West Texas pond

[Gilley]

Hello all, I am New to ponding and still in the planning stages of my pond. Due to size of space, my pond will roughly be 9x14x3. I have already bought two 55 gallon barrels (mechanical & bio) and an Elite brand external pump.... my filter will also lead into a bog type system for water gardening which will also discharge back into pond. My focus right now is on which liner to buy. I was almost set on firestone epdm, until I ran across a rpe liner that appears to be stronger.. I am welcoming all suggestions and personal experience.. FYI my pond will have a couple of koi too.

 

[sissy]

welcome and only thing I don't like about drums are there chance of leaking or other even worse things .I built my filters so there is liner under them and that leads the water back to the pond .I have 2 filters at each end of my pond and 2 pumps feeding each one .They are both built with liners under them
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[Gilley]

Leaking from fittings? What worse things? I have a handful of uniseals that are suppose to be pretty good, and if not.... lots of silicone! If i have extra liner, maybe i could build a containment around my barrels that drain back into pond. my barrels are going to be about 10 feet from my pond in a hidden corner

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome!

 

[sissy]

reason I mentioned that was because my neighbor had a barrel filter and deer knocked it over and cracked it and it almost drained her pond .I seem to take extreme precautions .My luck it would happen to me .So I figure be extra careful .Plus you have to hide those barrels and for me my pond is in the front yard at the side of my covered front porch so I did not want to see it

 

[Gilley]

well....no deer or anything to worry about .....i will start posting pictures from site to finished pond

 

[haver79]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[fishin4cars]

Welcome aboard! One thing to think about on the liner choice. how or what is available for seaming, patching, etc. EDPM is flexible, I've had one I even moved and put back in use and been running for several years. It's been proven to be one of the most reliable on the market. I'm not sure I've ever used RPE liner so I don't know the pro's and con's to it to make a comparison. Barrel filters can be used to make very efficient filtration systems. I just put together a sand gravel filter for a friend and must say so far working like a charm. I didn't use uniseals but have used them in the past and love them they do make great seals and are far less messy to work with. If your getting some of these fridged temps keep the barrels in mind as freezing water can split the barrel. Which is why I think Sissy put liner under her filter, If hers splits the water will return to the pond. Also if your going with Koi I would recommend going between 4.5-5.5 feet deep. water temps stay a lot more stable, Koi do like to swim from the bottom to the top and back down when they are naturally swimming and not feeding. Width of the pond- I have become most appreciative of a 10' or less wide pond. easy to make a PVC netting and a square frame to corral the fish to one end if the sides are straight up and down. Sides being straight up and down also greatly decreases the chance of predator attacks.

 

[dieselplower]

Sounds like a nice size pond. As noted, deeper is always better. I wonder if you could make a stream from the barrel filters to the pond? That would help ensure the water didn't somehow leak out and drain the pond. I do wonder about the order of your barrels. Are you going to have one hose to the mechanical and a different one to the biological? Or will the mechanical filter flow into the biological filter? I would not flow unfiltered water into a biological filter. It will make a mess and the bio bacteria will not thrive. Also, are you planning to run prefiltered water to the bog? This also somewhat defeats the purpose. The bog actually acts as a filter. The media, gravel or whatever, acts as a mechanical filter, while the plants work as a biological filter. If you send prefiltered water to the bog, you will not see as much growth in the bog.

 

[fishin4cars]

I think pre-filtering the water will actually allow the bog to be run longer without having to be cleaned out. I'm not running a prefilter and I'm already seeing channeling after only two seasons. Addy I think prefilters some and she hasn't had to clean out yet. the gravel and roots remove so much fine particles that there is still quite a bit for the plants to feed on.

 

[mtpond]

Welcome to the forum Gilley.

 

[addy1]

I think pre-filtering the water will actually allow the bog to be run longer without having to be cleaned out. I'm not running a prefilter and I'm already seeing channeling after only two seasons. Addy I think prefilters some and she hasn't had to clean out yet. the gravel and roots remove so much fine particles that there is still quite a bit for the plants to feed on.

The only pre-filtering I have on the water going into the bog, is a leaf basket to grab anything large from going into the bog. Mine is darn large, so far coming up on its 4th summer no channeling, Still keeps the pond in perfect shape string algae and green water free

 

[Gilley]

Which is a better setup...... I am going to have two barrel filters (mechanical and Bio} and a bog. Do i need to pump unfiltered water directly into the bog parallel with the filters and let it overflow back into the pond from each..... Or should I pump into the Filters and then flow into Bog and then flow into pond, I would think there is alot of room for plugging and Overflow this way...... Also I have read that my Mechanical should flow into Bio... But I also saw that barrels should be tied parallel as well........ I know there are hundreds of different setups.... can someone clarify what is best for them... pond will roughly be 9x14x3ish.....

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forum :wave: