Building a new pond

[drjay9051]

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.

 

[sissy]

I would go deeper .Mine is over 4 feet .Helps them stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer .Remember koi get large and need lots of filtering ,mine right now after 8 years are over 2 feet long .They are very fussy about there water .I have 2 filters going and 2 pumps ,one is 2150 gph and the other is 2900 gph .Pool pumps are energy hogs and there filters get clogged fast

 

[Waterbug]

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?

There are right ways for individuals. They express these as opinions. "A pond must have a bottom drain" or "A pond doesn't need a bottom drain". Flip a coin and pick one if you're not concerned about the whys.

There are right ways for specific ponds. A water garden with lots of plants including lilies and some goldfish should probably not have a full bottom drain system (includes TPRs, correct pump size, etc) because the movement of water would twist the lilies into a ball. A Koi pond with a fair number of Koi may need a BD to keep the fish alive.

There are right ways for each owner. If I were building a pond for Koi I would build 3' minimum depth. You on the other hand may not think that is the right way for you and choose 2.5'. Who's right? How do you judge? If the fish live X years? I could build a 6' deep Koi pond next door to your house and my Koi might all die after 1 year while yours goes on for many more. Does that mean all Koi ponds should be 2.5'. Nope.

There is only one thing that is 100% right for ponds, they must have water. Everything else is on a sliding scale. Some things reduce or increase risk to fish. Some things reduce or increase water clarity. Some things make maintenance easier or harder. Somethings are at cross purposes.

If you learn the reasons for these different devices and their pros and cons the decisions come easier.

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.

I did this when I converted a swimming pool to a pond. Filter ran for about a minute before clogging. I could have back flushed that filter 100 times a day and it still wouldn't have been enough. So my water ended up very "natural" and the filter went onto the trash heap.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Hi. I am new to this forum and have a couple of questions.

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.

I'll give you my opinion on some of your questions.
A common complaint of pond owners is green water algae. UV units work very well for killing green water algae. If you don't have green water algae or you don't mind your water being green then you definitely don't need a UV light. Even if you do install one and use it to kill your algae most of the time you only need to turn it on for a couple weeks of the year. Once it kills the algae it often doesn't come back for the remainder of the year.
A lot of people use submersible pumps and are happy with them, it really depends on what type of filtration system you want to set up. I suggest you research the benefits of gravity feed filtration systems. That should answer your questions on bottom drains too.
In a nutshell, in a gravity feed bottom drain system the water and debris gently flows to your filtration system where it is easier to filter because it remains largely intact. With a pump feed system (submersible or external) you need a pre-filter in the bottom of your pond to keep large debris from plugging your pump. That pre-filter can be prone to getting plugged, and is hard to clean because it sits in the bottom of your pond. Any other debris that makes it past your pre-filter goes through your pump and gets blended up into fine particles by the pump impeller. When it finally reaches your filters a lot of it can go right through because it is now blended up so fine.
A more important question that submersible or external pump is, if you want a gravity feed system or pump feed system?