Now in my fourth year, I decided that my main filtration and plumbing needed to be upgraded. I decided to place twin 55-gallon drums in front of my main pump to act as mechanical filters for the system. I also spend many weekends digging a trench the length of my back edge of my pond. Into it I took out a single 3" PVC pipe and replaced that with side-by-side 4" PVC pipes (one going to its own pre-filter barrel).
The work, at times, was maddening. I had an especially hard time at the junction where the pipe leaves the pond (I did not empty my pond during the remodel – ask me how sometime at a meeting). I had to use a jig-saw to cut away some of the pipe to get a clean spot to attach a connector for the 4" pipe. More time than I care to have spent was doled out at this point in the whole re-model process.
Work on the remodel picked up after the corner problems and the project was completed just recently. The first time I pulled my stand-pipes going into the twin pre-filters, one bubbled like a volcano. The other… not so much as a trickle. I made a comment to my wife (not for publication) about the situation that had presented itself in front of me and this is what she said:
“You know… when we were working down at the corner on the pipe… I MAY of left the bag in there”.
Now we had a routine of shoving a plastic grocery bag or bags into the pipes when we left the job for the day. One reason, it kept dirt out of the pipe as we were working around the pipe; another it kept residual water, that was still in the pipe, from mudding up the work area. We would place it in there and REMEMBER to pull it the next time we were attaching PVC.
So now I had a possible source of the problem; I needed a solution. And it ended up being this. I put on a swim suit (I love San Diego – the pond water was only 56 degrees in January; at least there is no ice), went back and place the stand-pipe in that pre-filter and drained the barrel, grab my garden hose, grab an expanding bladder that builds up pressure in the pipe, attached the two together, and jumped in. I took off the drain cover, placed the bladder into the pipe, and turned on the water. When I got back to the pre-filter, it had started to overflow itself; so I pull the stand-pipe.
The water came blasting into the barrel. Five seconds later; a large plastic bag popped out of the pipe, along with some pieces of cut PVC that probably had fallen back down the pipe as I was cutting it way back when. The flow was restored; but with that, it came back.
You may recall my article on my early days / initial attempts at getting the filtration right. When I had gone too long between filter flushing and I referred to the smell as “Calcutta”. Also in an early writing, I had discussed how one of my bottom drain’s plumbing ran away from filtration to a “common” access point; making it twice as long to the end-point (remember: water will take the shortest route). So my #2 bottom drain had little or no flow for its first three and a half years. Now it did.
All I can say is I am fortunate that I was outside, with plenty of available oxygen because what presented itself next into that pre-filter barrel made my head knock back and eyes water. The blackest of black vile made itself known there and then. Luckily my sump pump was already positioned ready to discharge into the sewer system (I would bet the waste water people took notice). After flushing the pipe 8-9 times (stand-pipe in, drain barrel, pull stand-pipe, and fill) the crisis had passed.
My improved pipe system works like a champ now. And I am hopeful that will be my last flash-back to Calcutta.