New member, saying hello and plumbing questions

[riparks]

Hi, I've been lurking here for about a month. This is a great forum with tons of information. I have a small pond now, approximately 7x9x2 and am planning to make it bigger and better within the next month. I have about 10 mature feeder goldfish and 3 Koi, largest is about 13 inches. The new pond will be rectangle, but I haven't decided how large the new pond is going to be yet. I have a Savio Compact Skimmer and plan to install a bottom drain (or drains) a skippy filter and a waterfall.

I understand the basics of filtration, etc. But am confusd about how to design the plumbing, i.e. where to put the pump(s), where do the pvc pipes for skimmer and bottoms drains go.

I was hoping that some kind soul would be willing to show me a very basic diagram that shows the plumbing. My husband is a general contractor with a back hoe and plumbing skills, he will be doing most of the work, I just want to be able to show him how it should be built.

Sorry this is so long!! Thanks.

 

[sissy]

welcome and good luck and you are lucky to have hubby and all that equipment and heard of Richlands VA did not know there was another in NC ,There is lots of info on the internet if you google it but there is a wealth of info here so you will find lots of different ways to do it and believe me I never knew how many ways until now LOL My pond is a rectangle to but can give you a heads up on that ,it is hard to get a liner to lay flat and not show the folds and creases with that design .I wish before I got my liner in I would have known that .But dug the hole by hand and because I had to put the liner in myself I had to actually get under it to spread it out at first that was a real laugh .But it seems these liners are better suited for a round or oval shape .I had to use rocks to hold the folds as I was putting water in and then still spent hours trying to get them right by hand in the pond with freezing cold water .I was cold and slipped and fell a couple of times .Liners are real slippery when wet .

 

[riparks]

Thanks for the welcome Sissy!! Richlands, NC is about an hour from Wilmington and close to Camp Lejeune. I have friends that live in Virginia Beach, we go to Chesepeake fishing every year. The pond I have now is rectangle, and yes, it is a pain to get the liner to lay flat. Maybe we could change the shape and do most of the digging with the back hoe and then finish with good ole shovels and elbow grease. Hubby is not really happy about doing this, but he is going to. This forum has been extremely informative, but I am just so confused about putting all the equipment together. It helps if I can see it on paper, lol.

 

[sissy]

My niece lives down there her husband Nick just got out of the service and they have a little boy Logan and just had a daughter .I can understand seeing it on paper as there are so many types of filters and are plumbed so different Mine I just have the hoses coming out of the pump into the filters nothing fancy one waterfall has an up filter the other waterfall has a down filter >I wanted to see which would work better .LOL So far so good on both

 

[DoDad]

I can help you with your design if you wish.
If your to have koi in it make it deeper aqbout 4'

 

[sissy]

do you happen to have an Ollies by you it is a discount store in there book section they have several pond building books and one describes how to biuld filter and all the plumbing parts I bought is yesterday 2.99 you may even find it at your local library

 

[riparks]

Sissy, was you niece's husband in the USMC? I retired from the USMC in 2005. I've never heard of Ollies, I bought a book at Lowes a few months ago, but it is very basic and doesn't cover some of the things I want to include. I've looked a lot of the DIY posts here about the filter, pretty sure we can do that. I'll try the library today.

DoDad, thank you so much. It is very kind of you to take time to help me. 4 feet is fine, we had discussed 4-5 feet. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[sissy]

yes he had to take medical leave after coming back from Iraq and he still lives in NC near the base .And good luck and make sure you get a lot off your info here on pond stuff as I have found it help full Ollies is a great discount store they have one in Greensboro and couple of other places .They had 12 books and the one I bought had over 400 pages of info from building to rememdies for problems you may have regular price was 39 dollars

 

[DoDad]

Pm sent

Sissy, was you niece's husband in the USMC? I retired from the USMC in 2005. I've never heard of Ollies, I bought a book at Lowes a few months ago, but it is very basic and doesn't cover some of the things I want to include. I've looked a lot of the DIY posts here about the filter, pretty sure we can do that. I'll try the library today.

DoDad, thank you so much. It is very kind of you to take time to help me. 4 feet is fine, we had discussed 4-5 feet. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[riparks]

Got it and answered. Thanks so much!!!!!