At the moment the hole in the ground is full of tree cuttings from years of the garden not being done. We have been using it as a huge fire hole and burned tons of hedge cuttings and tree branches that have been pruned back.
I will get some pictures today.
I am going to use 3 IBC tanks to create 3 separate chambers and probably 2 pumps, at least it will have the option of two pumps. They will be submersible pumps.
Initially I aim to use 2 X 200 litre drums to create a vortex as a pre-filter. I work in IT so I tend to do everything in pairs of high availability and redundancy. It will allow maintenance and emergency down time.
I bought some filter plans from
https://diypondfilters.com/ Terry is really helpful and has a wealth of knowledge. I was going to use his pond filter design
https://diypondfilters.com/downloads/new-pro-mk2-filter-system/ with his pre-filter sieve
https://diypondfilters.com/downloads/diy-pump-fed-pre-filter/ I bought the plans for these and Terry has promptly answered my questions and even sent refinements he is doing on the sieve as he develops them.
Buying his plans as a guide is a really good investment because he lists lots of suppliers of all the complicated fittings and he answers questions and is just a passionate pond nut!
I wanted to get some really big barrels and searched through his list of suppliers.I called Charles at
http://www.tanksandtubs.co.uk he is a farmer who trades in tanks etc as a sideline. He did not have any large barrels in stock but he did have food grade IBC tanks, so I bought 3 1000 liter tanks. I have the space and I think with the size of pond it will guarantee that I get a manageable filter for the long term.
So using Terry's plans as a guide we are going to build our version.
If anyone has worked with IBC tanks before I would love to hear from you.
I have attached a photo of the tanks and I have to Charles was had either pure water in or yeast and are cleaned properly. His farm is about 50 miles away and he delivered them for £40. I also bought one of oil drum incinerators which should last a few years. You can just see my telephone box in the final stages of restoration.
I think my hole is about 39,000 litres based on an approximate calculation
https://www.yourpond.com.au/Fact-Sheets/Calculating-Pond-Volume So I am going to need a very efficient filter.
My overall plan is to build the filter with a long waterfall in steps which will also act as a bio filter with planting in, if I could successfully grow water cress I would be very happy.
The basic concept of Terry's filter holds true for whatever filter. I am going to use two sets of pipework throughout to compensate for the extra size of the tanks, including the air system. I am going to modify it so that each tank has an air pump so that I can easily control the air to each tank. I did think that I could pass the air pipes along each side and in instead of through the centre. I have been looking at powerful pumps, I don't know enough yet to make a decision I found this site and it looks good:
https://mpcservices.co.uk/spareparts/spare-type/compressors.html.
It is all up in the air at the moment.
