Bottom drains do you need one?
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- Bottom drain, do I really need one.
Hi its lee from the Japanese Water Gardens, in this video I am talking about bottom drains.
What are they?
What's the advantages of using one?
Can they be used with a pond liner?
Are they essential, or can you get away without one?
Keep watching and lets see if I can answer a few questions about bottom drains.
A bottom drain for a pond is manufactured unit that sits on the bottom of the pond at the deepest point and transports water through a pipe into a filtration system.
The water level in the filter is the same as the pond level.
After the water has been filtered it is pumped back to the pond.
We refer to this arrangement as gravity fed pump return filtration.
This is a highly efficient setup and there are many good reasons why this works better than alternative arrangements.
Water is being taken straight off the very bottom and this is where the dirt would normally accumulate so there is no sediment layer forming.
The flow of water through the drain and pipework is gentle and does not fragment the delicate solids produced by the fish. This means that the filter is removing large solids, not fines. The large solids are easy for the filter to settle out or sift out.
With a bottom drain system all of the plumbing is hidden and you don't have electricity cables running into the pond. This means its looks more professional and you don't have pipes and cables holding sediment or hampering you vacuuming the bottom off.
Bottom drains are energy efficient too. You can use a low wattage circulating pump to push the water back into the pond. There is no lifting of water and that means less energy is required to establish the flow.
Pumps tend to last longer and require little maintenance as the water passing through them is clean and not contaminated with solids.
If you have watched my videos before you will have heard me say that I think that fitting a bottom drain is perhaps the single biggest step in the right direction that you take when building your pond.
So why don't all ponds get fitted with a bottom drain?
Bottom drains and the required pipework are normally installed when the pond is constructed. Retro fitting a drain is sometimes possible but it can be a tricky job depending on the circumstances.
Sometimes people are reluctant to install a drain because they are worried about sealing it onto the liner.
But this is a very simple thing to do and I can tell you in 25 years of working with ponds I have never known anyone actually have a problem.
The drain has a flange that is covered with siclone and clamped down onto the pond liner with screws to create a watertight seal.
Installing a bottom drain does take some extra effort at the construction stage and I will not be so bold as to say they are essential to the success of every pond but make no mistake there are some huge benefits.
Thanks for taking the time to watch this video, if you want to see more help support the channel subscribe give the video a thumbs up and post any questions in the comments below.
Its bye for now from Lee at the Japanese Water Gardens.
![Koi Pond Filters - Gravity fed vs Pump fed [which is best?]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xM2s6B9AcSI/mqdefault.jpg)
This video contains high level of knowledge but less views...i dont understand why people always ignore good knowledge like this
'FEWER' views.
Great content I been finding it hard to get my head around a bottom drain but after watching this iv got a better idea 👍
Hi Lee, Belgian fan here..
Great videos btw, love them all..
So if I understand it correctly, for every 2000 gallons (10000 liters) of pond, you should put in a bottom drain?
Thx in advance
Greetings from the continent..
Wim
Yes that's a good plan .
Thanks for sharing your ideas😄
Great video lee
With hindsight i would have put in a bottom drain when i built my pond , but to be fair my pump fed system work fine , bottom of pond is super clean but i have to use pond vac regularly , I agree though that bottom drain is the way to go
Bottom drain is not essential. But it makes a lot of sense.
Thankyou Lee
Great video! Very inspireing!
Glad you liked it hope it inspires a few pond builders out there.
Lee Calladine you defenetly inspire me!
Educative video
Another great video.
I've just retro-fitted a bottom drain (video on my channel) and it's working really well. Just wished I'd done a proper bottom drain originally.
How's the quarantine build coming?
Hi lee brilliant video, I’ve installed a bottom drain in foundation. If my filter is higher than the water level what are my options to make it work?
You would have to install a settlement tank or vortex. Then pump up to the filter. Or as an absolute last resort connect a pump directly to the bottom drain. However this is far from ideal.
Hi lee
Great video again fella... one question i have though is.... is it safe to use a bottom drain on a lpdm/pvc liner?
Thanks
Lee
Pvc liner no problem. Rubber better liner choice though.
Can you tell me what sort of pump i would need please
Can you use this method 2 different ponds?but have the same drainage?
Definitely can link multiple ponds with drains to one filter. Must make sure each can be flushed separate.
czcams.com/video/fPzeXpSU2A4/video.html
We did this when we built our quarantine. Whole series of videos on it see link.
Thank you this is exactly what my pond looks like 4 ponds 1 drainage but I didn't see in the video the drainage system I'll look for the other parts of your video thank you sir watching from philippines!
What about the retro fit bottom drains like the ones from rhino they even come with air stones built into them 😉
Messy. Best installed from the beginning.
Hi Lee, I’m hoping you can help. I’m wanting to run either 1 or two totally separate bioforce 9000 evolutions,but, connect them separately down the bottom 110 drain and use a pump (should I say 2) to force feed to the bioforce rather than the submersible ones they come with. Do you see a problem with doing this please? I think would give extra ‘pull’ through the drain, and also shut one off for a full clean without stopping filtration on the pump. And…. I already have 2 which I have found brilliant over the years with only an annual clean required and very little mess.
I am not familiar with the filters you mentioned. Are they designed to be connected pump fed? Are you pumping directly from the bottom drains?
@@leecalladine they are meant to be force fed from a submersed pump sat on the bottom of the pond, I raised mine so it could never pump the pond dry. Hozelock Bioforce evolution they are called twist a handle to agitate the foam and divert through a valve to waste. Then strip down and clean once a year when I replace the UV bulb.
It is not ideal connecting the pump direct to the bottom drain. You can easily damage the pump or have issues with blockages. It would work considerably better if you connected the drains into a settlement tank then pumped the water of the top this allowing the settlement tank to filter out large heavy solids such as gravel etc.
@@leecalladine thanks Lee, I’m limited for space for a large settlement tank as the pump is quite powerful. Looks like I’ll have to find more space. Thanks for the advice, keep up the video’s, been super interesting, even the ones I didn’t log on to watch…. 🤪 many thanks again
hi Lee what do you think about under gravel suction grids, i'm in 2 minds whether to fit it on my next pond,btw I used your pergoda design when you make that video so thanks for that
Not sure what you mean by suction grids. If you mean like a large version of an aquarium filter under gravel. Then they will get full of sediment and you struggle to get it out. You could run it in reverse possibly with clean water pump backwards up through it?
@@leecalladine yeah kinda, solvent weld 2" pipe made into a large grid with small holes drilled into it about a foot apart and placed into the bottom of the pond and covered with 10mm gravel and connected to an external pump, something like this one www.pondtrademag.com/so-you-still-want-a-crystal-clear-pond-revisiting-undergravel-filtration/
If you are building a new pond I'd just go with the tried and tested method of gravity feed filters through bottom drains as all other methods especially sand and gravel filters just hold on to the waste and in effect cause the tea bag effect, filtration is the removal of debris so why would you want to trap it inside something you cant see also when you do backwash it is it actually clean......no way to tell....and if it fails it causes much more serious problems like bacterial issues.
Do it once do it right, buy cheap buy twice is my stance.
Goodluck
@@steviesmith2451 A system like the one in the link is very efficient biologically but it will be a devil to clean when it eventually needs to be cleaned and it will need to be cleaned at some point. If you could mechanically filter the water then pump clean water in reverse it can work well. Solids are the enemy of filtration.
@@Tom_Prendiville Wise words. I agree entirely.
hello sir Lee ! is there any rule how big the sump system should be currently planning on a 16 x 7 x 4 build gonna do 2 pcs 4 Inch Bottom Drain but my sump space could be in the smaller end and im confused
Make the filter as large as possible.
What will be the rate of flow of the bottom drain? What would be the size of the bottom drain pipes relative to the size of the pond? Thank you!
4 inch / 110mm flow rate up to 2,000 gallon.
Lee Calladine thank you so much!!!
@@leecalladine how do one assume the flow rate is 2000 gallons when the dept of the pond or volume of pond is not declared.
@@kkyogish tej flow rate can be anything upto about 2,000 gallons. Could also use 3in drain if you only need flow upto about 1200 gallons per hour.
If I scuff the bottom drain up, will the GRP stick better?
Yep
What is the right size of pipe for efficient bottom drain?
4in or 3in. Never ever smaller.
What is the minimum depth of the pond for water to move through the filters
I don't quite understand. But there is no minimum depth.
@@leecalladine lower the potential energy of water lower will be flow rate. The pump added to return the filtered water back to pond will run dry most of the time. Hence the basic question
What bottom drain would you reccomend for 2.592 liter pond
The only only size that makes sense is a 110mm\4" drain. Not going to block with leaves and easy to locate. You might decide to reduce it to 82mm to up the water velocity but don't go any smaller!
A bottom drain sound good but I’m worried about something going wrong and all the water draining
If it's done properly that is practically impossible.
Video title asks do you need one? Simple answer is no you don’t. You might want one but it isn’t necessary.