# lead in fish pond



## GSDF&F (6 Nov 2013)

Hello all. I've installed a UV filter etc, in my fish pond & want to sink the cable using the minimum of lead strips. Is this a bad idea.

Cheers BeeJay


----------



## martin-green (6 Nov 2013)

What is the cable for?

I have several cables under water, none of them float.

You can always tie stones / small rocks to the cable.

Lead is a bad idea.


----------



## GSDF&F (6 Nov 2013)

I've had a re-think on this & it was a hair-brained idea.


----------



## martin-green (6 Nov 2013)

But what exactly were you trying to do?


----------



## GSDF&F (7 Nov 2013)

Like I said, sink the cable that is feeding the UV filter which is a submersible one. But I've managed to site it so the cable is camouflaged as it emerges from the water behind the plants/rocks etc.

Thanks for your interest.


----------



## martin-green (7 Nov 2013)

oh. Its just that I have yet to find a submersible UV that is of any real use. Usually too small. Which one do you have?


----------



## GSDF&F (8 Nov 2013)

Hozelock3000


----------



## martin-green (10 Nov 2013)

As you can see from the picture below, cables do not normally float when in water.






Regarding your hozleock 3000 that is an all in one filter and UV and pump. Personally I don't like them.  (But lets not go there now)

Regarding the cable, it shouldn't float, but you can cover it with gravel to hide it.


----------



## GSDF&F (15 Nov 2013)

martin-green said:


> Regarding your hozleock 3000 that is an all in one filter and UV and pump. Personally I don't like them. *(But lets not go there now)*
> 
> So I take it you have had one?
> 
> Installed said pump 5th November (10 days ago) My pond at it's deepest is 3' & was the black hole of Calcutta, could only see the fish at meal times, now see them swimming around merrily near the pump which is now visible. I have no complaints.


----------



## martin-green (23 Nov 2013)

GSDF&F said:
			
		

> So I take it you have had one?
> 
> Installed said pump 5th November (10 days ago) My pond at it's deepest is 3' & was the black hole of Calcutta, could only see the fish at meal times, now see them swimming around merrily near the pump which is now visible. I have no complaints.


 
What follows is nothing personal: (It's my opinion on the all in one)

Anyone that buys one of the "all in one" devices will always say that they think its good, they have only just brought it and have not found out its "flaws"

The idea is that you have one device, it cleans / clears the water for you. Good idea, but how it is designed is its downfall.

1) It's not uncommon for its pump to fail (More seem to fail than you would expect) If you had "separates" you can just change the pump if it fails. You can't with an "all in one"

2) A good biological filter has to have its first media (sponges) cleaned on a regular basis. On a normal bio-filter you lift the lid and take the sponges out and rinse them in a bucket of pond water. (Some "bucket" bio-filters, you raise and lower a  handle) then put the cleaned sponges back.

The "all in one" its in the middle of the pond, you have to get the wellies out and wade in and get it. What's this, why are you getting wet? you forgot to turn it off before going into the pond, quick, back out and switch off,  no lid to just lift off to get the sponges out, damn.

3) It's dark and that nice "tinkle" of the fountain now sounds like a shower (Less ambient noise at night) You can't turn it off because you will kill all the good bacteria building up in the bio-media. If you want to turn the fountain down you have to get your wellies on (again) and go and adjust it, no one will want to do that every night and day. A normal bio-filter has its return via a waterfall, these are nice to look at, but are also quiet. (You can make it noisy, but most don't)

4) There is a chance that in winter the pond will freeze, you can't turn off the all in one as before, you will kill the good bacteria, as there is a fountain there is also more chance of it freezing than if the water was returned by a water fall.

5) When the pond season ends, you should remove the UV, You can't do that with an all in one. When the pond season starts you should replace the UV lamp,  you have to get back into the pond to get the all in one.

6) It is best to take water from the top left corner of a pond an return it at the bottom right* (Any diagonal will be fine) The reason is, this ensures that all of the pond water goes through the filter. An all in one doesn't do that. (It has the ability, but no one ever uses it)

7) If your pond is "too deep" you have to raise the all in one up (On bricks), since its telescopic pipe has to conclude above the water level, what happens to the water below it? This doesn't happen with a normal bio-filter and pump, because the pump always sits on the pond floor


_______________________​ 

By human nature you will always want the easiest option, so an all in one seems to fit the bill, but as you can see, it doesn't.


----------

