The Pond Thread

secuono · Dec 28, 2020

Had to move the koi out, digging up all the plants and eating all the food.
Pond is at 39F, so he's in a bin with daily w/c. If I find a day that the pond is warmer, I'll move him out. He's at 60F now and slowly letting it cool. May end up staying in there until spring.

In other news.
Rainbow shark was moved in. The loaches are too squiggly to catch, lol, so they'll stay in the 10g until they're easier to catch.

secuono · Dec 29, 2020

Ignoring the hot mess that is my kitchen...Here's the koi, watching me, judging me...Water is muddied because pipes froze & mud is what we get afterwards. Joys of well water.

secuono · Jan 9, 2021

Water looks like it'll stay too cold, so ordered a new sponge filter to put in the 10g QT tank. And its sponge filter will move into his bin, since its seeded with the good bacteria already.

secuono · Jan 10, 2021

Moved in the seeded filter.

secuono · Jan 10, 2021

Okay, so, decided it would be best to stay in the same spot, just expand it out, down & up!

20ft long, 17ft wide, 5ft in ground & 2ft above ground. 17,800 gallons.

Filter will be three 100gal troughs. They will be used to house the plants, filter media and small koi. I'll move the new 300g trough the horses got temporarily and house the bigger koi in it. Making the pond a total of 18,100 gallons.

No bog. It'll be removed to allow about 2-3ft expansion in its location. I'll leave about 2ft of space between fence n pond.

I'll add concrete pavers all around pond & use concrete to fill gaps. This'll keep the area free of annoying grass!

There is a propane tank on the right, which means I'll do a slanted wall in that corner to stay away from it. 3x3x4ft triangle, this'll remove about 235 gallons.

So, a grand total of 17,865 gallons!

The 3 black ovals are the filter bins. They will be raised. First will be highest and they'll each step down. Last will be several inches above pond wall edge. I haven't decided how to spill water to pond. Either notch short, round end and make a spillway to pond or I'll rotate the last bin & use 4 pipes cut into side to be the spillway.
Blue shows paths.
First will have hole at bottom edge to force the water upwards and through coarse layers of sponge.
It will spill into the 2nd bin by a notch in the side at top. 2nd bin will have layers of medium sponge.
This will then repeat the spill into the last bin. Last bin will have the fine sponges.
Sponges will mechanically remove plant debris and poop. They also act as home for beneficial bacteria.

I will use the constant slow drain and refill of fresh water.
Going to use a very long, narrow tube with sponges on its intake, to drain out 40ft away.
A new garden hose will lead into the 3rd bin to add new water.