New Pond!

[Sonny88]

I have a small water feature at the moment which is about 2 foot wide and two feet deep with pump for a fountain, with metal grid and large'ish pebbles on top.

I have got tired of this and would like to enlarge it to create a pond (kidney shaped) maybe about 9 x 3 feet ish, with a few fish.

My hopes would be that a filter free pond could be made and the use of the existing pump and perhaps some plants would suffice if I don't have too many fish.

Perhaps some of you have had a similar project?

Any idea's and tips/hints/plants/fish etc. would be very much appriciated.

 

[Steve]

The existing pump is likely to be too small. You want a pond at least 2 feet deep, preferably 3, deeper (5-6ft) if you want koi.

Ours is 8 foot by 4 foot, one foot is under the decking so it appears 7 foot long. The decking provided a place to hide the filter - above the hidden part of the pond, we created a box, handy for sitting on. You will need a filter. I recommend an all-in-one job, with UV sterilisation built in.

And dont use the strainer attached to the pump, it will get blocked too often. What we did is remove the strainer and foam, and get 2 pond planters, cut out holes for the pipes and wires, and enclose the pump with the planters, cable tie them together. Beware it will void the warranty, the correct way to do it is to buy a prefilter which sits on a planting shelf, and hose this to the pump inlet, but this will get clogged up too, it is just easier to lift out and clean.

Search the net for people's projects, you will find a lot of info out there. Search for koi ponds to see really OTT ponds

When buying fish, go to a fish specialist, NOT pets at home or pets r us or jumbo-mega-hyper-petshop. We use viscum water gardens (search), the guy there, Paul, is great, he really knows his stuff. Look for a tank where all the fish appear healthy and active, and buy as many as you require all in one go. This way, if there are any contageous diseases amongst them, they will all die young, and you wont loose any massive fully grown 10 year old fish!

 

[Sonny88]

Thanks 'Crafty' I will digest what you have said!

maybe get back to you if I may.

 

[breezer]

more info here

 

[Steve]

more info here

breezer, is that your website? i seem to remember someone on here was a water garden entheusiast (sp?) and had a website. Was it, in fact, you?

 

[breezer]

more info here

breezer, is that your website? i seem to remember someone on here was a water garden entheusiast (sp?) and had a website. Was it, in fact, you?

no, this is the one you are thinking of

 

[Steve]

subtle difference there breezer

 

[greg31]

Post removed.

 

[markvirgo]

And dont use the strainer attached to the pump, it will get blocked too often.

not if you keep your pond in good order. i have an Oase setup and it can take 8mm waste to the filter and never got blocked in the 2 years i have had it.

I am not a pro fish keeper either.

you can create a filter free pond if you use the right plants.

get a test kit well worth the money (£20)

 

[breezer]

And dont use the strainer attached to the pump, it will get blocked too often.

not if you keep your pond in good order. i have an Oase setup and it can take 8mm waste to the filter and never got blocked in the 2 years i have had it.

That depends on the pump you are using.

You are using a "filter pump" it has a grille / cage with 8mm holes so no it won't easily get blocked. It is designed to pump small solid matter to the filter.

Years ago most pumps had a large filter basket with what basicaly was a scouring pad to act as a prefilter. so it was quite common for the prefilter to get blocked. (The prefilter was actualy to protect the pump impellar)

Then some bright spark (I think it was Oase) came up wih the idea of a differnt impellar design, and did away with the scouring pad.

They also came up with the idea of making the whole pump cage into a giant strainer with big holes, this way they could say that their pump had a big filter surface area

Filter pumps can pump large volumes of water but not that high, so Oase continued to develop pumps and now a pond pump no longer exists.

you can now get

Filter pumps

Waterfall pumps

Fountain pumps

Feature pumps

Solar pumps

Floating pumps (ok, floating fountains)

Each designed for one specific job

I am not a pro fish keeper either.

you can create a filter free pond if you use the right plants.

not if you have a koi pond you can't

Koi produce a lot of waste, the average koi pond owner has a filter that is 1/3 (or 1/2) the surface area of the main pond.

Koi will eat almost any plants you put in a pond, not to mention they will try and dig into the "soil" of any planting basket they can get to, so that is another reason koi ponds don't have plants.

You may however see plants in the filter, these are known as veggie filters, since the plant is living off the fish waste, but the fish cant get to the plant becasue its in the filter.

In short Koi need a totaly differnt type of pond than your average goldfish