The reason for this post/question is filtration.
The wife and I are contemplating a new pond for a home we will be moving into in the near future. The pond being planned is a L-Shaped pond. We are calculating it to be about 3850 U.S. Gallons. The pond will be an above ground pond and will be built out of concrete block with a concrete slab as the bottom. Because of the size which is about 24 ft. long by 8 ft wide (overall linear length in L-Shape) we are planning on placing two, aerated, bottom drains into the slab. We will, obviously, waterproof the stucco/cement finish inside the pond.
We currently have a 900 gal above ground pond that we built. The pond uses a rubber liner. There is no bottom drain but we are using a Tetra 2500, with UV, as the filtration. We also have an air pump with a 2 ft air stone aerating the pond and creating a current from the middle out. The pump we are using is the Tetra DHP 3600. This is a "debris handling" pump and I do not have it bagged at the moment. The pump is in the pond, it is plumbed to the filter and the filter feed two 12 in wide stainless waterfalls that drop the water into the pond. The photos are below.
This setup has worked OK or fair for our needs. The water is kept clear enough to see the bottom well. It's about 3 ft deep. Even in it's "clearest" moments we still see some particles floating around. We back wash it regularly but still the filter clogs and acts up from time to time. We
So back to the new pond. The pond will be located in the new house in an area that will get full sun, pretty much, all day long. The location of the pond will be wrapping around the corner of tiled patio in the center of the photo below. That is the south side of patio/yard.
We have been researching a bit and have seen many different setups that have left us more confused than when we started. We have read some about Skippy filters, pressurized filters with mixed media, bead filters, all-in-one pre-setup solutions, etc. Some amazing stuff out there.
The main issues is size and where to put this filtration. This pond will be in the middle of the property. I would like to have this filtration enclosed somehow or hidden. I would like to keep in all lower than the back of the pond. I would rather avoid a 6 ft wall hiding 500 ft of twisting PVC. Basically we want to avoid 55 gallon blue tanks being an eyesore in the yard. However, we do want to keep the water clean. We do want something that works better than the current Tetra setup.
Can you all recommend something?
BTW... why above ground. This is in Miami, Fl. I have limestone 12 inches below my topsoil. It's a royal pain to dig here. Also, there is well water available to me there. Water swaps would be a breeze. Last bit of data.... we have 5 Koi about 12" long at this point. We also have about 8 to 10 Cichlids and, last but not least, Godzilla, our 8 year old plecostomus that comes up to be hand fed.
The wife and I are contemplating a new pond for a home we will be moving into in the near future. The pond being planned is a L-Shaped pond. We are calculating it to be about 3850 U.S. Gallons. The pond will be an above ground pond and will be built out of concrete block with a concrete slab as the bottom. Because of the size which is about 24 ft. long by 8 ft wide (overall linear length in L-Shape) we are planning on placing two, aerated, bottom drains into the slab. We will, obviously, waterproof the stucco/cement finish inside the pond.
We currently have a 900 gal above ground pond that we built. The pond uses a rubber liner. There is no bottom drain but we are using a Tetra 2500, with UV, as the filtration. We also have an air pump with a 2 ft air stone aerating the pond and creating a current from the middle out. The pump we are using is the Tetra DHP 3600. This is a "debris handling" pump and I do not have it bagged at the moment. The pump is in the pond, it is plumbed to the filter and the filter feed two 12 in wide stainless waterfalls that drop the water into the pond. The photos are below.
This setup has worked OK or fair for our needs. The water is kept clear enough to see the bottom well. It's about 3 ft deep. Even in it's "clearest" moments we still see some particles floating around. We back wash it regularly but still the filter clogs and acts up from time to time. We
So back to the new pond. The pond will be located in the new house in an area that will get full sun, pretty much, all day long. The location of the pond will be wrapping around the corner of tiled patio in the center of the photo below. That is the south side of patio/yard.
We have been researching a bit and have seen many different setups that have left us more confused than when we started. We have read some about Skippy filters, pressurized filters with mixed media, bead filters, all-in-one pre-setup solutions, etc. Some amazing stuff out there.
The main issues is size and where to put this filtration. This pond will be in the middle of the property. I would like to have this filtration enclosed somehow or hidden. I would like to keep in all lower than the back of the pond. I would rather avoid a 6 ft wall hiding 500 ft of twisting PVC. Basically we want to avoid 55 gallon blue tanks being an eyesore in the yard. However, we do want to keep the water clean. We do want something that works better than the current Tetra setup.
Can you all recommend something?
BTW... why above ground. This is in Miami, Fl. I have limestone 12 inches below my topsoil. It's a royal pain to dig here. Also, there is well water available to me there. Water swaps would be a breeze. Last bit of data.... we have 5 Koi about 12" long at this point. We also have about 8 to 10 Cichlids and, last but not least, Godzilla, our 8 year old plecostomus that comes up to be hand fed.
