Help a lady out?

[Potato]

The rule of "Half The Pond Volume Flow Per Hour" I would argue only stands true if your pond is 1,000 Gallons or more. The smaller the body of water, the more circulation it needs, the more aeration it needs, etc. If you had a 4,000 Gallon Pond, then a 2,000GPH pump would be fine, for you I would say at least 500gph size pump is the way to go. My pond is the same size as yours at 500 Gallons and I run 950gph and 650gph pumps 24/7 because that is what I was taught on here and what has worked for me since. I would say your 250gph UV clarifier is fine, just add another 250gph stand-alone pump to the pond, maybe with a Spitter to help aerate more, Plus it's always good to have 2 pumps in case one goes out!

Thanks! I got a 330gph pump and filter, got the whole thing installed today, and cleaned out yet more debris from the bottom of the pond (four pine cones, and a small tree's worth of leaves). I can actually see the rocks that are down there now, a first since we moved in! The water is finally clear enough that I can actually see the stuff that still needs to be pulled out, which is a refreshing change from where I started, and hopefully the new filter will pull some of the muck instead of letting it just settle back to the bottom. Four years of neglect is a lot to compensate for, though. I also got a better count of the fish and it appears we have 19.

I did what I estimate to be about a 35% water change over the weekend, and plan to do another one this weekend. I was working in the rain or I could have done more. I will get a photo once things settle back down out there. Up until now I was way too embarrassed of how it looked to post one. It's still not in great shape, but progress is being made.

 

[Potato]

Oh, and thanks everyone for telling me I don't need to do a rebuild. After pouring a small fortune into the house so far I was NOT looking forward to dropping another $2000 on the pond.

 

[morewater]

If you're using tap water, don't forget to add dechlorinator, or you'll have no fish to worry about.

 

[Potato]

Here is a photo of the pond in its current condition. There is still some debris to be gotten out, but the fact that I can see the fish and the rocks at the bottom is a huge improvement. Yesterday I went around the pond and cleaned up the leaves and debris from the edge of it, but we have a heavily wooded property, so this will be a continual battle for me. I have a net for the fall. I apologize if this image is too large. I'm terrible at this sort of thing.

My next question is whether I need both fountains running. Could I just take the fountain nozzle off of one and let the pump and filter just empty under water, or should I leave them both going all the time for the purpose of aeration? I have extremely limited options for water circulation and putting in a waterfall is simply not an option.

 

[sissy]

If you built a small filter tank and ran a hose to it and put some quilt batting in it you would have clear water .All you need is a pretty pot or one of those fiberglass half barrels and a hose and a drill to put some kind of opening in the barrel .I use tank adapters

 

[Nepen]

There is this huge clay pot that's made to look like it sit on the angle and pouring the water out (Home Depot) that I think you can use to make a small water fall filter. There's a hole under so you can run a hose from one of your fountain pump output to the bottom and let the water flow up (put in rocks/filter, what ever) and pour back into the pond.

Looks like this http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Plant-Stand-of-Arizona-16-in-Clay-Mexican-Pot-MEXDP16/202280843

my pump is actually a fountain pump too but I just took the fountain head off and connect the hose to the output and run it through my container bogs (just a planter with pea gravels) then to my water fall. It cost me about $60 for 2 container bogs.

And my waterfall is also very cheap, got flag stones from craiglists, got a small waterfall tub and ran the hose from my fountain pump to it. (that was old set up, I added the container bogs last fall but the water from the bogs still goes to the waterfall). The waterfall filter was sufficient for my small pond for a year but I got tired of cleaning the pre-filter (quilt batting) so I built container bogs.

 

[addy1]

Nice looking pond and great suggestions sissy and nepen.