New to Koi Ponds

[jmg7184]

Looking to build a 5x15x4 koi pond in my backyard. I want a simple setup if possible. I was looking at having a bottom drain, skimmer (with drain tied into it) with a submersible pump inside of the skimmer.....UV light in the skimmer as well, and then a waterfall at the other end.

Can someone lead me in the right direction? I don't have room for settlement chambers, etc. I can do the liner, drain, etc....just confused on the actual plumbing of the bottom drain to the system, as well as what happens after the skimmer. I like the idea of having the pump inside the skimmer for a cleaner look. Thanks.

 

[addy1]

To our group. A lot will help you here with your questions.

I use an external pump with a T one line draws from the skimmer, one side draws from the in pond line. Ball valves to control the amount of flow.

 

[Hilltop16]

I am really happy with the kit I purchased from Berkey Supply. http://www.berkeysupply.com/hybri-pond-kits.html They sell equipment made by Filtrific and their kits come with a skimmer vault which houses the pump, mechanical filter, biological filter and an auto-fill system (additional). The entire kit was quite pricey, but came with everything I needed, including all the plumbing pieces and even the plumbers glue!! The instructions were very thorough as well.

All that said, I did end up hiring a contractor to build it for me. I tried at least four times over the corse of 7 weeks to build it myself, but the waterfall kept leaking. LOL.

At the very least, the instructions are free and can serve as a great resource for you: http://www.filtrific.com/downloads/Filtrific_Pond_Ins_Guide.pdf

Good luck!

 

[jmg7184]

Thanks for the quick replies! Are most bottom drains 4" ? Do I have to have a diffuser on the bottom drain? I'm guessing there are adapters to step that down to 2" or so if I Tee into another line?

 

[fishin4cars]

Look into savio, again a little pricey but for what your wanting they have a superb running set-up. They make a kit that has either a 3" or 4" drain that ties to the skimmer, they make a UV light that installs in the skimmer that is very effective and you can buy it when needed, It doesn't need to mbe bought at the initial purchs=ase as some ponds don't need one at all. Also they have a really nice filterfall system that makes building the waterfall a breeze and it has back washing capabilities. With that size pond you probably could get by with a compact size but if it were me and since I have been keeping koi for some time I would recommend going wider than 5 feet more like 8 or so and if possible make the pond 5' deep as koi get more exercise in a deeper pond and it stays cooler in the summer warmer in the winter. You could even have some above ground for a sitting area so you don't have to dig as deep. On the question of the bottom drain. you never want to reduce or tee into the circuit of a drain, If it is s 3" drain in needs to be 3" all the way to a settling chamber, skimmer, what ever your going to as that is gravity fed and a reducer or tee will cause clogging issues later on. From the pump, teeing off is not only ok, but can be used in many different beneficial ways so in some cases may even be recommended.

 

[jmg7184]

Ok. I will look into the savio. I saw their kits, but never one with a bottom drain, and I saw people complaining that there wasn't room to hook up a bottom drain to their regular size skimmer that also houses the pump.

The area I am using for the pond won't allow me to go wider than 5'. I reclaimed some land after adding a retaining wall, and I have a large area that I can add pond into. After 7' or so of reclaimed area, there is another wall that steps up into regular yard height.

 

[Waterbug]

A long and narrow pond can be set up with what is called a river flow design, basically just what it sounds like. In the traditional BD setup you create horizontal circular flows around the drain using TPRs (Tangential Pond Returns), acts like a tornado. For a 5x15 pond you would need 3 BD because circular flow can't move very well in a rectangle. Using a river flow you'd need just one BD at one end and the TPRs all point toward the drain creating a "river flow", but really it's a vertical circular flow.

BD are easy to make yourself if you want. 4" is best, 3" can work. There's no reduction in pipe size anywhere along its length.

Best practice is to have the BD pipe empty just by gravity into a sieve filter which can be made pretty easy, or purchased. The tank with the sieve contains the pump, either submerged or external, doesn't matter. From there the water is sent to bio filters (Bakki Shower is current state of the art, cheap and easy to make) and then to a UV and back into the pond. If you want the clearest water you can add something like a sand/gravel filter.

Skimmer and BD generally need separate pumps, tricky to get these working well with a single pump. The skimmer pump for example could just drive the TPRs.

 

[j.w]

jmg7184

 

[jmg7184]

A long and narrow pond can be set up with what is called a river flow design, basically just what it sounds like. In the traditional BD setup you create horizontal circular flows around the drain using TPRs (Tangential Pond Returns), acts like a tornado. For a 5x15 pond you would need 3 BD because circular flow can't move very well in a rectangle. Using a river flow you'd need just one BD at one end and the TPRs all point toward the drain creating a "river flow", but really it's a vertical circular flow.

BD are easy to make yourself if you want. 4" is best, 3" can work. There's no reduction in pipe size anywhere along its length.

Best practice is to have the BD pipe empty just by gravity into a sieve filter which can be made pretty easy, or purchased. The tank with the sieve contains the pump, either submerged or external, doesn't matter. From there the water is sent to bio filters (Bakki Shower is current state of the art, cheap and easy to make) and then to a UV and back into the pond. If you want the clearest water you can add something like a sand/gravel filter.

Skimmer and BD generally need separate pumps, tricky to get these working well with a single pump. The skimmer pump for example could just drive the TPRs.

So the waterfall and tprs at one end, and the skimmer and bottom drain at the other?

 

[Waterbug]

In a river flow design. You can place a couple of TPRs in the middle pointing down stream, would be a safer bet anyways. 15' is pretty long but depends on lots of things whether a single set of TPRs at one end would be enough.

 

[nugie]

i just added a small koi to my pond that already has 5 goldfish of different sizes and they are attacking the koi. does anyone have any ides of how i can stop this?