Critique my preliminary pond plan...

[gello22]

If you put the whole skimmer inside the liner you can use a commercial skimmer the normal plumbing connections and keep everything on the wet side.

If you feel ambitious and handy enough you could turn your barrel into a skimmer then you could have an opening big enough for the water inflow and the plumbing connections could go back out the skimmer inlet. I wish I had done mine that way I have a 35gallon plastic garbage can as a skimmer but the opening I cut for the inlet is just enough for the water so my plumbing goes external and has burned me twice. The good news is the pond only goes down a few inches before the pump goes dry and pumps I have didn't hurt themselves.

 

[poconojoe]

If you put the whole skimmer inside the liner you can use a commercial skimmer the normal plumbing connections and keep everything on the wet side.

If you feel ambitious and handy enough you could turn your barrel into a skimmer then you could have an opening big enough for the water inflow and the plumbing connections could go back out the skimmer inlet. I wish I had done mine that way I have a 35gallon plastic garbage can as a skimmer but the opening I cut for the inlet is just enough for the water so my plumbing goes external and has burned me twice. The good news is the pond only goes down a few inches before the pump goes dry and pumps I have didn't hurt themselves.

Yeah, I feel that!
Before my bog, I had two pressure filters in tandom. I cleaned them out one day and forgot to tighten a hose clamp. We found the pond almost empty in the morning. Our 3 foot + huge female koi was on her side gasping in only a few inches of water! She was surprisingly OK and is still swimming around to this day. She's ginormous!

Lesson learned!
When I added the bog, I made sure all the plumbing is now within the pond and bog.

 

[brokensword]

I am not following some of the terminology here but I appreciate the comment and will look into what you are saying.

I been working so have not really been able to look into the stuff posted above. I am leaning towards the internal piping but wonder how that ties in with the skimmer.

just to add my 2 cents; there IS benefit to a prefilter for your bog, but it should be mechanical in nature, NOT biological. I use (2) 55 gallon barrels to filter out fines before the water is sent to the bog. I experimented last summer with no prefilter and this year, seems I'm paying for that omission as the water is not as clear as it used to be. So, prefilters went back up. Pond water sent to your bog will still have the nutrients (basically, ammonia) for the bacteria to digest, which they will by turning it into nitrites and then nitrates, so the plants still get their snacks too.

 

[LuapYllier]

OK, lets see how well I listen...I tried to take your input to heart. Did some redesign in my head and scribbled stuff down quick during my lunch just now. Am I getting closer?

https://imgur.com/lWxRtRR

 

[brokensword]

Looks like it'll work to me. The only concern if it were mine is making sure the pump has a cutoff in case the water in it's basin gets too low. And of course, if the pump cuts off, making sure it can come back on when the supply is enough again. A float valve on the pump would do it. I have one one each of my submersibles.

 

[LuapYllier]

Looks like it'll work to me. The only concern if it were mine is making sure the pump has a cutoff in case the water in it's basin gets too low. And of course, if the pump cuts off, making sure it can come back on when the supply is enough again. A float valve on the pump would do it. I have one one each of my submersibles.

Will have to look that up as I have not seen a float valve that shuts off electric supply. I was thinking that the same amount of water that the pump pushes out would be coming back in...is that not the case?

 

[GBBUDD]

I see your reasoning for the waterfall across from the deck but it will also disturb the surface making seeing the fish almost impossible only shades you will see. if you moved to the left end and angled to the deck would you still see the falls and it would then have calmed down with the ripple and you'll see the fish from the right to center and toward the falls . i have 1/3 my GPH going to the bog and the other 2/4 goes to circulating jets. and in stead of a skimmer look at negative edge

 

[brokensword]

Will have to look that up as I have not seen a float valve that shuts off electric supply. I was thinking that the same amount of water that the pump pushes out would be coming back in...is that not the case?

what if the water level drops below skimmer height?


float switch

 

[LuapYllier]

what if the water level drops below skimmer height?


float switch

I see...thank you for pointing those out. Wasn't familiar with sump pumps but I can see how that would be usefull.

 

[LuapYllier]

I see your reasoning for the waterfall across from the deck but it will also disturb the surface making seeing the fish almost impossible only shades you will see. if you moved to the left end and angled to the deck would you still see the falls and it would then have calmed down with the ripple and you'll see the fish from the right to center and toward the falls . i have 1/3 my GPH going to the bog and the other 2/4 goes to circulating jets. and in stead of a skimmer look at negative edge

I understand exactly what you are saying. Originally, The bog area was drawn in as a flower bed. But as I read here and learned I thought raising it up and making it a bog would work better. I like the shape of everything. I have a touch of OCD lol. The patio to right is low enough you would not be able to see in pond while seated and if you are walking the paths you would be about as far from the fountain as you could get. That is what I thought of as the viewing areas. I am very early in the design though so I may consider moving it. If I did though it would likely be to the right because I was setting it as a focal point from the window at the bottom of the picture and there will also be a raised deck to the bottom left which would have its view blocked by the bog if it was on the left. The other thing to consider is, if I put the bog to the right then the skimmer would then be best placed on the bottom left. Not sure I wanted the skimmer there. However, it would make for easy access to empty basket...and if I go with this flow through stream design it might be another good focal point for the deck.

Dunno...you have the wheels turning again.
/tiphat @GBBUDD

 

[GBBUDD]

Better now then when its built. Post some pics youll like to have the. For before and aFters

 

[LuapYllier]

.......and in stead of a skimmer look at negative edge

How would you keep the fish from getting nosy and going right over the negative edge...or for that matter, into the skimmer? Mine already seem to like to poke around on my built in shelf even if they have to flop sideways to check it out. Very little water above the shelf edge.

 

[GBBUDD]

a very wide and shallow edge. i also have a small pond at the bottom of the negative edge so any fish that goes over has a second chance we call is sh-t's creek . a couple koi went over in the beginning but that soon stopped. now gold fish on the other hand well they seem to be challenged and do it frequently . small goldfish but none the less. this is a lengthy video but the falls in the beginning are the negative edge and little pond that then drops down into the cistern. now mind you only half of my water goes over the negative edge the rest make it'sway to the bottom drains

 

[GBBUDD]

Sorry should have sent this video instead its looking at the negative edge as a waterfall to a pool

Moss that grows in full sun

This moss grows in full sun but needs a constant flow of water. It grows very fast and has become one of my favorite plants within my pond area.

nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

 

[LuapYllier]

@GBBUDD great video's. I love the look of your pond. Very natural. Here in FL it would cost 10's of thousands to get rocks even remotely adequate for something like that.

I am making another stab at the design. In case anyone is wondering, I keep pushing up and to the right because I have a septic drain field to the left stopping me from using that area. It makes for nice grass but renders that portion of the yard un-useable. It sucks. I completely tore apart and played around with the main pond shape and went round and round and kept coming back with the same result lol. So I worked around that.

Let me know what you think.

https://imgur.com/PiPAkNB