Planning a new pond (need pump and filter help)

21 years ago

Hi,

I havent posted on here for ages but here goes,

Hypothetically if I were to build a new pond I am going to build a 1ft wall raised type which has 2 planting shelves and is about 1m (3.33ft) deep. It will be about 1.8m (6ft)long by 1.5m (5ft)wide.

I hope to stock your normal fish such as Goldfish, coments, shubunkins etc and would love koi but dont know if this pond is big enough for them.

Anyway a rough calculation brings the pond volume to be 1620 litres (360 gal). I will be taking along my old 600 lph pump and ecocell 2200 filter but would prefer not to use these in the pond as I have other plans for them.

Anyway I need a bio/ mech filter, UV clarifiers, pump package at a good price. I have seen various systems on the net but I would like your comments on which makes are good. I like the look of the green genie and fishmate systems and need feedback on these.

So anychance of a system like this for under Â£100. I dont need any extras ontop of this as I have budgetsed for hosing and the like but if you can get it me for less than Â£100 that would be brill!

Thanks,

Daniel

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Comments (17)

Sean_McKinney
21 years ago
Imo stick with goldfish, thats too small for koi.

For a pump I would suggest something over 1500lph that will allow for losses and still get you over the often sited once every two hours. Look at the running costs as well as the purchase price. Look in the likes of B&Q, they will be cheaper than garden centres.
Use the biggest bore hose you can, ie the biggest compatable with the hosetails, that will reduce your losses. I think I can email you a loss chart but its 1.83MByte can your email take that?
dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
Hi,

Yep it can,

djfroadshows@gmail.com (about 2.5gb space... yeah baby!!)

Yeh I think I will stick with goldfish and the like and not go into koi lol. Are orfe OK though?

Also anybodies thoughts on systems i could get and opinions on those systems would be much appreciated.

I found DIY shops quite expensive as well s garden centres and find online stores and aquatics specialists can give better value.

Oh yeah, also is it ok to post links to online shops on here? If so could you chuck me a few links to webshops. Ive found quite a few but was wondering if there are anymore out there.

Thanks,

Daniel
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Hi all - wow thank you for the input! For some reason a few of these comments never made it to me via email, so sorry for the delay in response. CHAS: I think I'm going to just go with a shorter stream, which will cut down on the height a great deal. I will wrap it around the pond (instead of going straight up the sloped ground) - which will make the head height less and also keep the flow calmer for froggies. I also decided that I will focus the main pond on fish; and I'm going to put a little, shallower pond tucked along the creek which will be just for frogs - with a pump maybe, but no filter or anything (my current frog pond has just a pump/waterfall, no filter, and the frogs are very happy and healthy there). Hopefully the frogs will natuarlly choose the little pond instead of the bigger pond, and even if they lay eggs in the lower pond, I can just move them up to the froggie pond. I at least will feel like I've done my part to provide a safe haven for them :) RSINGLEY: I had read a similar recommendation elsewhere of putting mesh and other media around the pump - I like the idea, though I do wonder what the negative effect of not filtering the larger particles will be? (seems silly to get a debris handling pump and then restrict the debris from getting in, but alas, the dilemma of tadpole lovers). FROGMAN4: You'd be right on the calculation but it's not all at a 3.5' depth, and it's an oval pond. If you picture an upside down oval wedding cake: the biggest layer is 16x13 but it's only about a half-foot deep (it's a rock shelf). The second layer is 14x11 and is 1 foot deep. The third layer is 11x8 and is 2 feet deep (so total depth at the bottom will be 3.5). I calculated each "layer" out as separate pond volumes; using the oval pond forumla of L x W x D x 6.7, the top layer is 696 gallons, 2nd layer is 1031, 3rd layer is 1179 = 2906 gallons. The third (bottom) layer will have sloped walls, too, which actually will cut down the gallons, but I'm fine with over-estimating. I have wavered back and forth a hundred times about going with a skimmer filter as opposed to an external mechanical filter. I still haven't hit the "place order" button on my pump/filter order, but I made up my mind last night that I was going to go with a Laguna max flow pump (2000 gal), pressurized filter (3200), and also have a waterfall bio filter at the top. Holding off on the drain for now, but I saw some that I can add later if the need warrants. Chose the external filter instead of skimmer because I didn't want to have to do 2 pumps, and I just felt that not having the pump at the bottom (which it wouldn't be if I put the pump in the skimmer) wasn't the best idea... which was my deciding factor. I hope what I'm choosing will be sufficient... weeks of research got me here, and I'm ready to just install all this already! :) MEGANMCA: Thanks for that link - it's very helpful! I did read that pipe diameter is important - I'm going to go with 1.5" and hope that's sufficient. My sister just installed the same pump/filter combo I'm using with 1.5" and it's a beatuful flow. Her waterfall is a little lower than mine, but I think it will suffice... If not, can add a 2nd pump but hoping I don't have to do that. Thank you all so much for the input - and as always open to any other thoughts/suggestions!
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dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
Also I was thinking of getting a second maximus pump. The 1250 would probably give me about 1000lph. I have now decided to encorporate my current pump into the system which is a 600 lph so I think I could get about 1500lph out of both pumps as the head of the system is only going to be about 0.75m max above pond water level.

Thanks,

Daniel
dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
Bump,

Where is everyone?

Thanks,

Daniel
alison_froglady
21 years ago
My pumps and filter are made by Oase which I have found to be excellent. I don't know if you can get them for under Â£100 though. I am sure mine was dearer but my pond is about 1500 gals.so I needed quite a good pump.
Alison
Sean_McKinney
21 years ago
Sent
dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
Recieved.

Thanks,

Daniel
HissyFit
21 years ago
Well, I'll do my usual thing and recommend a DIY skippy filter if you have enough space.

Still very pleased with mine, it's into its second year of operation now. I have clear water, and so far NO maintenance or cleaning has been required whatsoever. For me this is a BIG consideration. No dreary filter cleaning... I just enjoy the pond, watching the fish and the teeming life in there.

I don't use UV, so no extra on the electricty bills, and no new UV bulbs every year.

Skippy's do need to be big compared to commercial filters, but mine is half buried, and forms part of my waterfall return, and is almost entirely hidden by plants and rockery around it, and watercress growing in the top. And it works WAY better than the commercial filter and UV that I had before.

Note that although my water is clear, I have a LOT of mature plants in the pond and waterfall return, and about 60% surface coverage from lily pads, frogbit, water hyacinth, water lettuce, duckweed and azolla. This undoubtedly helps.

Also, in my design the skippy filter is sitting in a lined "well", a few inches bigger than the skippy itself all around. So filtered water overflows into the well, and then overflows from the well into my waterfall return. ie. the well allows some additional settlement time for anything that gets through the skippy.

By the way, the watercress and veggie filter stage (plants in the waterfall return) seem to be working extremely well, because the duckweed and azolla is not as rampant as previous years. Only need to scoop some out once or twice a month.
dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
Hi,

That thing is a beast. However I dont think it is the right filter for me as I am the kind of ponder who is into the whole system and couldnt possibly leave it alone. also I need to filter system to be quite small so am chosing to use a multi tank system so i can situate tanks where possible.

Also hopefully this filter will be put in a garage so I cannot see plants liking that.

Thanks,

Daniel
dean33
21 years ago
according to your dimensions this is what you get.
Dimensions: 180cm L x 150cm W x 100cm H/71" L x 59" W x 39" H
Volume: 2700 l./595 gal.
Pond surface area: 2.70 sq m/29.06 sq ft approximately
Stocking density: 151.06 cm/59.47" of fish (built up gradually)
Fish recommendations: 6 goldfish (maximum)

got all that by using the link below

so you could have a couple of koi but thats it

Here is a link that might be useful: this link
dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
Hi,

Yeah thing is my pond aint a normal cube shape. So even though the depth is 1m it isnt 180cm wide at 1m depth. It is sort of like an upside down pyramid as you have planting shelves on.

The volume comes to about 1700L

Thanks,

Daniel
Sean_McKinney
21 years ago
Hissy what do you have 'planted' in your skippy? I am just about to commision a veggie filter and have loads of arrow heads, based on the recommendations of our american comrades. In addition I was thinking of iris and perhaps pickeral, with a coating of azolla, I can hold the azolla behind a boom.
Daniel, NO KOI.
dfinn
Original Author
21 years ago
dont worry I dont plan on having koi lol.

Thanks,

Daniel
HissyFit
21 years ago
Sean, in the top of the Skippy itself, I have only watercress. But the waterfall return has marsh marigold, water forget-me-not, pickerel, and bowles golden sedge. These were chosen for their proprties according the online RHS plant finder eg. hardiness, perennial, tolerance of water/light conditions etc, disease resistance, RHS award, etc... rather than for any effectiveness as veggie filters!

They are all pretty rampant, except the sedge, and occasionally need cutting back lest they "escape" or block the flow.

The plants in the pond itself may be a big factor too... submerged oxygenators are prolific in the depths, and all the floating plants I mentioned above grow well. Then there's a wide variety of marginals, rushes, lillies etc.

Everything is growing well, but there now appears to be a clear competition for nutrients, because the duckweed and azolla doesn't spread nearly as rapidly as previous years.
Sean_McKinney
21 years ago
Hissy can you post a photo, ta
HissyFit
21 years ago
Sean, there are still photos of my pond in the gallery, page two. It is the same as before, only the top of the filter is more chock with watercress, and the return is chock full of pickeral and water-forget-me-not at the moment. And surface coverage on the pond itself is much greater now.
twothumbz
17 years ago
How much did you spend on your pond filter? Seems like you can build one cheaply.

Here is a link that might be useful: how to build a cheap diy pond filter

Planning a new pond (need pump and filter help)

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