New Pond planning. Need help to choose

[moldovan]

@Waterbug, I really appreciate your candor and no-BS comments.

Pond building is the business and I understand that every builder is after buck. But so is the entire country. I don't mind to pay reasonable builder to get me started and than try to learn everything I can on the hopefully proper setup. I do try to select builders that have physical ponds built and I can see them to filter out "grass mowers". I have to start somewhere. Money is a factor as well. So far bog options are considerably more expensive than other setups. I keep interviewing contractors to see what is the common advise. Most folks while agreeing that bog is very nice system carefully suggest that I'm over-engineering for such a small pond.
So the last guy that feels knowledgeable recommended middle ground for me in terms of balancing cost and my paranoia He recommended to use skimmer and waterfall setup but upgrade them from standard kit to a-la-carte better quality components. Of course one may suspect the greed, but I indeed see that those components are more sturdier, better made (in US). He is pretty blunt that he make more money on those and saves him a trouble of call-backs and warranty claims, That seem fair. He also tells me it is probably an overkill but if I decide later to enlarge the pond this equipment has plenty of headroom to handle 2.5 size of that. He want to build pond slighter bigger like 8 x 13'.

I.d like to get opinion on some of the components he proposed:
Pond Builder products: 22" Elite Waterfall filter box and 10" Elite Skimmer.
Shinmaywa pump 3300.

Thanks again for all the great comments.

 

[Waterbug]

I agree 100%.

IMO it's not the builders' fault at all. The market demands they build these kinds of ponds. The builders have 2 choices, build cheap and simple ponds people demand or find another line of work. There is virtually no demand for ponds with serious filter systems.

Only the high end Koi pond market wants that type of pond and that is a tiny market. Many times the builder is brought in from another state or over sees the project from out of state because there are so few people who build those types of ponds.

This is the first I've heard that the bog options were more expensive. I don't know how expensive that is but I'll say this...one of the top say 3 reasons bogs are popular in the DIY world is because they're super easy to build and super cheap. My largest bog was about the size of your entire pond and was about $100 for liner and gravel, maybe $150. To me if a bog cost much more I wouldn't even bother.

I don't have any comments on the specific products, maybe others will. I've never found any big difference in pretty much all manufactured products.

 

[addy1]

Do you think bog should be combined with other type of filter, skimmer or can be the only filtration in the pond? Interested in more feedback from "bog" filter owners, any regrets or caveats.

I like mine, it is my only filter, I have a skimmer, it is just a skimmer no filter in it. The bog is large wanted the plant room, I do have a lot of goldfish, shubunkins, currently around 200 plus, the water tests are always perfect. No regrets, my pond takes no effort to care for it, except yanking plants, off and on, that grow crazy in the bog. No green water, no string algae.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

.d like to get opinion on some of the components he proposed:
Pond Builder products: 22" Elite Waterfall filter box and 10" Elite Skimmer.
Shinmaywa pump 3300.

Thanks again for all the great comments.

Since most submersible pumps sit on, or near, the bottom of the pond and suck water though grates in in their housing or some sort of filter screen, I'm kind of curious how the pond builder proposes to achieve flow through on the skimmer?
You asked for opinions on those components, so I'll give my opinion on the pump. Keep in mind I am biased against submersible pumps for a couple different reasons, one being there are better ways to circulate pond water than having a pump sitting on the bottom of the pond, and two, power usage wise submersible pumps are usually about half as efficient as external pumps.
The specs on the proposed pump you listed pumps 3,300 gal per hour at 328 watts, another popular external pump pumps 3,600 gal per hour at 139 watts. they both cost about the same to buy.
Considering these pumps are expected to run 24/7 for years and years it is something worth considering.

Check out the specs for yourself.

ShinMaywa Pump 3,300 submersible pump
Sequence 750 3,600 external pump

 

[sissy]

I think what you have done by joining here and learning what to look for and what not to do will help you decide what is right or wrong .The more you understand a pond before you hire some one helps you find the right person who will listen to you and what you want .They you can haggle the price to what you want to pay .I don't quite understand bogs and never had one but I see on here there are ways to build them right and ways to build them wrong and understanding that will help .I know addy has a successful bog and several others on here have built them also .The plant part takes time for it to start filtering by what I have read .But once roots start sucking bad stuff up you are good to go .Just like hydroponics that use fish ponds to grow plants and filter the water for the fish .

 

[oneman1pond]

Im a noob to the pond world myself and I still have questions and concerns. I just want to add my 2 cents and say that you have a very nice spot picked out and a pond would look great in the location you chose. In my own opinion, I would do everything myself and some help from a few friends of course. By doing that you would have a 110 % better understanding on what is actually going on with your pond and how things operate. You would know it inside and out and you would appreciate it that much more. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have someone build me a big beautiful pond with all the latest gadgets and gizmo's but I don't have it like that, I didn't hit the lotto yet! It might take you a little longer and with a lot of blood sweat and cursing and of course some research it is possible to DIY. Many people around this forum have a wealth of knowledge and advise to get you through your project and will be more then happy to walk you through it. Good luck on your endeavor.

 

[sissy]

curse you curse one man ,like that will really help :cheerful: