Duck pool

[DuckyDonna]

Haha! My new dog goes into the duck house and rubs his face and shoulders all over the straw to put some “product” in his hair. I call it the hair salon!

and THAT is exactly why I don't let my little Princess in the duck pen/run! She found a dead, mostly melted rat (complete with maggots crawling in it) that she had killed and I had buried about a week ago and rolled in it so bad. 3 baths later she was finally fresh and clean again.

 

[katiebrock]

and THAT is exactly why I don't let my little Princess in the duck pen/run! She found a dead, mostly melted rat (complete with maggots crawling in it) that she had killed and I had buried about a week ago and rolled in it so bad. 3 baths later she was finally fresh and clean again.

Sounds delicious!

 

[Steven Bussell]

Put it on a pallet and insert a bulk head in the bottom with a hose or pvc pipe running out to a valve on the outside. 1.5" or 2" pvc would be ideal to prevent the pipes from clogging. You will be able to find ball valves of this size at a big box hardware store, but you may need top order the bulk heads online as they are not as common. You could find them on Amazon though.

You can get bulk heads from TS. Lowe has 1/2" and 3/4"

 

[BReeder!]

You can get bulk heads from TS. Lowe has 1/2" and 3/4"

Yea, the 1/2" or 3/4" are just too small IMO. I didn't think about TSC. They probably have larger ones for use with troughs and tanks.

 

[Steven Bussell]

Really it's worth the cost and trouble making a filter system .
I live in CA. Water is something we can't waste.
The heart of the system is using a hi flow dirty water pump
I have just a small 50 gallon pond. But I have almost 200 gallons water filtering. My water almost always looks like tap water.
The ducks splashes out about 5 gallons a day. I keep 50 gallons of water that has set for a few days to add to my system. I keep a 100 gallon planted system to remove the nitrates.
Only real way to remove ammonia is to do some water changes. I usually do a 50 gallon change every 3 weeks

 

[Steven Bussell]

Yea, the 1/2" or 3/4" are just too small IMO. I didn't think about TSC. They probably have larger ones for use with troughs and tanks.

I agree. 3/4" is for rain barrels.
I got all of my 2" , 1 1/2" and 1" for the filter system I build from TS

 

[BReeder!]

Only real way to remove ammonia is to do some water changes.

In a filtered system, ammonia should be converted to nitrite by nitrosomonas bacteria and then nitrobacter bacteria should convert nitrite to nitrate.
The nitrate is the hard thing to remove typically. Plants help a lot with this. You also could try an anaerobic (low oxygen) bacteria filter (bog filters typically have anaerobic sections for example). The only other way is water changes.

If you are testing high fir ammonia and removing it with water changes, something is off. It could be too large of a bio load. Adding lava rock to your planted 100 gallon might help. Lava rock has a very large surface area for additional bacteria to grow on to boost your nitrogen cycle.

 

[Steven Bussell]

Reeder
Thanks for taking the time to reply to the comment.
I have been keeping fish tanks for many years. Honestly I haven't tested my aquariums in many years. I over filter everything and do small water changes. All my tank water is used for watering plants. I stopped testing because my maintenance has always kept my water perfect.
But all my aquariums are fresh water .
I have trees and plants around my run that I have to water anyways so I just use pond water . I do have almost a 100 pounds of lava rocks in my bio pond filter, a small sand filler and water polishing cloth. I do have to clean the cloth basket every day. It only takes a few minutes and the water I use to clean it goes to plants as well . I will be testing my pond soon. Its been up and running for 3 months so I believe the bio system is mature enough to be doing its job.
I just started my first planted aquarium last year and fell in love with planted tanks. I may end up redoing my 120 tank so I can plant it as well.
I'm working on a plan to start a blog around my run so I can add more water plants outside.
Gardening is one of my passion.