new Pond construction for a new member

[bruacho]

Hi everyone,

i am working on putting together a pond for my new house.
i put together a real quick autocad drawing of my plans because i have to submit them for a permit. please advise on filter system for this size of pond.
thanks to anyone that has advise.

[Birdman]

Quote: Originally Posted by bruacho Hi everyone, i am working on putting together a pond for my new house. i put together a real quick autocad drawing of my plans because i have to submit them for a permit. please advise on filter system for this size of pond. thanks to anyone that has advise. Attachment 9523

Sorry, I couldn't bring up your drawing big enough to read. Can you make it larger?

[lildude]

Quote: Originally Posted by bruacho Hi everyone, i am working on putting together a pond for my new house. i put together a real quick autocad drawing of my plans because i have to submit them for a permit. please advise on filter system for this size of pond. thanks to anyone that has advise. Attachment 9523

It is very advisable to have bottom drains with all of those curves in your ponds shape, definetly more than 1.
Can you tell us anything about the filtration it is going to have.

[Steve Nguyen]

just a heads up, without knowing the specific details on pumps and pipes layout, my recommendation is to make sure that you won't get dead water spots. with those curves, the pond will look nice but water circulation might be an issue. for koi pond, imho, it's best to have oval or rectangular shapes with rounded corners.

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by bruacho Hi everyone, i am working on putting together a pond for my new house. i put together a real quick autocad drawing of my plans because i have to submit them for a permit. please advise on filter system for this size of pond. thanks to anyone that has advise. Attachment 9523

[bruacho]

i am planning to put drains in i was thinking 4. i have not put the plumbing in or the electrical. this is just the shape of the pond and the size. I really wanted some info on what would be a good plan for the filter system. i plan on putting in returns as well in the areas that would not get very good water movement. the last thing is that i am going to put in a water fall that is not in the pic yet but it will be in the center of the pond on the back end near the fence.

[bruacho]

steve,

thanks for the heads up. i thought of the dead water spots also, but i would really like to have this shape of a pond. i have two very large sago palms that i am putting one on each of the circles so that it looks like its part of the pond. i think i would buy larger pumps and put in more returns and drains just to make this pond work. if you have ideas on how this may work please let me know so that i can take a look at it.

[Clay]

The comments on the pond shape are spot on. You will need many more bottom drains than 4 and many, many TPRs (Tangential Pond returns) to get some kind of flow in that design.

When we do a design we have to set criteria. If it is a water garden with the most important aspect the "look" then we plan for the look and the fish are secondary. If our goal is to build a pond for fish, the most important part of the design is the environment in which the fish live. Yes, we can make these look fantastic, but water movement is a primary consideration.

While not having the space to discuss every point of pond design here in a couple of paragraphs, I can recommend two resources for you. One is the book by Peter Waddington titled Koi2Kichi. While not an inexpensive book the amount of time and frustration that you will save will make it a fabulous bargain. For an on line resource try this link, it is the best that I have found for an on line, step by step, true koi pond guide: http://www.koicymru.co.uk/construct.htm

Please do more research before you put the shove in the dirt so to say. If you don't you will not be much different than the average ponder like myself. I am currently on my fourth pond build. As Peter Waddington has said and I totally agree the least expensive way to build a proper koi pond is to build it once, the right way. Please learn from people like me who have spent way more than any one man should have to spend to get a proper pond. Leave the emotional rush of having to have it now behind for some more research. The choice is yours of course. One thing nice about this hobby is that it is not a race to the end, but a wonderful journey that involves an exciting learning curve. Have fun and enjoy it.

Rick

[Steve Nguyen]

Bruacho,

you probably need at least 4 pumps placing around the pond to make this work. 4 bottom drain will probably be suffice. make sure you create the pond bottom with some slope toward the bottom drains.

general approach for koi pond filter is 10 to 15% equivalent to the pond size. there are many types of media you can use for bio chambers. bead filters such as Ultimate II are highly recommended over other brands. btw, don't trust the performance rating on this filters. I would say discount half of what they claim in term of filter performance. there are other submersible bio chambers such as kaldness, japanese mats, matala mats,...,etc.

you might need to build two filters. one for each side of the pond.

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by bruacho i am planning to put drains in i was thinking 4. i have not put the plumbing in or the electrical. this is just the shape of the pond and the size. I really wanted some info on what would be a good plan for the filter system. i plan on putting in returns as well in the areas that would not get very good water movement. the last thing is that i am going to put in a water fall that is not in the pic yet but it will be in the center of the pond on the back end near the fence.