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Hi Folks,
I have a background in wildlife ecology and construction, but I do not have experience with water pumps, filters, or pond liners. I am working on a plan for a 100-ft long stream with a gurgling spring at the upper end and a pond at the lower end. My desire is to attract wildlife, particularly dragonflies and birds, but also amphibians and reptiles. I don't plan to put in any koi or other non-native fish, but am pondering eventually putting in some local native species and want the water safe/clean for wildlife.
Attached is my habitat design, and following are the pump/filter/liner questions I have for planning. I'm very much looking forward to your advice/experience.
PUMP: I need to return water from pond to spring, about 100 ft with 3 ft rise. I am assuming I would pump from the pond up to the spring.
--Submersible vs external? What are main issues? Quiet would be nice.
--Magnetic vs direct drive? Magnetic sounds really nice and quiet, sealed, no oil, etc., but could it move the water 100 ft and up 3 ft? What about dealing with debri? I have an Oregon white oak tree over the pond, which will put in leaves.
--GPH: I guess that's partly up to me on how much water I want flowing, but see specs in drawing if you might have a suggestion. I've read a rule of thumb of a GPH rating of about half the volume of a pond, but does that include the entire stream as well?
--Also related to GPH: is flow volume determined only by the pump, or also by valves/piping? I'm wondering about varying the flow once in a while. Does that hurt the pump?
--I am someone that doesn't want to be cleaning filters every week, so perhaps I need a pump that can chug through a lot of debris?
--I already have a "sump pump" I use in construction situations or under a house; I'm guessing I could use that just to empty/clean out the pond when needed?
FILTERS: I do have a large Oregon white oak tree near the terminal pond, so will probably get a fair number of leaves and debris in there. The spring and stream area will not have tree canopy, but will eventually have small streamside forbs, ferns, or shrubs.
--I wonder if my filtering needs depend on what pump I use? I am someone that doesn't want to be cleaning filters every week, so perhaps I need a pump that can chug through a lot of debris? Which then means my "filter" could just be one of those plastic bins/containers/buckets with 1/2" holes in it, or something like that?
RETURN PIPING: I am intending on running the return piping fairly deep just to get 100 ft of opportunistic cooling.
--Should the return piping (from pond to spring) be located within the liner, underneath the stream, or outside the liner?
LINER: For projects like this, I prefer to invest in materials that I can be confident will last a long time and are not likely to be injured during construction.
--If I can get a liner to underlay the entire 100 ft, I'd like to do that so I don't have seams to worry about.
--I've read of some people having and underlayment / underliner???
--I've seen VINYL, PVC, HDPE, etc., and with different ratings such as 13 oz, 20 mil, etc. Any suggestions on type and thickness for my application?
CHANNEL CROSS-SECTION: Having worked in natural streams, I've seen how stream organisms use the subsurface water column, and how stream water is cooled by subsurface flow, which is why I'm intending to create a channel of cobble/gravel/sand substantially larger and deeper than the actual surface water (see attached design). My initial concern was whether or not I would get surface flow, or if the water would all just go subsurface and come out at the pond. However, I figure that if I have enough sand in the subsurface matrix, and with my fairly low slope, and enough return volume, I should get a surface stream, as well as some slow subsurface flow. Any comments on this appreciated.
Thank-you and feel free to ask any questions of me!
Matt Hunter
I have a background in wildlife ecology and construction, but I do not have experience with water pumps, filters, or pond liners. I am working on a plan for a 100-ft long stream with a gurgling spring at the upper end and a pond at the lower end. My desire is to attract wildlife, particularly dragonflies and birds, but also amphibians and reptiles. I don't plan to put in any koi or other non-native fish, but am pondering eventually putting in some local native species and want the water safe/clean for wildlife.
Attached is my habitat design, and following are the pump/filter/liner questions I have for planning. I'm very much looking forward to your advice/experience.
PUMP: I need to return water from pond to spring, about 100 ft with 3 ft rise. I am assuming I would pump from the pond up to the spring.
--Submersible vs external? What are main issues? Quiet would be nice.
--Magnetic vs direct drive? Magnetic sounds really nice and quiet, sealed, no oil, etc., but could it move the water 100 ft and up 3 ft? What about dealing with debri? I have an Oregon white oak tree over the pond, which will put in leaves.
--GPH: I guess that's partly up to me on how much water I want flowing, but see specs in drawing if you might have a suggestion. I've read a rule of thumb of a GPH rating of about half the volume of a pond, but does that include the entire stream as well?
--Also related to GPH: is flow volume determined only by the pump, or also by valves/piping? I'm wondering about varying the flow once in a while. Does that hurt the pump?
--I am someone that doesn't want to be cleaning filters every week, so perhaps I need a pump that can chug through a lot of debris?
--I already have a "sump pump" I use in construction situations or under a house; I'm guessing I could use that just to empty/clean out the pond when needed?
FILTERS: I do have a large Oregon white oak tree near the terminal pond, so will probably get a fair number of leaves and debris in there. The spring and stream area will not have tree canopy, but will eventually have small streamside forbs, ferns, or shrubs.
--I wonder if my filtering needs depend on what pump I use? I am someone that doesn't want to be cleaning filters every week, so perhaps I need a pump that can chug through a lot of debris? Which then means my "filter" could just be one of those plastic bins/containers/buckets with 1/2" holes in it, or something like that?
RETURN PIPING: I am intending on running the return piping fairly deep just to get 100 ft of opportunistic cooling.
--Should the return piping (from pond to spring) be located within the liner, underneath the stream, or outside the liner?
LINER: For projects like this, I prefer to invest in materials that I can be confident will last a long time and are not likely to be injured during construction.
--If I can get a liner to underlay the entire 100 ft, I'd like to do that so I don't have seams to worry about.
--I've read of some people having and underlayment / underliner???
--I've seen VINYL, PVC, HDPE, etc., and with different ratings such as 13 oz, 20 mil, etc. Any suggestions on type and thickness for my application?
CHANNEL CROSS-SECTION: Having worked in natural streams, I've seen how stream organisms use the subsurface water column, and how stream water is cooled by subsurface flow, which is why I'm intending to create a channel of cobble/gravel/sand substantially larger and deeper than the actual surface water (see attached design). My initial concern was whether or not I would get surface flow, or if the water would all just go subsurface and come out at the pond. However, I figure that if I have enough sand in the subsurface matrix, and with my fairly low slope, and enough return volume, I should get a surface stream, as well as some slow subsurface flow. Any comments on this appreciated.
Thank-you and feel free to ask any questions of me!
Matt Hunter