New Pond idea
- Thread starter Matt724
- Start date
k cool thx. Now I just have to wait till xmas and see how much $$$ I get to use on this project; which probably means I won't be able to work on this till spring break and it probably won't be running till summer 
you don't need to worry about freezing but instead about the difference in temp in summer from 110 day to 70 at night so make it at least 2 feet deep to help stabilze temps shade it in the summer and if that's a rain gutter in the pic you will need to relocate it. bio filtration is good but make sure to put enough plants to help keep the algea down and good luck with the budget epdm and pumps can be pricey check internet for used stuff
garhog;3722221; said:
Yeah, I was planning on making it at least 2ft deep, but one thing I was wondering about was whether or not to make levels since it won't be a very big pond. And as for the rain gutter, it goes directly into another drain pipe that relocates to the street, so I don't need to worry about gutter juice spilling into my pond, plus I could use it for water changes
. And plant wise, I plan to have at least 65% of the pond covered in duckweed and lilies at all times and then bunches of anacharis below. Do you think I should add a layer of gravel at the bottom? It would help with the planting and it would hold beneficial bacteria, but then it would mean I would have to vacuum it, which would be a hassle. I found a pump on ebay that is pretty cheap: http://cgi.ebay.com/375-GPH-SUBMERS...ultDomain_0?hash=item2c52151e5b#ht_5508wt_810 but i won't buy it till i'm sure this is going to happen. There are also a lot of solar powered pumps that are for decorations, I could cut mod those to fit a pvc pipe and the filtration could only work during the days, saving me a some money on the energy bill, but just a thought.maybe do some shelves at recommended detph for the plants you are using and and put a lip around the edge of the shelves to keep the gravel around the plants then on the deep part leave it bare for easy cleaning the solar is ok but you can't rely on it fully I would recommend running the filter 24/7 for circulation
Okay, and what do you think of my styrofoam waterfall idea? The more I think of it, the more confusing it seems to become. I was going to build it on a piece of plexiglass/glass that would act as the cover for my sump, so that when I need to do maintenance I could just lift the waterfall unit and set it aside, but I'm afraid of using the concrete mix because the water that might hit it would increase the pH because I don't want to buy the $60 tubs of thorite mix which doesn't raise pH.
that would work but I wouldnt cover the sump with it. then you don't have to shut the pump of every time u want to acess your filter. since you won't have to move it you can use real rock as well
yeah, but then I need to divert the path of water from the sump to the waterfall and that could get annoying, plus, turning off the pump wont be that bad as I'm going to mark the highest point the water can be before it starts to overflow the sump, which is ideal such as during a blackout or poweroutage and the pump stops working. if you look somewhere on the first page, you'll see that I'm positioning it only slightly lower than the waterline of the pond, so eventually the water won't be able to go into the sump, so no problem.
great project you got there, cant wait to see it built
. I have a pond in my backyard as well. Though I am no expert with filtration stuff, but I could perhaps upload some pic of my pond filters. Is hard to keep the water clear since it is outdoor, but so far the pond is running just fine. I currently have few kois in it.
By the way, I'm not familiar with the units that you guys use there, but how big is your pond in gallons roughly?
good luck with the project,
cheers
. I have a pond in my backyard as well. Though I am no expert with filtration stuff, but I could perhaps upload some pic of my pond filters. Is hard to keep the water clear since it is outdoor, but so far the pond is running just fine. I currently have few kois in it.By the way, I'm not familiar with the units that you guys use there, but how big is your pond in gallons roughly?
good luck with the project,
cheers
