Sterile grass carp are cheaper and don’t risk an oxygen kill. Also, Tilapia do a decent job eating algae while providing an additional food source. Unless you are VERY far south, they don’t pose an invasive threat.
Evan & Rebecca, An idea to pass by you to keep the duck weed away from the pond water pump. If you took several long pool noodles and joined them together in say a 3 or 4 foot circle. Then, with stiff attachments, fix rigid wire or some other material, at say the North, south, east, and west attach these wires to both the noodles and the bucket. I believe it would prevent the duck weed from accessing the pump suction.
I have a similar set up. I use a 1 gallon plastic jug and a short chain hooked to my suction hose. Hose stays about a foot under waters surface and up off the pond floor. No duck weed, no sand!
Literally finally proved my system out last week... Filled my 5 gallon pail full to the top with Pee Rock... primed.... put an inline sediment filter on... worked awesome. I put a lid on my bucket also... just incase the river pushed my bucket over.
The channel “the veggie boys” use a stream to irrigate their vegetable fields.. They use a big round sand filter from a pool to clean the water … other than being heavy it seems to work pretty well for them.
Thats going to be cool. Make use of the pond water for sure. Hope the pump stays good and clear of muck and stuff. Hopefully the filter system will work great.
hey, good job. It works. Of course some here will have all kinds of 'better' ideas, but this works and it is a relatively easy solution. I like it. Can't wait for the next video to see what else it is capable of doing!!!
What we have used at the lake for decades is a broad-based tripod that sets on the bottom with the intake mounted at the apex. For priming, you also want a riser on the intake side of the pump with a valve and a sealable cap. When priming, fill the intake and the pump casing with water and put a large funnel on the intake riser. Keep the funnel full of water while operating the pump to establish prime. It should take prime on the first try. Once the pump is working, close the valve on the intake riser and install the top cap with teflon tape to assure a tight seal and prevent air from being drawn into the suction over time.
Irrigating with lake water for 26 years. You need a screen on your intake and keep in the shade (or under a structure) to avoid buildup on intake. Clean it as needed.
Nice work, an additional pressure shutoff valve would be advantageous so you don't blow any hoses out. You can get mechanical pressure circuit breaker valves that are great for remote pumps where power is an issue. Even though its near the house a couple of 250watt solar panels and a mechanical pressure switch would send water up automatically. cheers
Glue a fitting on a funnel Screw it on the valve fill it with water and add more water as needed to prime the pump , the pumt will prime itself quickly then close the valve
Put a weight on the strainer and let it hang from a float to capture mid level water, a rope to the other side of pond will secure it's position above the deepest part or "sump" of pond, nice little build
By now, there should be a strong indication the White Triploid Amur fish are consuming Duck weed/Algae. For a treat, when cutting grass next to pond, direct mower discharge chute at the water. Amur will love it. I do this every time i cut grass & Amur swim swiftly to the clippings to slurp it off the surface. Agree, pond water will provide nutrients to your veg. garden.
Great idea use some 3/4 in. PVC tubing and a trencher to get water though out your property. We did it for the family’s cabin / homestead for the garden and for fire protection in the summertime for over 30 years but we use a gas driven pump we have sprinkler sit about 12 feet off the ground for good coverage. If you’re confused on cabin / homestead use kids call it a cabin but me grandpa homesteaded it in 1912 and always had family living on it
Man, I would attach 1/8 hardware at the very least to cover any hole going into that bucket. It doesn't take much to make the pump stop working overtime, and it can overheat and burnout. I did something similar once, you have to keep up with what is going into the bucket very regularly and the screens on the outside. Just a short weather event can make conditions change very quickly. Goodluck.
Oh yes this kind of water attracts all kinds of strange things and putting a hardware cloth or some thing on those bigger holes on the bucket is very highly advisable you’ll be glad you did. If the weather gets very dicey you’ll be regretting yourself for sure.
Is it possible you could mention the brand of pre-pump filter you added to prevent crud entering the pump? I have been looking for one but most are much smaller than yours... Could you let us know the brand and maybe where you purchased it. Thank you!
A trash pump and a 2000 gallon water storage tank would be a better option. Put the tank on a high enough elevation and it gravity feeds water. You can filter the water as it goes into the tank. It would also reduce the need to have a pump running to water the garden continuously for hours each day vs once a week. Also reduces the chances of destroying a sensitive pump like a sprinkler pump... Plus every time you start that pump you will need to prime it...
For what Evan is trying to do, this option looks pretty solid, especially with his solar power supplying the electricity. Longevity of this pump may become a factor.
Brilliantly thought out design. If you had done this in Michigan, we have a thing called a funnel. that's F-U-N-N-E-L. Most are under 2 bucks. I would be happy to sent one to you. 🙂
Even, You have a good thing going, but first off, I think you should have cleaned the stones before putting them in the bucket, I believe that is where you got the debris from that was on the filter screen. Second put some screen wire on those big holes you put in the bucket, this will help to keep the duck weed out. Third, put some clean bigger rocks in the bucket around your homemade screen, that will also help to keep most if not all the debris out and will not reduce you water intake, oh and put a lid back on the bucket. This is only my opinion!
If you put a foot valve on the end of the pipe on a 90degree elbow it will act as a check valve too. It will fill up quickly and you wont lose the prime. Great job
I'm very impressed with your can do attitude, like seeing that mentality in folks. I think that is a great idea, we have the same situation with lack of rain here, unfortunately we don't have a pond with water. We lost our pond bank a few years back and just haven't been able to get it repaired. Good luck with the rest of it, I enjoy watching you do these projects. Thanks and have a nice day!
What a Rube Goldberg device you conjured up! 😀I let out a cheer when it started and finally pumped out a nice spray of water. I'm surprised you get a water bill. I like this experiment!
Good job & vid mate, I like what you have done. I would suggest you consider maybe putting a firm fitting tyre tube around the top of the bucket and pump it up so it fits tight & helps float ur whole filter bucket system so if you get a flood the bucket can go up & down with the change of water height & not take in any floating debris.
i bet that pond water will be almost like fertilizer! i watered my seed starts this year with collected rain water and had the best seed starts iv'e ever had!
Wow, talk about being self-sufficient. Now you just need some kind of inner tube-like device to keep duckweed away from the intake. Kind of the reverse of what is used to contain oil spills in a donut shape. Good luck finding that. ha 👍👍👍
Thanks for sharing Evan, looks like you made a great choice on the garden watering system. Sure hope you can do good on the old well. Stay safe and keep up the great videos. OLD DAWG DREAMING Fred.
I have a similar situation and I'm using a 3 hp running on 220. It works well on our irrigation. You may find out that you need more horsepower to get the correct lift from the pond.
You did an amazing job with all the filters and shut off valves-My hat is off to You on how to make the pump work effectively. Use a funnel to add water to prime the pump.
The first house we moved to in Florida there was a pond out back and several houses used the pond water to irrigate. Of course my house didn't have this so i used a submersible pump and it worked great for awhile, till the junk in the pond ruined it.
Great idea. Most of the old farm ponds were built for irrigation and watering livestock. I would recommend suspending your pick up bucket about 4’ from the surface. Find an old 55 gallon plastic barrel to use as a float. We watered hundreds of head of cattle with that exact set up and rarely had an issue. It will get your pickup below the duckweed and into some cleaner water
Love your innovations Evan. You had all your ducks in a row except perhaps a simple funnel might have helped to fill the priming section. 😅 I watched another channel use solar power for their air filters to clean the pond. It looks to be pretty clear now.
For routine, repeated irrigation, such as the garden, you may want to install a centrifugal pump in a small pump house with a pressurised delivery tank. The pump can be operated automatically using a pressure switch. That way, all you need to do is go out and turn on the sprinklers to get water, which ought to save you alot of time. If you use a centrifugal pump, it will not be very sensitive to small debris, and you need only put a filter on lines to debris-sensitive end uses. You will need to remember to drain the pump and pull the suction line out of the pond in the fall before the first hard freeze.
I finished building my irrigation system following exactly your instructions (I figured the parts myself) and it works! It took me a while to prime the pump like you reported but now it works perfectly. Also using 5/32” tiny holes, in order to get the same surface area as an open 2” pipe you would only need 150 holes. I drilled 300 just in case some would get clogged and it works perfectly. I am able to run 3 sprinkler heads with this set up. Haven’t tried 4 yet. I bought the pump and the filter on Amazon, the rest I found at Lowe’s. Pump: Acquaer 1HP portable shallow well pump 998GPH, 115V. Filter: SAFBY female NPT in-line strainer with stainless steel filter screen (1 inch 40 mesh)
Evan, If you find this works for you consider putting a top on the bucket so if it does tip duck weed can't get the line. I have a set up that waters my garden and pasture as well. I buried pvc from the pump to several locations that I want to water and hook a hose reel up to the end of the pvc. I can water using 5 heads. Granted my pump is a bit larger and is mounted on a platform about 3 feet out in thr pond about 6 inches above the water level and the inlet is 1.5 feet deep. I use a sprinkler on wheels that I got at northern tool that throws the water in an 110 foot circle
Wow… that is quite a system. Seems simple but evident that lots of thoughts went into it. Fascinating! Kudos!!! What a great use if the pond water. Must be a relief to be able to water the garden without knowing you aren’t increasing your water bill.
You made a great video capturing the critical elements to the system as well as you trouble shooting it. I appreciate your video! I am looking into creating a decorative water channel and was doing research how to pump from the bottom of the channel back to the top. I imagine something like this would be quite effective. Thank you!
I know it’s a chore but you’re gonna have to clean out that small filter like once a week or more depending on how many hours you’re running the system. This was a chore I had to do for my aquarium set ups which was huge and it got tiring after a few months doing it so just so you know maintenance of the sprinkler heads maintenance of the InTEXT system the maintenance of the filtration system you’ve got is gonna take a few hours a week to maintain just so you’re not surprised I was when I did it!!!!!
You could fill the pail with small rocks and they would also help to filter out weeds and sand before they get to your pipe . Also could wrap your pipe with a mesh screen. Great video as always. great idea and set up.
