) and I empty both of them every day.

 

[anp]

I guess my husband has an idea for a sediment filter thingy lol. Somehow the sediment will fall to the bottom (lowered area) of the pond, then it will be sucked up by the filter into a large tub where the sediment will sink to the bottom of the tub/barrel and the clean water will go back into the pond as well as the fresh rain water from the gutters. The tub will need to be changed weekly or so but I think that is better than every day. I hope it works! I will let you know how it goes once we get it built! Thank you for your input.

 

[ChickInDelight]

I have the same set-up. I have often thought, but never achieved, cutting a drain hole and adding a plug. Anything else would be too expensive for me.

 

[cbohn80]

try having a secondary pond fenced off that the ducks cant get in. use the secondary pond as the filter that waterfalls/flows to the duck pond. put golfish or koi and plenty of aquatic plants in the secondary pond. this will help use up the poop. you can periodically cut off part of the plants to feed the ducks, same with the goldfish once they start breeding. i havent done this yet but i would assume it beats cleaning out a filter every couple of days

 

[erinszoo]

Please let us know what works. We've been trying to come up with something for all summer and have just resigned ourselves to having a small tub that we empty every two days. Ugh! ONly benefit we've found is that we empty it into the compost bin and the manure from the ducks helps activate the compost. But it's such a mess and uses a lot of water. Sigh.

 

[cbohn80]

what works for me is i use a 60 gallon stock tanks. i put my own drain in using pvc with a shut off valve. the pipe leads right into my garden so i water and fertilize all in one shot. i made a platform from cinder blocks and dirt going around the sides of the tank. i still have to drain it every few days but atleast i'm not wasting the water. i used 1 in pvc but wish i went wider. i would do atleast 2 in.

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=146829&p=1
very good info here!!

 

[anp]

Thank you for all of that info!!! We are building the system I mentioned above this week. I will let you know how it goes! Wish me luck lol. If it doesn't work, I will definitely try some of the suggestions mentioned here! Great Ideas. Thank you!!!