New Pond build-Finally Got Some Fish In!

[emmaandaj]

Hi All,

Hopefully will be pressing on with the pond build starting early Feb. Ive been doing a lot of thinking with regards to filtration and may be able to have a change of heart from my original plans. Ive attached a diagram of pond dimensions. Should be between 5-6 thousand gallons depending on the depth. Aiming for 5-6ft.

Original plan:
2x ****** Aireated bottom drains gravity Feeding 2x Nexus 300, run by 2 aquamax 10000's. Then 2 x skimmers (due to large tree in garden) run by 2x aquamax 10000's through a uv.

Obviously enough filtration for 15000 gallons is serious over kill but ive already got the nexus filters. However seems a waste to have two skimmers not going to any filtration and 4 pumps running. Also i moved a nexus into the garden at weekend and was surprised at how big they are-will mean the filter bay will be crammed in and very little room!

Second Idea:
Sell a nexus for some cash, 1 x aireated bottom drain (save more £) too the remaining nexus via a aquamax 10000. 2 x skimmers powered by 2x aquamax 10000 feeding over a large shower to provide extra biological filtration.

This way i will have more room for filter maintenance, and all the pumps will be providing filtration. Also will save flushing an extra nexus (on water meter) Wont need any more pumps as i already have them.

Also would allow for maybe a sand or bead filter after the nexus for polishing if needed??? Or another idea would be to gravity feed the the two skimmers to two barrels of static k1 to provide some more water polishing before pumping to the shower???

What are your thoughts???

Thanks in advance Andy

[GrahamH]

I'd lose the aerated bottom drains personally and just have normal bottom drains. Have found in the past that the aerated bottom drains get blocked after a while and are a pain to keep clean, plus by having ordinary bottom drains you save on some £££'s.
Also on the water meter front i wouldn't worry about it to much, its not as expensive as you may think. I recently filled my new pond with 1500 gallons and it worked out at around £12. I was surprised to say the least.

[emmaandaj]

hi

[Thorny]

Hi Andy why are You putting the bottom drain down there on its own? I know You have Your returns at the opposite end but I think You may still suffer from settlement with just one drain positioned like that.


My self I would 100% go with an airated drain, positioned in the center of the pond. I would then have returns at opposite ends to each other. One on the left hand side of the pond so water returns would be forced along the front curved wall, this would give You a nice steady flow of current. The the other return at the opposite end of the pond in the tight corner, so as the water from Your first return is drawing round to the head of the radius, it is then pushed along again by Your second return heading towards the back flat wall. This will force and solids in Your water in the direction of Your bottom drain.
Where are You going to position Your skimmer? I would have it gravity fed in the middle of the back flat wall.
Justin

[Bob Hart]

Andy,

I've seen single bottom drain used on ponds of 4500/5000 gallons to a Nexus 300 and work very well, so as long as you keep the size reasonable then I'd go with that.

Skimmers I'd put through a sieve before pumping to a shower though. You may as well remove all the crud first - just my view. If you are putting a shower on the pond, then you want a large turnover of the media. For a single shower a minimum of 3000 gallons/hour.

So whay dont you sieve the one/two skimmers and then pump them over the shower and also put the output of the nexus over it as well.

You could probably get away with a single skimmer on a 4500/5000 gallon pond. Fit a HX on the skimmer line, plus UV.

Just my thoughts, feel free to discuss further.

[emmaandaj]

Hi,

Firstly appologies the picture i added was an old idea. Ive made a couple of drawings-please excuse the poor quality!

Heres a pic of my original idea:

Two aireated drains to two nexus 300 returning at points 3 + 4
Two skimmers returning at points 1 + 2


Heres a pic of my next idea:

Aireated drain to nexus 300 returning at position 1

Two skimmers pumping to shower and returning below the water line at position 2

Hope this helps

Andy

[emmaandaj]

Hi Graham,

Im probably going to go with a ****** aireated as i know a few people who use them with no problems-also i think they are the safest way to add air to a pond without having anything sticking out for a koi to rub on. Its reassuring to know how cheap water is though. Ive made arrangements for several hoses from unmetered homes for when i fill up

Hi Justin/ Bob

Ive added where the skimmers will go and where i originally thought about the returns. I went for two skimmers as i have a massive tree over hanging the garden and also that aireated drains cut the pond surface in two. Do you think 1 bottom drain will be enough? I can probably get more than 6000 gallons in but dont really want to go much above 5000 to keep costs of treatments down- i would much rather have a smaller pond i can afford than a bigger one i cant! I thought about sieves for the skimmers-but they would be 700-800 squid on there own-i was thinking about a couple of barrels of static k1 as a prefilter instead??? Bob do you think two aquamx 10000 will be enough over the shower? I was a bit concerned that i would loose the spinning effect in the pond with only 2 returns instead of three?

Thanks Guys

Andy

[Gazza]

Hi Andy,

About time you started getting going on this

I think the size your looking at around 5000 is a good size and manageable so one Nexus would do the job especially if your going to have filtration on the skimmers as well.

Definitely an aerated bottom drain it makes a big difference to the collection of debris.I would have the bottom drain in the center with a return on one wall like you have it on the second drawing bit the other i would have where skimmer is on the opposite side to the Nexus,this one i would have the biggest pumps on to help push round the long curved wall.

You have seen my pond and thats basically how i have it set up and it works a treat but i only have one skimmer.Do you think you need two skimmers i had two trees that used to fall in my garden and the one did the job OK

Do you think you will have a pergola at some time as again this will stop the leaves

The two 10000 on a shower will depend on what shower (how big) and pipe restrictions.

[Bob Hart]

Andy,

On my skimmer line (1 skimmer for an 8500 gallon pond) I have an aquamax 10,000, which pushes 1100 gallons over my 3-tier shower. Therefore if you had 2 of these, you'd get roughly 2000 gallons over a 4-tier shower, which is way short of the 3000 gallons needed for a single width shower.

[emmaandaj]

Hi Bob / Gazza,

3000 gallons an hour is a lot more than i realised-i hadnt taken into consideration head loss on th two 10000's. My plan was to replac them with 1600 whena they pack up-may have to look into two 1600 instead or a 2/3 size shower? Was reading up last night on the showers-apparently a 4 tier shower is alot more effective than the 3 tier due to the vilosity of the water.

I may have problems getting a flow across the curved wall if i pump to a shower from the skimmer in the bottom right side. My original plan was to have this skimmer to create the flow. Any ideas???

Do you think im right to go for a nexus and a shower for filtration-anyone got any other ideas???

Cheers Andy

[Bob Hart]

You 'could' go more with a streamflow type design, where the floor is sloped towards a single or double drain at the end furthest from the shower? The shower then pushes all the muck down the slope towards the drain(s), which feed the nexus. The output of the nexus also being put over the shower, with shower located in the middle of the back wall.

[Gazza]

Andy i thought you had a TT

OK lets look at my system i have 4500gls with 1 bottom drain which feeds the main filtration which is 4 separate vortex units all with K1.The first is a static for mechanical and the rest are all aerated with a total of over 300lts of K1.

I then have a skimmer line which pumps directly to a large TT by an Aquamax 16000 (so not really a TT or could we call it a FTT Fast Trickle Tower ) and filled with BHM.

I think the idea of a Nexus and shower will work great you just have to get the flows correct and the design right before you start and you going about it the right way

[emmaandaj]

Hi Bob / Gazza,

Ok been doing some thinking! Ive attached a picture of another idea.

If i go for 1 aireated bottom drain to the nexus using a aquamax 10000, and then pump to a shower (2). Then have skimmer (A) pumping over the shower as well using a aquamax 1600 (3). Still wont be 3000gph but will be enough if the shower is slightly smaller than a standard Bakki shower. I would want the return from the shower to be piped below the water line to create a current along the long side of the pond (and try to stop heat loss in winter) Then pump skimmer (B) through a uv using a aquamax 10000 to create a current along the curved side of the pond (1) to try to get the pond spinning???

What do you think?

Cheers Andy

[Bob Hart]

Hi Bob / Gazza,

Ok been doing some thinking! Ive attached a picture of another idea.

If i go for 1 aireated bottom drain to the nexus using a aquamax 10000, and then pump to a shower (2). Then have skimmer (A) pumping over the shower as well using a aquamax 1600 (3). Still wont be 3000gph but will be enough if the shower is slightly smaller than a standard Bakki shower. I would want the return from the shower to be piped below the water line to create a current along the long side of the pond (and try to stop heat loss in winter) Then pump skimmer (B) through a uv using a aquamax 10000 to create a current along the curved side of the pond (1) to try to get the pond spinning???

What do you think?

Cheers Andy

Andy,

I like it that you are thinking and learning from each of the responces to your posts, every pond is different so finding what suits you and what works is the key here.

Firstly, if pumping from the Nexus to the shower, you'll need a bigger pump than the Aquamax 10000. I use a 10000 from my skimmer to my 3-tier shower and I get 1100 gallons from it, which is OK for a skimmer, but not a Nexus. You'll need a reasonable pump here, perhaps a sequence 13000/15000.

The shower will create quire a flow anyway so I would worry too much about having a 4" pipe attached to it. If you dont get it right, this could back up if not big enough.

I'd also put both of the skimmers over the shower, one with the HX on it, the other with the UV. Just my preference, although both will need pumps larger than 1000, as you've realised.

[emmaandaj]

Hi Bob,

For some reason i was under the impression that a nexus 300 had a max flow of 10000 litres an hour-ive just checked and its 13000 litres so i could probably use a aquamax 16000 allowing for head loss.

So looks like i can use aquamax 1600eco's all round. The only reason i suggested only putting one of the skimmers was so that i could use skimmer (B) to create a flow along the curved wall (1). Do you think it would work with all three returns across the shower as it would only give me one return? I know Gazza suggested a return pushing along the curved wall?

Do you mean to have the shower returning via a weir rather than piped below the surface? I was worried that a wier would create a flow than fans out across the pond, rather than pushing along the right hand wall?

Just been looking at Yumekoi's website-really interesting read about the showers. If im not mistaken people are using showers as the only filtration and still achieving good clarity??? Seems BHM is clever stuff!

Thanks again for the advice Bob-its much appreciated

Andy