945ish Gallon Pond Project

i put gravel at the bottom of the pond vs the lava rock only because i was able to source it for free. lava rock is much more porous for more bacteria growth. but like i said i had about a ton of this stuff for free so that is the way i went. and from what i read about depth, around 3 feet will suffice but you will still will need the de-icer. the de-icer is just a plastic heater that keeps the water around it 34+ degrees i have also read about placing an air stone to keep the water agitated. as far as keeping it clean ocasional water cheanges are a good idea other than that depending on your water volume the pond should do a pretty good job of keeping itself celan. make sure you use lots of plants and not a lot of fish.

 

Thanks for the input. Since it's fairly late in the season I think I'm going to try to sneak by with just a pump making a fountain and worry about installing some sort of filter in the spring. Basically I need to have SOMETHING in the pond for the opening of the school year...some discount plants and a couple goldfish should do it for now.

 

i don't run a filter on mine at all. all natural, i just don't plan on keeping as many fish as others do. and yea now is the time to buy up some pond plants last weekend i was able to get over 100 dollars worth of pond plants for less than 25 bucks. and if your looking for some fish i have about 8 baby koi in a 10 gallon and when they grow out only 4 or 5 will be going into the pond. more than happy to send some your way when they get bigger. although it would probably be cheaper to buy them local than to pay for the shipping. but the offer is on the table. when the time comes

 

well, i just went over to check out the pond...and i've got quite the mosquito farm on my hands...it hand been cleaned out at the start of the summer and then just left...good news is it measures 6'x6'x30" which is bigger than i thought...i'm draining it monday so i can clean it out good before i toss in the plants and goldfish...now i've just got to track down some lava rock...
How deep do you figure my layer of lava rock (or whatever substrate I end up using) should be? I was guessing at least 3 inches...

 

It is good to see another ponder out there . We should have a place for pond discussions on this site .

This is what i have .

9500 gal. 24'x16'x6' deep
45 mil Liner
Large Savio Skimmer c/w 25 & 57 watt U.V.
2 BD c/w Air Diffusers
2 Vetex Vortex SC.
1 Nexus 300 c/w DIY Easy
1 Fluidart 6 cu. ft Challenger 100 Bead Filter c/w 1/4 & 2 hp. pump.
1 Laguna 55 watt U.V.
1 Aqua 80 watt U.V.
4 TPR's c/w 3/4" inducters
2 Sequence 1/8 hp. 3600
1 Sequence 1/3 hp. 5800
Waterfall & Bog pond under construction.

 

wow that is awesome!!!!! one day i would love to do a system like that. +karma on that one.

 

Ginny,

That is absolutely georgous! I have a round hole 12' across and we don't know how deep(filled from being used as a burn pit for 10+ years), in my back yard. My neighbor has Koi, in an unkept pond. I was wondering how much did that set-up(cut in half) cost? I already got the hole dug and I could probably get his fish free.

Linda

p.s. I'd love to send you a link of some Koi I took last April on a trip to the desert.