Koi Pond Plumbing Advice

[Glen]

I'm in the final construction stages and want to insure I do things correctly. Any tips are appreciated. Should skimmer go in northeast or southwest corner. Waterfall is closer to Northeast corner?
If and where to combine bottom drain and skimmer flows before pump?

14 ft x 20 ft with varying depths. 36” in center, 20-24” most areas. 4500 Gallons

Elite 4500 Series pump 4,000 gph at 5’ head (to be placed behind waterfall 12” below water surface, but can raise on pedestal if required). 2” inlet
Easy Pro Symphone 34” Bio Filter Falls
Pondmaster 40 watt uv clarifier (to be placed behind waterfall 12” below water surface, but can raise on pedestal if required). After pump before filter falls with splitter in order to divert to bypass uv filter with some water if flow is too fast for filtering.
Easy Pro 4” Heavy duty bottom drain can only go to one of 2 corners where hardpan is trenched to 36” depth..
Skimmer model to be determined
Thank you,
Glen

3[/ATTACH]

 

[Angel]

You want the skimmer opposite as possible from the water fall. Promotes water circulation and a flow to the skimmer.
Otherwise if skimmer and falls are at the same point you are pretty much cycling the same water and not making a current for the skimmer for the rest of the pond.

I'll let the rest chime in on pump types and skimmer types etc.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I agree with @Angel. Skimmer should be opposite waterfall to maximize water circulation.

A couple of other observations:

-A 4000 gph pump is entirely too small for a 4500 gallon pond especially if this pond is to house Koi. The hourly turnover rate should be 1.5 - 2.0 times the pond's capacity depending on fish load. This translates into a 6000 gph - 8000 gph pump.

-Any skimmer will likely need to be modified for adaption to an external pump. All box skimmers are engineered to house a submersible pump. I would advise utilizing a 3" line connecting the skimmer module to the external pump. This additional size will be needed as the flow from skimmer to pump will be virtually gravity-fed.

-Some form of settlement chamber should be included to collect the debris from the bottom drain before it can reach the pump otherwise all of this collected debris will be pumped to the waterfall filter quickly clogging it.

-Water flow rate through UV unit should not exceed manufacturer's recommendation.

 

[Gemma]

I wish the person I hired to renovate my pond, had at least this little bit of knowledge and would have left mine where they were!