overflow drain?

[lauragal]

I am new to ponding, and have a question. My husband and I finished building our pond a few days ago. It is approximately 1200 gallons (10'x8' by 2' deep). It is lined with EPDM and has a pump and filter.

After finishing the pond, the water was crystal clear. However, we had HUGE thunderstorms/rainstorms the following day, and we woke up to a pond full of dirt. We failed to put in an overflow drain, so all of the dirt surrounding the top of the pond drained into the pond with the rain.

Can someone advise me as to how to put an overflow drain in the pond? I can't seem to wrap my head around doing it, without having to put a hole in the liner. Thanks for any help!!!

Laura

 

[koiguy1969]

if youve got soil running in to your pond are you sure your pond isnt below grade? or maybe its from your edge rocks if you have them. i dont have any drain, but my pond is 9" above grade water flows from my pond not to it. if its below grade fertilizer pesticides etc... will find their way in, not a pretty picture.

 

[DrCase]

You need to have a way to divert the water around the pond...
And it helps to have rocks or other mat around the edge .
I do have a small spill way that will let the heavy rain spill out into a dry creek and take it away from my pond,,,It is only 1/4" lower than my pond level

 

[lauragal]

Thanks a lot! My husband said the same thing, so he's going to dig out an area between the rocks to divert the water. Now I just have to figure out how to keep the fish from flowing out with it.

One other question - we are using a Hayward filter with bio bead-type media, and a Beckett pump that pumps about 1,000 gph (the pond is 1,200 gallons). Is that overkill?? Are we supposed to fill up the filter to the top with the beads, or just halfway? Can we/should we add sand to the filter? It's been raining here for a solid week so it is very frustrating not being able to get out there and plant around the pond, and get this thing working right.

Thanks again

 

[koiguy1969]

the more media the better... and no your filters not over kill..no such thing as too much filtration, just not enough!!! my pond is 1100 gals i run a1200 gph pump and my filter is 70 gallons capacity. and i put as much media as possible.. more media= bigger bacterial colony...thats a good thing

 

[lauragal]

Okay, thanks so much!! Can I mix media? Right now I have only half of the tank full with beading. Can I add those Skippy sponges to it, or should I just get more of the same bio media? Something is not working right because my pond is really murky. I still don't have fish in it, and just have 4 plants in there. The pump and filter have been running for 5 days now.

 

[koiguy1969]

yes the skippy pads will work fine anything that provides surface area for the bacteria to colonize(the more surface the better).. preferrably something that has some buoiancy nothing with sponge tho(sponges get saturated and sink and clog easily). the scrubbies have no sponge to them.
mixing medias is perfectly fine.

 

[lauragal]

Okay - off I go to the dollar store to find these sponge-less scrubbies.

Thanks so much - I really appreciate your help.

 

[lauragal]

Can a filter be too small? I have a Hayward S114T - I can figure out how many gallons it is, but I don't think it's big at all.

 

[DrCase]

Yes a filter could be to small ..
On the over flow you can stack a few rocks ,,it will let the water out but keep the koi in....But once you have a drain the water never gets much higher than your water level

 

[koiguy1969]

no such thing as too much filter ....but may have not enough!!!!!

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the Forum! Please add your location to the UserCP so we can better help you.

I have a seperate pump that I toss in whenever it rains to pump out the excess water.