Equipment advice

[facesnorth]

Hello fellow hobbyists,

I am building my second pond (first one was 10 years ago before I had internet and had different goals than this one). For one thing, I now live NE PA (Poconos) and the ground is filled with big rocks (moreso than dirt), and the winters usually hover in the 20's here but can get to 0F.

Currently I've dug out a hole about 12' at the longest, 6' at the widest, and 5' at the deepest (averages 4' or 4.5' deep). I have not yet carved any shelves into the sides, so it's going to get a little wider at points. The ground has a kind of natural spring, as it's filled with 2 feet of water. I don't plan to utilize this however, because it's not enough to bring it to surface level unfortunately. So I plan to pump it out, and then quickly lay my materials in and fill it up so the weight will hold out any more water from entering the cavity. I'm thinking my pond will contain 2500-3000 gallons of water. I plan to have a variety of plants, koi (starting from babies), and frogs.

So far I've bought a 30' X 20' 45 Mil EPDM Fish Safe Pond Liner (with 25 Year Warranty) and a 40' x 10' roll of Green Guard Pond Liner Underlayment (6oz Nonwoven Geotextile) from Amazing Pond Supplies on Amazon for about $430 shipped. Also, my friend gave me some carpet padding (enough to cover the whole area), which I'm going to lay in first (the ground consists of many jagged rocks and sharp roots, and I won't be able to clear them all away).

I'm not dead set on any plans otherwise. I started researching pumps/filters, and my concerns in order of importance are #1 operating costs, #2 low maintenance, #3 startup costs, #4 performance (still an important #4 though). My brief research finds me liking the Oase brand a lot. For one it's German made and looks quality, and also carries a 5 year warranty. More importantly though, they seem to make some of the most energy efficient pumps on the market. Unfortunately, they are pulling out of the U.S. market all together, but it has brought some discounts as well. Overseas one of the most popular pumps is the Optimax 10000 but this one is not available here in the U.S. So I'm looking at the Oase Aquamax SF2200 for my pond. It can go through the winters, and can pass 3/8" koi waste. Can anybody comment on this choice?

I have not yet researched filters much, but my interest in Oase has me considering them in this department as well. However, the brief amount of time I've spent looking through this forum has me noticing that most recommend a DIY filter, which I had never considered. I expect to get a lot of suggestions in that direction. So I will just say that I'm open to the idea if it's in line with my goals. I just don't know anything about it at this point.

As for other equipment, lighting, edging materials, etc, I haven't fully decided on anything. We did pull a decent amount of big flat stones out of the ground from my property which I plan to utilize. We may incorporate a small waterfall of some type. This isn't going to be super fancy, we are a very low budget household, and doing everything ourselves (and I have a bad back).

I will try to post a picture of my location in the next few days. I look forward to any ideas from you guys.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum

i never had a Oase pump, so i :fish:
I have a laguna max flo that i like a lot..lo cost to run it
A 100 gal stock tank skippy would do your pond good
150 gal would be real good

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the forum. Post photos when you can.

 

[Squidhead]

As far as lowering your budget, a DIY filter would do that a great deal if you have no fear of doing DIY. The right tools make a big difference in DIY. I have never heard of Oase either. The only fear I'd have of it, is if you needed a replacement part. I have never used any of these bigger pumps for ponds, but I am building a pond myself and I like the Sequence ones because of their reviews and low power consumption.
l used to live about 2 hours SE of your location and can relate to the under ground stone issues. In my old yard I couldn't take out a shovel full without unearthing a good sized rock. I even had to jack hammer a huge underground boulder to put in a fence post. I can't immagine doing a pond without a good sized excavator in the mountains. Along with the underlayment, you may want add some old carpet or carpet padding for extra protection from the rocks. With the freezing and thawing you may need more then regular underlayment. One good thing, I'm sure you have plenty of free stones for any landscaping you need to do. I used the unearthed rocks for borders around my flower beds and gardens. One more thing, With the underground spring, You may want to put in a "french drain" and divert it around the pond back to it's natural flow. The town I lived in decided to put in storm drains instead of having ditches on the roadsides. They didn't take into consideration the underground springs that had flowed into them for the last 100 + years, and just plopped drainage pipe in and burried it. The springs backed up into everybodies septic fields along the road. The septic fields where now the path of least resistence. Just something to consider before you block an underground stream, it's got to go somewhere.

 

[facesnorth]

Thank you for the welcome and comments. I am camping until Thursday. Will come back then with some pictures. If anybody is familiar with Oase or has any thoughts from looking at their specs let me know. The Aquamax SF2200 is what I am still looking at since the Optimax 10000 is not available here in the U.S. Will look at the DIY filters more thoroughly when I return.

Ryan