New Pond Owner - Hows this thing work?

[Zracer]

We purchased a home with a non functioning pond. Appears to be professionally built.. Owner said he's never ran it in 10 years. Its a waterfall pond maybe 8x6 and a foot plus deep. External 3200 little giant pump, that was destroyed from ice. I replaced the pump and couldn't get water to the feed pipe even when the pond overflow pipe was flowing so I never turned on the pump. I found a prime port I believe.

So we pulled the rocks out of the pond to clean the mess, probably 1000lbs. We found rocks at least a foot deep and a center bottom drain. The strange thing to me is the drain isn't a pipe but goes into a tank probably two hundred gallons deep. The bottom of the pond is essentially the top of a plastic tank.

We would love to have a koi or two and a bunch of plants.
I'm guessing the rocks were the filter and the tank was to provide filtered water to the pump and it was not designed for fish. Can someone explain what this is designed to do? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jagsfan]

i think what you have is a pondless waterfall. meaning you fill the 1' hole with pebbles or smaller rocks, sometimes have a water feature like a fountain or something. The water drains down and collects in the basin below and gets pumped back to the top. It doesnt seem to be set up to accommodate fish . Some people like to have the sound of water and the look of a waterfall without having to worry about fish or plants.

 

[mrsclem]

At 340 gallons for the top area, it is too small for koi. I agree with @Jagsfan that this was probably a pondless warerfall. The bottom tank holds the water to supply the waterfall. Does it still hold water?

 

[SarahT]

Might have been put in to cover up noise from the back yards behind you!. Good news is that it looks like you can add pond space in front of the existing Wfall and pond to be deep enough for enough for fish and plants.

 

[Zracer]

Yes, it holds water. Just the sprinklers keep it full. It has a rubber liner and a landscape type cloth on top of that. The distance from the full water level to the tank top is around 2 1/2 feet. So 8x6x2 1/2. The vault is 2x4x2 1/2. With a single rock layer I'm getting just over 1000 gallons.

 

[mrsclem]

If you want to open up the vault then it could be used as part of the pond. I would think with just a small opening, any fish that go in may not come out.

 

[Jagsfan]

@Zracer
maybe it was pondless at one point and then made into a pond? if liner is over the basin, it seems thats what happened. If im understanding you correctly, the "pond" section, not the basin, is 8x6x2.5? if thats the case, you can certainly make that into a pond for fish. probably not koi, still a little small for that, but goldfish certainly. Check out Shubunkins and Sarasa Comets, the resemble koi, but dont get as big. If you do decide to move forward with making this project happen, i would suggest researching the forum and plan it out really well before starting. Things like filtration options, pump size needed for the correct turnover, etc.

 

[poconojoe]

Welcome!
Agree. It must have been a pondless water feature.

If you're set on having a fish pond, I would tear it apart, get rid of that tank and lay in a 45 mil EPDM liner in the hole.
The digging is the hard part and that has already been done for you. And while you're at it, make it larger! No one strives to make their pond smaller, it's always make it bigger! It's an obsession, once you get hooked!

 

[Zracer]

I appreciate everyone's feedback!

Correct 8x6x2.5 not including the vault. The rubber liner is over the vault.

I've been doing a fair amount of research and this thing is a long ways from fish-ready. There's no skimmer, no biological feeder etc.

 

[j.w]

@Zracer

 

[Zracer]

To prime this system, I would stick a water hose in this hole until I have water at the pump and put the cap back on?

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

It is nice looking can be made into a nice pond, but I would not put koi in it they can get huge.

 

[Zracer]

Got the pump working.

 

[Zracer]

 

[addy1]

Fantastic! It looks great!