This pool has been created by Justin in Australia using bubbles to circulate the water. It has separate swim and plant zones and is off grid using only 80 Watts of solar energy to operate. instagram @organicpools Facebook/organicpools
Bonus feature: a massive water reservoir of perfectly potable water in case some kind of shortage appears. Very cool indeed. I'm much too lazy to ever attempt anything like this, nor is the climate here really pool friendly, but a great example of working with nature instead of tackling it head on.
Double bonus feature, with all that running/stored water I would definitely start an hydroponic greenhouse and/or grow some nice trouts for eating now and then.
You missed the point here. He use no ozone or chlore to get clean water. In the industrial side of things, it's pretty revolutionnary. No chemical involved to swap dirty water into clean water.
Great job on the pool. We also built a natural plunge pool with a separate planted zone, sand filter etc based on David's design philosophy. crystal clear water, that is drinkable.
I love learning from the people who have suffered and learned on our behalf. It's a gorgeous design and hearing about the problems is almost as useful as having the effective design in the first place. Thanks for all of your work.
Wow! Hats off you to for doing this and creating a pool that only uses 80W of electricity and no chemicals. For water that's so clean you can actually drink it! Incredible. I'm sure you lost more than a bit of sleep over the aggregate nightmare. I can see a lot more of these separate planted zone-pools popping up somehow, you can see how appealing it is to anyone who wants a more traditional swimming pool.
@@safffff1000 Yeh when i see that pool covered in sunlight i see protein with zero food miles. The best thing a person could do for any sort of carbon/independency/environmental concerns. If you like nature/money/sticking it to the man/environmentalism this is the hobby for you.
I would suggest one improvement to the system might be to replace the cloggable geotextile with a choker sand layer using coarse sand 0.5 to 2mm particle size. Also this would allow for the aquatic plants to have deeper (and cooler water) root growth zone. A geotextile layer under the aggregate would be helpful to restrict root growth from clogging up the outlet pipe. Amazing and inspiring off-grid system, congratulations!
That's what concerned me - geotextile plus perforated ag-line at the bottom of those plater containers seems like a recipe for clogs and blockages in the long term. That sort of stuff works great short and maybe even medium term but several years down the line, I can see the owner having to completely tear down those seperate tanks and rebuild them. Video was very light on the required maintenance for a system lik ethis
@@bluelotuslandscapes I have thought about this and i agree, even rivers just get full of silt and change course, naturally. It seems a fight with silt, also friggin dust, cant be won. My solution, in my offgrid homesteading fantasies, is to swap them out with premade ones, with a forklift every so many years. Maybe replace 50% every 2 years, to keep bacteria and stability, or whatever works best. But i see a machine being involved to make it easier. Or an aggregate pump, which i dont know exists but as i type im sure it does and im even sure its called and aggregate pump
Did the calculation for my pool. My standard pool pump normally runs 4 hours per day at 1110 watts vs this pool 24 hours a day at 80 watts. That means I’m using 2.3x the electricity plus harsh chemicals, etc. Makes a natural pool very attractive by comparison.
@@francescaelischer6177 Without trying it, I don't see any reason why not. The issue would be that many food plants like plenty of plant food, whereas the goal of a pool filtration system is to remove as much plant food as you can to make the water as clean as possible. So it would take some experimenting to find what edible plants grow well enough in this situation to be worth the effort. Also, they would need to be cooked properly before eating, just in case someone swimming in the pool was carrying something contagious.
I grew up swimming in an "organic pool". It was spring-fed, and over the years millions of people used it with zero health incidents (except an occasional slip and fall). As an adult, I built several koi ponds and learned to make small-scale complete nirogen cycle systems. One time a sump pump I was using failed and created an oil slick in the pond. I feared I had created an ecological disaster, but because my system was well-designed it captured and degraded the oil within a day, with no damage to the fish or plants.
Something like this is a labor of love. If you have the wits and willing to look after a pool like this, then you'd probably want to build it yourself. Most average people can barely cope with running a chlorine pool and that's not at all difficult. So I don't think this is realistically something you would find much market for as a product. Justin shared his experience online which is what it's all about.
I would love to see a 50m size version if it was possible. Maybe using something speccy like a vertical garden as part of the filtration - just because it could be done.
Amazing!! I love the natural look of organic pools, but Justin's look and design gives the concept a whole new modern, sleek, and if I dare say, posh feel.
In Germany there is a public bath installed in a lake that uses the same principle to clean the water. The waste water from the bathing area at the end of the lake is pumped to a point above the inflow, which is located on the other side of the water body and fed in there. A wetland has been created between the feed point and the original inflow of the lake. This protected retreat for water birds serves as a clarification stage for the water fed in from the public swimming beach.
My interest in this would be to use this on a larger scale to clean polluted harbors, lakes and rivers. Very impressive! I wonder how much cleaning power of the plants is actually the algal mat...
There's nothing like the feel of swimming in fresh clear water. This might be the closets feeling to being in river or glacier run off water without the cold!
Justin, keep in mind that in the filterzone the water doesn't need to be above the plantinglevel. The 10 cm of water heats up faster and grows the algea. You could just fill it up with a nice type of gravel.
I have found that 20 - 25 mm crushed stone works extremely well with the water level about 50 - 75 mm from surface level. This totally eliminates the possibility of mosquitoes breeding in the filter area
@@ecomandurban7183 Maybe add some minnows here and there for the mosquito prevention. Although that would increase the bio load and require more plants also.
I liked your video... I have built two separate farms in my day. One was a tilapia farm and the other was a white shrimp farm. What you call a bubble pump we call that Airlift. Your initial concept is great, but it's always based on the ecosystem. You always have to give it a chance to do its job to be able to see if it is going to work. Great job and I think I will be building something like your pool in my area. New challenges to be dealt with I'm sure. Balancing on many factors lead to success my friend from down under.
"It all needed to be accessible in case we needed to change it, because I have no idea what I'm doing" is exactly what people with an idea of what they're doing would say.
That's outstanding! Thanks to David Pagan Butler for the initial inspiration. I'd sure like to see some examples of natural pools in cold climates like mine, Zone 3 Canada.
I'm in Maine but a zone 4b I definitely agree. I'm only on a couple of acres but my kiddo is into mermaid swim tails and I would love to have a pool for her to explore that more.
Great project! He should make a quick operation manual. I figure this because some day someone will turn one of the blue knobs on the air lines and nobody there will remember the optimal setting. Probably a toddler or teenager.
So amazing! Question, about the plant filter IBC planting zone would those be an issue for mosquitoes/etc breeding? Or is the water moving enough on the top? Or something else?
This pool is amazing! I have been researching doing a natural pool for a year now. This one is like the best of both worlds! An actual swimming pool but with natural water. The climate you're in seems like it's similar to Hawaii... all great info for starting something here. Amazing work with an amazing outcome. Thank you for sharing!
Great video and very enlightening and educational as I never thought one could (or should) have the 2 areas apart. Thanks for sharing this and describing in such detail how it was done
not sure if Australia has the mosquito problem that the south east US has. but I wonder how well that system keeps mosquitos out. and if it needs help I wonder how well fish could be put in the planted zone
If needed, toss in a "Mosquito Dunk". It's a natural/biological mosquito control that is safe & works well. It disperses larva killing bacteria into the water.
@@jeggo182eeeh.... Not stagnant. Just still, ish. If flow rates aren't fast which they're not, you could definitely get mosquito larvae. But it's not like that's impossible to solve as per several comments.
I love that you took the risk to experiment on a worthy project. This information you learned and shared is quite valuable for other similar projects. Thank you for taking the risk for us and sharing with us.
Bravo... What an amazing DIY project. I declare that one day I'll have one. Based David's mock the next level would be to put some edibles in the planted zone, watercress, mint, Coco yam.. so many possibilities
A decade ago I had a plant filtered aquarium, been wanting to do this at pool scale ever since. I have a hillside, I think I would do one pump to the uppermost tank, then gravity fed down a cascade of containers.
I feel like having the plumbing in that configuration encourages sediment to flow into the system potentially causing wear on your pumps and introducing potential for other issues. I would have them reversed, inlet at the bottom with the outlet up top where the sediment shouldn't reach, but ideally I would have them side by side with some kind of barrier between them to ensure the water circulates through the tank rather than travelling the short distance to the outlet next to the inlet. I would also encourage the use of union joins. To make any modifications you must cut the system requiring a costly repair. With a union you could simply unscrew the union and move the pipe away from the valve which you wish to access.
The only pump in his system is the bubble pump, so there are no moving parts exposed to the water. Personally I'd be running the filter tanks in series, not parallel, but I can't deny his system looks like it's working very well.
Thankyou so much for taking the time and energy to share this. Generous indeed. Very excited at the possibilities for our new pool build. Our pool will be higher than the plant filter system. Not sure if this will work but very much hoping so. Thanks again,
The water level needs to be at the same height in both sides of the system or it will just overflow out of the plant zone you could put the plants zone higher but then you would have to pump the water up to it
This is amazing and house looks just as amazing. Congratulations Wow, I love everything so far. I think how you did it is brilliant. I would hire you to do the same for me if I could I have always loved the idea of having a house like that with a garden/fun place in the middle of the house. To top it off you are off the grid. Truly beautiful home and pool.
Do you think this would be possible in a colder Canadian climate where things typically freeze in the winter? I know the bubbles would keep it from freezing over, but the challenge would be keeping the plants alive (maybe greenhouse over them) and keeping the water warm enough for both the plants to survive the winter. Just a crazy thought as this set up is a dream of mine and I love how beautiful and natural it is. Thank you so much David for sharing your research and expertise! I can't thank you enough!
I'd put the whole thing in a greenhouse with triple or better glazing and all the rest of the bells and whistles so you can keep the water warm enough to swim in all year around. There's no point having a pool if you can't swim in it half the year.
Have you had the water tested over a period of time, to test for any pathogens, quality and consistency? Could you share that process, sources, methods and results? This would be my bottom line before taking the “plunge” to build one of these…
I lived on village where I would casually swim on the river nearby. The water is clear but of course it’s natural. Animals, plants, their leftovers and of course pathogens are there. Still alive and healthy today. What I learned is that, those are natural things going on, and we should adapt to it rather than completely avoid it. Now I live on a capital city and kind of understand why people here are so hygiene.
Any concerns on water borne pathogens? Normally I thought salt or chemicals would help to prevent these. Maybe only bad for kids swallowing small bits of water
I’m a pond type person and me and so many other kids swam in ponds all our lives. Ours bodies handled it fine without and issues. Chlorinated water from cement ponds (reference to Beverly Hillbillies) is truly repulsive stuff. With all the balancing he has achieved it’s a non issue.
@@uncletrashero That's precisely the point though: in the plant zone, the water is relatively still (even if it's circulating). And that's ideal breeding ground for mozzies.
This is absolutely incredible! I myself have a 'self-cycling' aquarium which I absolutely adore. So from that background I have some questions: 1. Is there any longterm solution to keep plant roots away from the piping? If I have three Epipremnum aureum in my aquarium and after only half a year the roots are everywhere in the substrate, even inside the pump inlet. 2. Is the flow strong enough to avoid the filters turning into a breeding paradise for mosquitoes? 3. Would it be a viable option to keep shrimp or animals in general in the tanks? They work wonders against algea and fertelize at the same time. I am pretty sure that there will always be some algea/biofilm, no matter how strongly planted the tanks are. At least this was the best solution for my auqarium, but I can understand that this is whole different level.
How do you prevent Naegleria Fowleri from entering your pool water? It's notorious for occurring in warm fresh water(non-chlorinated) temps and it's almost always fatal once it finds a human host
Maybe they're just accepting the risk. This wouldn't be particularly worse than a freshwater pond, and lots of people let their kids play in freshwater ponds.
Yep, or any bad bacteria. They should've used chlorine resistant plants and use just enough to keep it clean. That's pretty easy with automatic feeding/metering.
This is very much in accordance with the organic filtration systems I was working on for my aquaria in the 90s and 00s. I wish I could claim some sort of originality, but my designs were all based on the research carried out by other aquarists before me. Very interesting to see this system being used on a grand scale. One of the things that became important for my systems was the use of floating plants, as their roots take contaminants directly out of the water.. Fortunately, every bio zone has floating plants, but you do need to be very aware of not using invasive species as these can get you into really big trouble with departments of agriculture. For those unaware, for these purposes a floating plant is one whose roots are waterborne, but the leaves are out of the water. In tests, probably the very best plant was the water hyacinth (Pontederia/Eichornia crassipes) but this is a native to the Americas and, because it is so invasive, it is illegal to use it anywhere else. In Africa, Pistia Stratiotes (water lettuce) works very well, and in Europe we have Duckweed.. Emergent plants are extremely useful, but you can't just drop them in the water. One problem with floating plants is that they tend to be too effective, and can quickly remove all nutrients from the water, and in so doing, you can quickly have an invasion of them, and then they die off because they've not got nutrients left in the water. Emergent plants are not nearly as efficient, but can more easily reach an equilibrium. These are plants which have their roots in the substrate and the leaves coming out of the water. From my experiences, I found a combination of emergent and floating plants to be an ideal combination. BTW, that's a lovely pool/system.
Hi Justin - thank you so much for sharing what you have done - it was really informative and you must be delighted with the result. I wondered how you worked out the number of IBCs you needed to achieve the level of filtration - or did you try and get a % of water volume in IBCs vs Pool? I'm trying to work out how much I might need! Thanks
I really hope this becomes the norm! It really should be because those horrible chemicals don't just disappear when they're down the drain or evaporated which is why we're having such environmental problems with 'forever chemicals'. This water is drinkable and safe for living things. Thanks so much for this wonderful information.
Don't drink from it. It's better than a normal pool because it also acts as a water reservoir but you should still at least boil that water before drinking.
Now that biochar is starting to be made on an industrial level I imagine it would make an ideal layer for filtration. I haven't watched all the videos pertaining to this but some way to easily remove algae and sediment would be awesome addition to gardens/compost.
How about an aquaponic system that has aquatic life that keeps the containers clean with the ability to insert veggies directly into these containers as u see in aquaponic systems. The idea would be not to overstock your system that can create an ammonia problem. Again a balanced system that along with keeping the tanks clean, also gives u fresh food.
@@Blue1Sapphire Adding fish means adding animal-based residue to the system that the plants then have to remove - and fish can be carrying zoonotic pathogens. You can do it, but you need a much bigger bio area, and you really need to sanitise the water before it reenters your swimming area. The goal of this system is to strip all the nutrients out of the water, so any veges you try to grow would have to tolerate that. Lots of water and sunlight, but zero NPK or anything else they want that can't be obtained from the occasional shed human skin cell floating past.
Well done Mate, was going to add my experience’s in WA with similar water balance issues. Now that I have scrolled down, I see most addressed. Went to school in Warners Bay! You are a hero.
I would have been a little hesitant to add the Azolla you have in the IBC's. Are you concerned about its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen? It may outcompete other plants but much of it's nitrogen is sourced atmospherically rather than from the water column so it's role in water filtration may be minimal. In saying that, the ability to grow different plants in different units is interesting. Perhaps if your nitrogen is under control but your phosphorus is creeping up, colonising an IBC or two with Azolla may be effective. Great results so far. How can we watch this system progress and mature into the future?
David, first of all I'm a fan and I'd like to build a pool, but I'm wondering about a natural pool, I have some concerns - about parasites, bacteria, say a bird brings in an amoeba or. some harmful pathogens into such a water system.. can it thrive in chlorine free water? do you have any experience, knowledge? what you think? Take care.
there is no way to sterilize the water without damaging the bacteria and plants that do the filtering, also as a result of the clean chemical free water backswimmers and pond skaters may be attracted to feed on insects that land up in the water but these are no problem at all. My brother had a number of very large koi fish in his crystal clear pool which he would swim with.
@@ecomandurban7183 If you set a UV light on the water going into the bubble pump you'll sterilise the water with no residue. With the number of water changes they've got going, the water in the swimming area would be reliably sterilised, and it wouldn't affect the planted area at all.
I do believe you can put a rudimentary power station under that area of your water catchment to help charge a battery station for rainy day power. It is worth looking into especially being off grid or power out scenarios. Have a great day.
Its an interesting story and cool that they faced and beat the challenges they had. I'm not a fan of the turquoise looking water though. Too similar to chlorinated pools. It is the very wild-ness of the natural pool that you build David, that is compelling to me. I want to see the bugs flying around, I want to see the plant growth almost overwhelming it. That to me, is a natural pool.
That is absolutely freaking COOL! That's exactly what I've wanted to do at some point. I hadn't had time to really research it all so this is proof of concept, I can't wait to do this myself. Thank you so much for posting this video David.
Very impressive project, but I much prefer your actually natural looking swim pond David. So much extra work and infrastructure on Justin's approach, but I much favor having nature itself do as much of the work as possible. This looks more like a factory than anything to do with nature to me.
How are you dealing with Naegleria fowleri? Naegleria is an ameba commonly found in warm freshwater and soil. Only one species of Naegleria infects people, Naegleria fowleri. It causes a very rare but severe brain infection called Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is often fatal.
In America 2.5 people die from that per year. So the bacteria might be common but the danger is overstated. In comparison, a thousand people will be shot by police officers, 75 people die in lawnmower deaths, 2 people die in selfie related accidents and 2 people will be killed by a toddler with a gun. (I didn't create this list but whoever did seems to have had an anti-gun agenda. Generally, any list of ways that Americans die seems inappropriate for the 4th of July...). That bacteria likes to live in the sludge so it's probably not a huge risk if you sweep the bottom.
