Filtration setup on 5,000 gallon pond

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Hello! I’m building my first pond. It’ll be close to 5,000 gallons. I’ll have 2-3 turtles and an assortment of fish. I’m not planning on having a ton of fish so it’ll be just low to medium stock.

I enjoy DIY so I am going to build my own filtration setup. I’d rather over do it then under do it, especially because turtles make a mess.

Here’s my filtration setup idea so far:

The pond will be about 25 feet in length with width varying for 5-7 feet. Depth will range frown 2-5 feet.

I’ll have a bottom drain on opposite ends where water is the deepest.

BD (bottom drain) will flow into a sieve then onto a mechanical filter, thinking I’ll use different density sponges for that.

Next into a biological filter (bioballs)

Then into a chemical filter with charcoal.

Then into a reservoir that will house a submersible pump then through a UV light and back to the pond.

Thoughts?
 
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Diagram of filtration setup
 

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Welcome!

That sounds like the type of system that the folks at koiphen would love to geek out over.

We tend to like to keep things a lot simpler here. Good mechanical filtration to the biggest bog filter you have space for, and call it a day.

A few thoughts/questions:

If you have a decent screen on your sieve, I’m not sure why you would need the sponges. What are you hoping to achieve using both?

What is the charcoal filter going to achieve for you?

Best to double/triple check your flow rates through each piece of this system. If you get it wrong at one step, you’ll have a bottleneck and starve your pump.

If you’re only using bioballs for a pond that large, I think you’re going to need an insane amount of them, and probably best to aerate them to get better efficiency.

Don’t care for UV lights. They kill algae, but the dead algae just becomes food for more algae. You’ll eventually hit a point where the UV can’t keep up anymore. What’s your long-term plan for removing nitrates?

What’s your plan for skimming. That’s a critical first step in mechanical filtration.

Put the best ball valve (true union) you can afford between the bottom drain and your filtration circuit. Replacing it will be a real pain.
 

Mmathis

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If you’re only using bioballs for a pond that large, I think you’re going to need an insane amount of them, and probably best to aerate them to get better efficiency.
@ahilton723 You also posted a question about bio balls. Another member did some research and came up with: 2 gallons of bio balls per 100 gallons of water. That’s going to be a LOT of bioballs!

As @combatwombat stated, what you’re looking at sounds more KOIPHEN.COM related. They get into the more complex set-ups. We here are more into the natural type of pond-keeping (Garden Pond Forum), and our choices gravitate toward bogs with minimal intervention.

For just a few fish, heavy-duty and complex aren’t really necessary. Now turtles….turtles are messy. We have several on here who keep aquatic turtles. Maybe do a search and/or address a separate thread directed at requirements for keeping their water healthy.
 

j.w

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@ahilton723
If I had it to do over again I would have done a bog. Way less work involved and most maintenance is just trimming the plants now and then. Looks natural and keeps your pond sparkling clean!
 
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Welcome!

That sounds like the type of system that the folks at koiphen would love to geek out over.

We tend to like to keep things a lot simpler here. Good mechanical filtration to the biggest bog filter you have space for, and call it a day.

A few thoughts/questions:

If you have a decent screen on your sieve, I’m not sure why you would need the sponges. What are you hoping to achieve using both?

What is the charcoal filter going to achieve for you?

Best to double/triple check your flow rates through each piece of this system. If you get it wrong at one step, you’ll have a bottleneck and starve your pump.

If you’re only using bioballs for a pond that large, I think you’re going to need an insane amount of them, and probably best to aerate them to get better efficiency.

Don’t care for UV lights. They kill algae, but the dead algae just becomes food for more algae. You’ll eventually hit a point where the UV can’t keep up anymore. What’s your long-term plan for removing nitrates?

What’s your plan for skimming. That’s a critical first step in mechanical filtration.

Put the best ball valve (true union) you can afford between the bottom drain and your filtration circuit. Replacing it will be a real pain.
Thank you for the reply!
Welcome!

That sounds like the type of system that the folks at koiphen would love to geek out over.

We tend to like to keep things a lot simpler here. Good mechanical filtration to the biggest bog filter you have space for, and call it a day.

A few thoughts/questions:

If you have a decent screen on your sieve, I’m not sure why you would need the sponges. What are you hoping to achieve using both?

What is the charcoal filter going to achieve for you?

Best to double/triple check your flow rates through each piece of this system. If you get it wrong at one step, you’ll have a bottleneck and starve your pump.

If you’re only using bioballs for a pond that large, I think you’re going to need an insane amount of them, and probably best to aerate them to get better efficiency.

Don’t care for UV lights. They kill algae, but the dead algae just becomes food for more algae. You’ll eventually hit a point where the UV can’t keep up anymore. What’s your long-term plan for removing nitrates?

What’s your plan for skimming. That’s a critical first step in mechanical filtration.

Put the best ball valve (true union) you can afford between the bottom drain and your filtration circuit. Replacing it will be a real pain.
Thanks for the reply!

I may have missed the mark a little with where I posted these questions.

The sponges in addition to the sieve if I'm being honest is because I tend to "over-engineer" things. Also I've had turtles before so I know how messy they are so I figured why not.

I actually meant activated carbon (NOT charcoal) is to assist with water color and odor.

Great advice on triple checking the flow rates! That's definitely something I'll take my time with to make sure I get it just right.

As far as the nitrates go I'll have some water plants to assist there. Also for the size of the pond I'm going to have it stocked at a fairly low level so if I'm not wrong I'll gain some benefit just from dilution.

For skimming, there aren't a lot of things around the pond that could fall in but I'm still going to add a skimmer box with a submersible pump inside that pumps back to a waterfall filter fountain.
 
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I may have missed the mark a little with where I posted these questions

Not at all! We’re happy to tell you to build a bog instead. lol

The sponges in addition to the sieve if I'm being honest is because I tend to "over-engineer" things. Also I've had turtles before so I know how messy they are so I figured why not.

Nothing wrong with a very robust design. But the mesh in a sieve is usually quite a lot finer of a filter than brushes, so having the brushes after the sieve seems a waste. But maybe you had something else in mind for your sieve.

I actually meant activated carbon (NOT charcoal) is to assist with water color and odor.

Got it. That sounds like a carryover from aquarium keeping that isn’t necessary in pond world. You shouldn’t be dealing with any stink and discoloration would primarily be from algae blooms that I don’t think a carbon filter is going to help with.

As far as the nitrates go I'll have some water plants to assist there. Also for the size of the pond I'm going to have it stocked at a fairly low level so if I'm not wrong I'll gain some benefit just from dilution.
Got it. The plants will help for sure, and having a low stock of fish will, too. As long as you’re balanced there, all will be good.
 
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The detosign has some great aspects to it but some adjustment would be necessary if it was for myself,
1. A strainer basket would be first for large algae and leaves
2. The sieve is a great product and you have to decide on what micro to go with 70? or 300?
3. the brushes after the sieve will do little for filtering but it will give bacteria something to grow on but in this case i'd delete them. i'd consider a matala matt filter for trapping finer particles
4. Your bio balls need to be in a shower configuration. The bioballs are designed for providing surface area along with being surrounded with fully oxygenated water for maximum bacterial growth.
5. Unless your having issues with tannins i'd forget the carbon all together

or you can forget all the above and add a bog if you want ridiculously clear water do a sieve and a bog
 
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I like the idea of the bog but I don't really have room for it. The filter system works because it'll sit about 10 feet off the pond on the other side of a fence.
 
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The detosign has some great aspects to it but some adjustment would be necessary if it was for myself,
1. A strainer basket would be first for large algae and leaves
2. The sieve is a great product and you have to decide on what micro to go with 70? or 300?
3. the brushes after the sieve will do little for filtering but it will give bacteria something to grow on but in this case i'd delete them. i'd consider a matala matt filter for trapping finer particles
4. Your bio balls need to be in a shower configuration. The bioballs are designed for providing surface area along with being surrounded with fully oxygenated water for maximum bacterial growth.
5. Unless your having issues with tannins i'd forget the carbon all together

or you can forget all the above and add a bog if you want ridiculously clear water do a sieve and a bog
I like the idea of the bog but I don't really have room for it. The filter system works because it'll sit about 10 feet off the pond on the other side of a fence.
 
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My bog is 35 feet away and goes back to the pond by way of a stream to a distribution pond that then falls to the main pond.

Have you ever heard of a rotating drum filter? that and a bakki shower and you can't go wrong
 

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