Hi. I am new to this forum and have a couple of questions.
I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale (hot and humid) and had built a pond which was "O.K."
I used PVC liner and made my own skimmer out of sterilite container bought at Home Depot. I had a submersible Little Giant pump and in addition to the skimmer constructed a waterfall with a wet/dry filter setup similar to an indoor aquarium. I say O.K because it was never crystal clear but was as I said, O.K. This was about 20 years ago.
Now i live in North central Florida where we get winter temps in the 20s and hot humid summers.
I want to build a pond which is more than O.K.
It will be pretty large, about 14x12 x 2.5. I will use EPDM this time.
My confusion is as follows:
I have been reading up on construction and some sites say DO NOT use UV sterilization others say you "must" have it. I would think it will upset the natural biological processes. Some sites say a submersible pump is good other sites say only use an external pump. And finally there is controversy over bead/sand filter vs filter pads in a sump(skimmer) as well as differences regarding covering the bottom of the liner with rock or gravel vs not covering.
Oh yes, bottom drain vs no bottom drain.
The pond will have a few koi and a pond turtle which has been in the family for 3 years and likes to eat out of my hand. He must stay. Also aquatic plants such as water hyacinth.
So where to start? Any ideas about the above mentioned items? Is there a right way?
I know that I could easily plumb a 1/2-1 H.P. swimming pool pump to a cartridge filter or sand filter but I think this would be so clear as to be unnatural.
Thanks for your input.
I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale (hot and humid) and had built a pond which was "O.K."
I used PVC liner and made my own skimmer out of sterilite container bought at Home Depot. I had a submersible Little Giant pump and in addition to the skimmer constructed a waterfall with a wet/dry filter setup similar to an indoor aquarium. I say O.K because it was never crystal clear but was as I said, O.K. This was about 20 years ago.
Now i live in North central Florida where we get winter temps in the 20s and hot humid summers.
I want to build a pond which is more than O.K.
It will be pretty large, about 14x12 x 2.5. I will use EPDM this time.
My confusion is as follows:
I have been reading up on construction and some sites say DO NOT use UV sterilization others say you "must" have it. I would think it will upset the natural biological processes. Some sites say a submersible pump is good other sites say only use an external pump. And finally there is controversy over bead/sand filter vs filter pads in a sump(skimmer) as well as differences regarding covering the bottom of the liner with rock or gravel vs not covering.
Oh yes, bottom drain vs no bottom drain.
The pond will have a few koi and a pond turtle which has been in the family for 3 years and likes to eat out of my hand. He must stay. Also aquatic plants such as water hyacinth.
So where to start? Any ideas about the above mentioned items? Is there a right way?
I know that I could easily plumb a 1/2-1 H.P. swimming pool pump to a cartridge filter or sand filter but I think this would be so clear as to be unnatural.
Thanks for your input.