My Pond Project

[Madsilverfox]

Ok I will be adding fish slowly only after water and plants have settled so ill keep close eye on that. Two things should help with the bottom turnover then, that pump has attachment for a secondary feed so ill probably get one and place it at deepest part for summer and maybe disconnect for winter. Secondly if i build the waterfall wall container as you said that should help. I jumped ahead of myself with the water level on weir of course it should have directions!

I got my hands on some nice blue rocks as shown in picture. About a quarter ton.

, im just living with them at the moment but i dont really have enough to include waterfall. I could order more but they only come in ton bags so if im going to order a ton id like to pick the type and not just go with the blue because the first ones were free. I can always offload those fairly easily if i dont use them. I could use them to build the waterfall catcher in the water maybe. Personally I like the sandstone look. Next research project is to find cheapest supplier of rockery in ton or half ton bags for whole project.

 

[tbendl]

Your drawing looks like my pond. What fun and good luck!

 

[Madsilverfox]

Garden itself

is coming together around the pond. Bills bills bills and no spare cash for projects! The blocks I have are limestone and my first thought was they might not be good for fish, turns out im wrong there they most likely help stabilse ph and reduce acidity so i will be using that block. Im toying with the idea of using them in a small wall along the path and raising the pond with it,

but i still like the idea of a beach/bog from pond to path. Will be turning some soil over the next week between the day job...

 

[tbendl]

Wow that is going to be lovely.

 

[addy1]

It sure will look nice! Very restful setting.

 

[Madsilverfox]

Thanks. Preparing a concrete footing...

theres method in the madness

 

[Madsilverfox]

BIG QUESTIONS in my head about the skimmer and pump

Iv just made my first purchase. I had decided on a skimmer called Biosys pond edge surface skimmer it was coming in the box shape that houses the pump within and at 200 euro was about as cheap as i could find one like that.. it seemed pretty straight forward as it nominated the optimal size pump to be housed within, but as i was looking around i came across this...... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251876570880 and I just went and ordered it, now I'm panicking if Iv done the right thing or not.

At first I thought ok its same thing without the container box attached so I will just modify a barrel underneath it to house the pump and jobs a good un?

BUT!!!

I'm after really confusing myself as I just nearly bought a 5000lph pump I seen for a good price and I stopped myself because these following questions lead me to paralysis...

1) what keeps the skimmer from just leveling off with the pond?

2) If the answer to 1 is the pump taking in the water thus keeping the surface tension and flow into the skimmer, then I guess ill need to know how many lph the skimmer will take in? Is that calculated on skimmer mouth size alone?

3) If I find a number of lph that the skimmer will allow in, will I then have to match the barrel size and pump size to that in order to keep the pump feed stable?

Im going to hold off on the pump for now until I get the final size of pond and skimmer dimensions, all set up and to know exactly what height I intend on pumping the water to... probably essential information if anyone can answer those questions for me.

 

[Waterbug]

Those are very good questions. You are a natural at this. Most people have a hard time understanding these concepts even when explained.

You are absolutely correct. With the pump off the water level in the pond and skimmer will be the same. When the pump is turned on the water level in the skimmer falls, it's called "draw down" here. The cool part about skimmers is the weir (flap or door) that moves. The bigger the pump the more the draw down the more the weir opens to allow more water to enter. It's a kind of automatic adjustment that allows for a certain range of pump sizes to be used. With skimmers more isn't really better because it is surface tension that does the work.

But of course the weir can only open so much so there is a max pump size that can be used.

The size of the pipe exit is also a factor. Too much flow and a vortex will form and suck air down the pipe and into the pump likely causing problems. Noisy too.

So it is both the size of the weir (and it's design) and the pipe size that determines pump range. It's not really possible to calculate because different weir doors are better (tighter) than others. Manufacturers test and spec the range. The EBay seller didn't provide that info but you could ask.

Worst case you have to guess. I think you'd be safe for pretty much any skimmer if the pump was in the 500 to 1500 GPH range. For cheap skimmers more toward the 1500 GPH. If the skimmer can't handle 1500 GPH it's really a pretty bad skimmer imo.

How high you're going to pump the water probably won't be much of a factor for your size pond. Getting into the 6' and more range it can start to matter a lot. Especially when talking about 1000+ GPH pumps. You do want to keep all the pipe diameters large enough for the pump. There are easy calculations for that online.And a ribbed hose loses more to friction than smooth but bigger hose can sort that.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

BIG QUESTIONS in my head about the skimmer and pump

Iv just made my first purchase. I had decided on a skimmer called Biosys pond edge surface skimmer it was coming in the box shape that houses the pump within and at 200 euro was about as cheap as i could find one like that.. it seemed pretty straight forward as it nominated the optimal size pump to be housed within, but as i was looking around i came across this...... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251876570880 and I just went and ordered it, now I'm panicking if Iv done the right thing or not.

At first I thought ok its same thing without the container box attached so I will just modify a barrel underneath it to house the pump and jobs a good un?

BUT!!!

I'm after really confusing myself as I just nearly bought a 5000lph pump I seen for a good price and I stopped myself because these following questions lead me to paralysis...

1) what keeps the skimmer from just leveling off with the pond?

2) If the answer to 1 is the pump taking in the water thus keeping the surface tension and flow into the skimmer, then I guess ill need to know how many lph the skimmer will take in? Is that calculated on skimmer mouth size alone?

3) If I find a number of lph that the skimmer will allow in, will I then have to match the barrel size and pump size to that in order to keep the pump feed stable?

Im going to hold off on the pump for now until I get the final size of pond and skimmer dimensions, all set up and to know exactly what height I intend on pumping the water to... probably essential information if anyone can answer those questions for me.

Flow rate for that skimmer 800 to 1200 gph
http://www.altaquatics.co.uk/acatalog/Mega_Skimmer.html

 

[Madsilverfox]

Thanks guys thats so helpfull. Im a newbie to ponds but Im a firefighter so I know a fair bit about hydraulics waterbug I suppose thats helping me somewhat. Going on those gph ratuos I should be okay with a 5000lph pump and the only way I can see to fine tune the levels is to get an adjustable pump and find the balance. Im not going to be using an auto top up feature but it will have an overflow.

Got some other work done today

 

[Madsilverfox]

Things have slowed on the actual building of pond. But I have made an order of a pump!!!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jecod-DT-5500-Energy-Adjustable-suitable/dp/B016OK2DD6

Its adjustable and has auto shut off features so far Im happy but only a tested time will tell.

I have a question about the UV light if anyone could help me!? I am planning on my skimmer filling into a barrel where the pump will be housed. Is it feasable to have a uv light suspended in that barrel instead of a unit which has water pumped through it? Id like to save on friction here and also cost if possible

 

[sissy]

I do that with my stock tank and it was an old pressurized filter I had ,took it apart and set it in at a height that was good

 

[sissy]

 

[Lisak1]

This is going to be a pretty pond! I love the placement in relation to the rest of your yard.

Hurry up, will ya?

 

[Madsilverfox]

View attachment 98749 View attachment 98750

Yes thats exactly what I mean. I would try to have it sealed off from the daylight but it works yes!? Might clump the algae and catch it in filtet before it reaches the pump