Messages

1

Pond Construction & Filtration / Re: my revised design

« on: May 18, 2007, 06:38:23 AM »

Jonna

That was my thought exactly.

I'm going to have to shut down a pond in winter anyway. Unless I build a much bigger pond with all the necessary filtering and winter heating involved. I'm a little worried about a pond liner being damaged by ice. I'd probably cover it in winter but a little water would probably still sneak in there. or maybe It's not a big worry. We have a small aboveground swimming pool that freezes solid every winter and the liner is ok. It's a green nasty mess every spring but one afternoon is all that's required to get it back running.

2

Pond Construction & Filtration / Re: my revised design

« on: May 15, 2007, 06:50:57 AM »

ooh, great ideas. I'm going to go get some rocks and place them on my patio.

I got as cal2500 gph pump, 16 inch waterfall wier, and an Atlantic ps4000 skimmer with 6 inch wier width. plus 5x25 feet of firestone EPDM liner for the stream.

I'm considering making a disappearing waterfall instead of a pond. I have an old fiberglass soaking tub. 3x3x2 feet. 135 gallons. I could cover it with a grate and the patio stones and let the kids splash around in the foot of the falls. No fish of course. Then next year if I could add a pond if I decide I want the fish. Would I still use the skimmer as an additional filter? Will the 135 gallon tub be large enough to feed the waterfall?

That tub would make a great filter if/when i do decide to put in the pond.

3

Pond Chat / Re: more questions

« on: May 14, 2007, 03:08:09 PM »

rocmon, You've convinced me to keep the bottom of the pool rock free. The diagram was refering to the rock surrounding the waterfall. I wasn't decided on putting rock in the pond, but you've further convinced me of that. Leaves are going to be a problem. Because the patio is sunken it really attracts leaves. I think I might lose the stream downslope from the pond. My drainage ditch will just have a dry stream seperate from any pond system. It just looks like too much trouble. Here's the latest idea.

[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/IMG_1428.jpg[/img]


I'm wondering if a skimmer/filter and wier/filter will provide enough filtering for 1200 gallons.


oh and yes Tracy, those are railroad ties.

4

Pond Construction & Filtration / Re: my revised design

« on: May 14, 2007, 05:45:19 AM »

hmm, why does everyone suggest making the pond bigger? What's wrong with an intimate little water feature? I see ponds in the magazines that are 500 gallons or less. It seems an economical way to begin. There are kits available for 1500 gallon ponds. That size seems to best fit my site. Perhaps later if I want to make a bigger pond I can dig on the upper level.

5

Pond Construction & Filtration / my revised design

« on: May 13, 2007, 10:59:23 AM »

First i thought I could use the pond with a stream to double as a runoff drain. That turned out to be a bad idea.
http://www.americanponders.com/forum/index.php?topic=2573.msg27313#msg27313


Then I thought I could keep both a seperate stream and runoff channel. That presents problems because the pump is positioned in a rather small reservoir.
http://www.americanponders.com/forum/index.php?topic=2609.0

So now I'm thinking about keeping it simple. A waterfall, short stream, second waterfall and then the 8x12 sq ft pond. The pond would use a skimmer/filter with a submersible pump in the skimmer. Water would be pumped up to the waterfall/filter unit. I estimate about 1200 to 1500 gallons of water in the system.
My question, will the skimmer and waterfall units provide enough filtering to keep some gold fish?

[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/IMG_1428.jpg[/img]

6

Pond Chat / Re: more questions

« on: May 11, 2007, 12:05:04 PM »

Dave

I was kinda worried that the reservoir wouldn't hold enough water. If the power goes out or something I'd lose water through the overflow. Or a bigger worry I had is that the pump might empty the reservoir when starting back up. Maybe a 100 gallon stock tank would be better.

thanks for the link Johns, I'll check it out.

7

Pond Chat / more questions

« on: May 11, 2007, 06:48:35 AM »

here's a diagram of the pond I want to build:

[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/diagram.jpg[/img]

The total water volume is about 1500 gallons. The top of the falls will use a filter/falls unit. It will cascade about four feet to a 6x12 foot pond, about 2 feet deep. Then will run down a 30 foot stream and empty into a 50 gallon barrel. A sump pump in the bottom of the barrel will push the water back up to the falls. The total drop should be about 5 feet.

The reservoir barrel will contain some kind of filter as well, I'm guessing. Tinkster suggested a "skippy" filter. Would that work down here? or any other suggestion for a filter in my barrel?

What about a skimmer? The pond is small and doesn't seem set up properly to use a skimmer. Can I just rely on the stream to act as a skimmer? Maybe place a screen in the path?

Here's the photo of the site.

[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/IMG_0821b.jpg[/img]

I'm thinking that a second larger pond can be built in the future on top of the second tier of ties. I think I'd want a better pump/filter/skimmer/UV light system in that stage of the project. For now I'm trying to keep it kind of small, low maintenance and cheap.

Thanks for everyone's help so far, great suggestions and great links.

Kevin

8

Pond Chat / Re: Nooby ponder with questions

« on: May 09, 2007, 01:02:31 PM »

thanks bonny.

I live in the boonies, The nearest house is half a mile from me. The garden is about 200 yards, compost only. The only runoff will be from the roof and patio.

Here's some photos:

[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/IMG_1024.JPG[/img]
[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/IMG_0939.JPG[/img]
[img width= height=]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/IMG_0821.JPG[/img]

It looks like the ditch flows uphill but that's an optical illusion. There is a good 2 foot drop from the patio to the end of the ditch, about 6-10 inches to the bridge. The total length is about 60 feet but the stream would end just beyond the bridge. A dry stream will continue down for runoff.

If I run it backward a waterfall would be under the bridge ending in a pond at the patio. A drain would run alongside disguised as a stone path, with a pipe under the waterfall stones.

9

Pond Chat / Nooby ponder with questions

« on: May 09, 2007, 11:41:35 AM »

Hello you ponders, nice site you have here.

I have some questions. First I'll explain my situation. We remodeled and built a walkout on our basement. It's not a regular slant downhill type of walkout but more of a sunken patio. A 30x25 foot pit lined with railroad ties. One corner has a 8 foot wide ditch leading downhill to act as a drain. (We live in Wisconsin so a drain for snowmelt and rain is essential)

I left that one corner of the patio open to drain excess water away from the house. That ditch is where I want to place a pond and stream. The way I envisioned the project is that the pond and stream will double as the drain for the patio. Bad idea? Everything I've read indicates that allowing runoff into your pond is a bad idea.

There will be no chemical fertilizers or pesticides used but a lot of leaves will find their way into the system, Which is going to happen whether I use the pond as a drain or not. I'll just have to deal with that. I am hoping to add some little goldfish or minnows to the pond.


The second option is to build a drain next to the pond/stream and disguise it as a rocky path. better solution? This could also have the stream running TO the pond where the other system has the pond draining downstream to a holding tank. (a 50 gal drum)



Any suggestion about which way might work better? Also any suggestion or links to DIY filters, pumps, or plumbing. I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible but still have a nice garden .

Thanks
Kevin