Hi,
I am fairly new to ponds and fish keeping. My step father and I built our pond two summers ago and last summer it started leaking and we were unable to find the leak. This spring or summer we are planning on completely redoing our pond and try and do a better job of making a filter. We plan to put in a bottom drain at about 3 feet and we plan to have about 1500 gallons total in the pond. We have a pre-filter box with some filter media to keep leaves and bigger stuff from clogging the pump. I have been watching a lot of videos on DIY biofilters and would like to know how big of a bio filter we would need to make for this size of a pond with around 8 goldfish and 3 koi. (i do not need my water to be extremely clean or anything i just want it to be better than it was last year when we couldnt see 1 foot down for most of the summer) My original thought was to make two filters from big flower pots and position them above where i want the waterfall and then have them run into the waterfall pond before going into the big pond. Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

sorry just of this question after posting first one...do you think this would be enough water to have a good waterfall that is about a foot or so wide?

On Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:47:28 +0000, zad2110
wrote:


Hi,
I am fairly new to ponds and fish keeping. My step father and I built
our pond two summers ago and last summer it started leaking and we were
unable to find the leak. This spring or summer we are planning on
completely redoing our pond and try and do a better job of making a
filter. We plan to put in a bottom drain at about 3 feet and we plan to
have about 1500 gallons total in the pond. We have a pre-filter box
with some filter media to keep leaves and bigger stuff from clogging the
pump. I have been watching a lot of videos on DIY biofilters and would
like to know how big of a bio filter we would need to make for this size
of a pond with around 8 goldfish and 3 koi. (i do not need my water to
be extremely clean or anything i just want it to be better than it was
last year when we couldnt see 1 foot down for most of the summer) My
original thought was to make two filters from big flower pots and
position them above where i want the waterfall and then have them run
into the waterfall pond before going into the big pond. Any advice I can
get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

This person has a 1500 gallon pond system, check out their filter at
www.jjspond.com
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

On Jan 24, 7:47*pm, zad2110
wrote:
Hi,
I am fairly new to ponds and fish keeping. My step father and I built
our pond two summers ago and last summer it started leaking and we were
unable to find the leak. This spring or summer we are planning on
completely redoing our pond and try and do a better job of making a
filter. *We plan to put in a bottom drain at about 3 feet and we plan to
have about 1500 gallons total in the pond. *We have a pre-filter box
with some filter media to keep leaves and bigger stuff from clogging the
pump. I have been watching a lot of videos on DIY biofilters and would
like to know how big of a bio filter we would need to make for this size
of a pond with around 8 goldfish and 3 koi. (i do not need my water to
be extremely clean or anything i just want it to be better than it was
last year when we couldnt see 1 foot down for most of the summer) My
original thought was to make two filters from big flower pots and
position them above where i want the waterfall and then have them run
into the waterfall pond before going into the big pond. Any advice I can
get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

--
zad2110

Hi Zad. I'm been in the pond hobby for almost 30 years now. I've got
a great diagram for a bio-filter. The bio-media never has to be
cleaned and if you have a bottom drain, all you have to do is backwash
about once a month or every six weeks and clean the window screening
at the top of the filter which traps debris.

Yours Koily, Lorraine

I am fairly new to ponds and fish keeping. My step father and I built our pond two summers ago and last summer it started leaking and we were unable to find the leak. This spring or summer we are planning on completely redoing our pond and try and do a better job of making a filter. We plan to put in a bottom drain at about 3 feet and we plan to have about 1500 gallons total in the pond. We have a pre-filter box with some filter media to keep leaves and bigger stuff from clogging the pump. I have been watching a lot of videos on DIY biofilters and would like to know how big of a bio filter we would need to make for this size of a pond with around 8 goldfish and 3 koi. (i do not need my water to be extremely clean or anything i just want it to be better than it was last year when we couldnt see 1 foot down for most of the summer) My original thought was to make two filters from big flower pots and position them above where i want the waterfall and then have them run into the waterfall pond before going into the big pond. Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.[/quote]

hi there
you will be looking at 2x 55 gallon barrels or waterbutts for a 1500 gal pond minimum with you having koi althought you only have 3 koi they produce twice as much waste as your gold fish
if you use two/ three or even four of these barrels/waterbutts then you can create yourself a pretty good filter the more media you have getting finer in each barrel the better it will be.
for an idea of what to use, use the first barrel as a vortex with vortex brush this will catch the large waste,second with bruses this will catch anything the vortex didnt,third fill with jap mat catches the finer stuff and the fourth with flocur this is your main bio with a layer of jap mat to help stop the flocur flowing out you can also have a layer of filter wool in this bay as it wil catch thevery fine stuff.
the fines are what cloud your water
also if you have a tea colouring to the water this is docs caused by decaying food, vegitation and high protien foods

you dont not say if you have a uv in line this will help with any free flowing algea this is what makes your water have a green tinge or the look of pea soup

try to keep your old filter going while you build your new one then transfer the old filter media into the new filter this will cycle your new filter this will help reduce the new pond problem that can occur with new filters
cylcleing can take from 8weeks to 3 months to fully become mature
always clean your filter media in pond water never tap water this will kill the filters and you will have to cycle all over again

hope this helps

saph

Nice you have 1500 gallon tank, very good and its nice that you thinking
about biofilters. If you have knowledge to build about then its good to
have biofilter then others.




--
kellvinsmiith

"zad2110" wrote


Hi,
I am fairly new to ponds and fish keeping. My step father and I built
our pond two summers ago and last summer it started leaking and we were
unable to find the leak. This spring or summer we are planning on
completely redoing our pond and try and do a better job of making a
filter. We plan to put in a bottom drain at about 3 feet and we plan to
have about 1500 gallons total in the pond. We have a pre-filter box
with some filter media to keep leaves and bigger stuff from clogging the
pump. I have been watching a lot of videos on DIY biofilters and would
like to know how big of a bio filter we would need to make for this size
of a pond with around 8 goldfish and 3 koi. (i do not need my water to
be extremely clean or anything i just want it to be better than it was
last year when we couldnt see 1 foot down for most of the summer) My
original thought was to make two filters from big flower pots and
position them above where i want the waterfall and then have them run
into the waterfall pond before going into the big pond. Any advice I can
get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
..........................

Don't confuse green water with clean water, green water can be very clean
and clear water can be toxic to fish. You need to understand what your fish
require which is low nitrite/ammonia levels, and it's to this end we use
bio-filters. That these filters may also keep the water clear is a happy
coincidence.

You will probably find it better/easier to use 50 gal plastic water tanks
for making your filters.

What filter medium do you intend to use?
Pre-filter...Brushes?
Main filter.....Tufa? Foam? what?
Are you going to use a UV to kill the "green" in the water?

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"zad2110" wrote

I am fairly new to ponds and fish keeping. My step father and I built
our pond two summers ago and last summer it started leaking and we were
unable to find the leak. This spring or summer we are planning on
completely redoing our pond and try and do a better job of making a
filter. We plan to put in a bottom drain at about 3 feet and we plan to
have about 1500 gallons total in the pond. We have a pre-filter box
with some filter media to keep leaves and bigger stuff from clogging the
pump. I have been watching a lot of videos on DIY biofilters and would
like to know how big of a bio filter we would need to make for this size
of a pond with around 8 goldfish and 3 koi. (i do not need my water to
be extremely clean or anything i just want it to be better than it was
last year when we couldnt see 1 foot down for most of the summer) My
original thought was to make two filters from big flower pots and
position them above where i want the waterfall and then have them run
into the waterfall pond before going into the big pond. Any advice I can
get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
.........................

My 2 ponds connected total 1500 g including filter. You can see how we did
it at my website below, only bio/open cell foam after 14 years was replaced
last year with matala pads. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Its depend on your fishes, what type of fishes you have to use a nice
filter on so that your water is clean and not having any toxic thing in
it. Which can damage your tank life.




--
thomasscampbells

I am adequately new to ponds and angle keeping. My footfall ancestor and I congenital our pond two summers ago and endure summer it started aperture and we were clumsy to acquisition the leak. This bounce or summer we are planning on absolutely redoing our pond and try and do a bigger job of authoritative a filter. We plan to put in a basal cesspool at about 3 anxiety and we plan to accept about 1500 gallons absolute in the pond.