New garden pond - need advice

[oates151]

Okay, I just put in a new 200 gallon garden pond at a my High School.

I purchased an Odyssea pump 500 gph submersible pump with pre-filter and 20 ft hose which I attached to the back of a waterfalls template that I purchased.

I put larger rocks on the outside of the pond to make it look a bit more natural since the pond itself is premade. I also put little pebbles in the waterfalls giving it a natural look (not sure if this helps with filtration).

My questions:

1) Do I really need a filter? I've been told by some pond owners that using just a falls pump gets the job done. Will the pebbles do any good as far as filtration is concerned?

2) Should I purchase waterlillies or some other sort of pond plant? I've heard that these help naturally filter the pond.

3). When I put the little pebbles in, I forgot to clean them off before hand, so the pond became quite murky. I am still waiting for the PH to go down before putting goldfish in - does thin debris like this usually settle down after a few days, or should I just clear out the water and start from scratch?

I've attached a jpeg of the pond - let me know what you think. Thank you in advance for the advice!

-Pat

 

[koidaddy]

Welcome Pat. I would use a filter. Especially if you are going to add fish. You can make a small bio filter from diy plans here. The pebbles in the falls help with good bacteria, but if you are not filtering it first to remove any solids it will get messy.
Hope this helps.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum
You dont need a filter
If you dont want to see your fish

Can you make a small 5 gal bucket filter ?
One thing you can do is let the return water , fall on top of some pillow stuffing in the top bay of your water spill way , it will help with the murky water

 

[koikeepr]

1) yes on the filter. do make one. Every captured body of water needs one unless you want it to turn into a mosquito haven and quickly get sour.
2) remove those pebbles, they will be nothing more than a headache. Once you do that, I would empty all that water and start again as it won't clear with all that pebble dust.
3) you can add plants if you like