Aquarium Hobbyists

It is always good to pre-treat new water (match temp, add dechlorinator, buffer, whatever) before it goes in the pond. I have an old dubious 55gal tank I use with my main 125g aquarium for that purpose.
I suspect a lot of folks will just add water from the hose which is probably fine for topping up, but a large bulk reservoir of pond-ready water is best for big water changes.

 

Had my landscaper come out today, so he'll deal with leveling out the ground and getting all the dirted areas covered up in decorative rock.

I asked that he leave me about a 3' long and 6' wide spot on the ground to use for my pond. Seeing as how I'll be keeping it somewhat narrow, I figured I'd go a little over 2.5' deep and about 4' wide.

That should make for a good 200 gallon pond, and the extra 2' I'll have on the side will be used for a tote for water filtering.

 

You might consider above ground filtering to increase overall volume.
And for that reason I might go as deep as 4-5’ or so too.
Keep in mind this is still quite small for coi, which of course are carp, and get yuuuge. Might only get 1-2 coi in there, max.
Or a whole fleet of goldfish (also carp); they stay small.

 

What do you mean above ground filtering? I thought that's what I was doing or is it different?

Yeah I'm not sure the species but really just some gold fish. Koi in case I do utilize a larger footprint

It's all being shot from the hip

 

Yeah, you can place the main pump in the pond to draw water up into a filter box on the "shore", pass the water through the 'box' with the bio-media/activated carbon, etc., then gravity-feed/channel it back to the pond.
You can also put a space in the filter for aux devices like a UV lamp. Easier to access that way.
It adds (a little) overall volume instead of impinging on the main pond.

edit: sorry if that is what you meant, lol!

edit2: and yes, it's Koi. I was being ctupid!

 

I hadn't considered a UV lamp, could definitely help with algae.

I'll know exactly the area I'll be working with after Monday, after which I can start shopping for supplies.

What sort of pump do you run for yours?

I'll need to buy the pond liner (the large flexible stuff, not a premade mold), pump, misc items for filtering, live rock for bacteria, and figure out water routing.

I got lots of Prime as I use it for my tank in the house.

 

I have been impressed with the new gen DC pumps. Silent. Very low draw for great output.

I get cheap Amazon ones that have been either great (6) or crap (1) out of the box. Supposedly the same manufacturer (Jabao?/Jacod).

Just be careful powering on/off- you should to get a switch at the power supply before plugging/unplugging or you risk frying it.

 

Something like this?

$60 Jebao DCP Sine Wave Water Return Pump (DCP-3500)

https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-Sine-W...ocphy=9031819&hvtargid=pla-2281435178058&th=1

 

Had to read back to find this. I can't tell what pond liner you bought, but in direct sun like that, I would HIGHLY recommend EPDM liner. It's more expensive but it's said to hold up for 30 years vs 5-10 for PVC. That and it's way thicker so punctures are exponentially less likely

Also I will swear by these pumps:

$86 Alpine Corporation 3000 GPH Vortex Energy-Saving Pump for Ponds, Fountains, Waterfalls, and Water Circulation

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TV59GSY

 

Thank you for the recommendation on the pump and liner!

Added the pump to my Amazon list and I'll circle back to buy the size I need based on my pond size.

I haven't purchased anything yet as I only made a quick summary of the large items I'll need to buy still. The area you're looking at there is here -



It's 4' long from the concrete to the fence, and over 15' wide from the fence to the pillar on my covered patio.

We need to buy a gazebo still, but even now that area doesn't get sun at all until 1100 to 1700. Once the gazebo in place, there won't be any direct exposure to the sun.

On Monday I'll add an updated picture as I'll have the area leveled out and a designated area for the above ground pond to be placed. I'm shooting for an 18 sq ft area (3' x 6' roughly).

 

@Kwikvette guess I can answer more of your question about heat too. I agree with the guy who said bury it and let the ground keep it cool. And/or keep it shaded. In a bin that small you'll definitely want some sort of aerator to provide an evaporative cooling effect to keep temps down, even if it's a few degrees. You'll want an air pump and aeration stones for fish health as well. My pond is in gen 4 or 5 of goldfish and minnows and it's only about a foot deep for most of it. Had tilapia too but the 1st winter actually is what killed them.

Feel free to PM me with more. If you recall, I posted about my setup a long time ago in the lunchtable thread and I have about 5 years experience with mine now

 

Yeah you guys get hit with real heat out there, more than us here so I'd love to bounce my ideas off ya for some better suggestions.

I plan to go at least 2' deep, preferably a bit more just due to a neighbor's cat. Worst case I have a lid with a plastic sort of net to keep paws out.

I did plan on an air pump too but I hadn't considered it for "cooling". I was going to add one to allow for surface agitation for better gas exchange, plus to keep from mosquitoes from laying eggs since they love still water.

For my filter, I wanted to incorporate a sort of small "waterfall" as the water leaves the plastic tote.

 

Sure, absolutely. I added a gravity filter for the aquaponics part a couple years ago so I have both style filters going on, suck and push.

We definitely get neighborhood cats poking around, but as far as I can tell, they don't swat more than a couple inches and the fish are instinctual and jolt away. Hell my own cat goes out there to stare and just ends up drinking out of it lol.

I can see where my wording was confusing. They call those pool sprinklers 'aerators'. So for cooling you can get one of those common kits that come with different nozzles, like this . Then air pump separately (that air is hot due to the compressor heat transfer).

So with the waterfall it sounds your plan is a spillway so one with built-in gravity filtering sounds like your easiest avenue. Then some PVC pipe work to tee it off for the aerator

But the air stones are very important in an artificial pond. I would have fish die every few weeks to months before I added them. I think in theory you can rely on surface-prone algae for oxygen production (it's cool to see it bubbling) if you want to go that route, but it doesn't give you a satisfying clean pond look imo, and it's also not only hourly, but seasonal

 

I'll post some pics because why not (update: idk why these look like shit after upload, they look fine on my phone)
It's 106 outside at 4:40pm and my water is mid-80s. (it'll stay like this most of the summer)

The koi was being coy:



Threw this together with an old aquarium pump last week. The birds love it:




We stuck some buds in a week ago:



Currently 83.6*F:

 

That's badass

But I do see where it's low so yeah it'll definitely stay cooler

I'm hoping the depth I run (2' to 2.5') will be enough, with roughly 4' of width and being in the shade year round