My pond build thread

[Fresh2o]

I'll be building an up flow with pea gravel as the primary media and perhaps some dollar store scrubbers up top, but I'm thinking I may go all gravel with some heavier stones on the bottom transitioning to the pea gravel and then maybe some lava rock for additional surface area. The bottom of the filter will have water entering flowing opposite each other in a cyclonic fashion before it transfers to the media.

I'm also heavily considering doing two separate stages of filtration- 1 barrel with nothing but gravel for mechanical and an additional barrel with nothing but bio media.

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I've done multi-layer setups before and not mixing them while hosing out the media was always a challenge.
Regarding the use of gravel for a mechanical filter, while it will trap a good deal of waste, cleaning it thoroughly might be tough. You'll need a shovel and a strong flow from a garden hose. You may find pot scrubbers or similar material easier to work with. Also, for loose media such as pot scrubbers, bio balls, etc you can put them in a mesh laundry bag for easy removal. To clean them, just raise and lower the bag several times then flush the chamber.
I was going to suggest a vegetable filter or just some floating plants on top of either chamber but not sure how well it will do with in the shade.


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[enrgizerbunny]

Instead of a garden hose I'm going to have a pump running at 30, maybe 60 gallons per MINUTE through the filter.

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[enrgizerbunny]

Recent rain has brought construction to a halt.

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[Delapool]

Short term swimming hole maybe? Or too chilly?

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Short term swimming hole maybe? Or too chilly?

My piglet of a dog already beat you to the punch on Sunday.

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[Delapool]

Lol, looks one happy dog

 

[Fresh2o]

Lol, looks one happy dog

Definition of a mudpuppy


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[Fresh2o]

So how's that hole in the ground coming? Has it been raining down your way?
Any good QT tips? *** You know I'm just giving you a hard time ***


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[enrgizerbunny]

So how's that hole in the ground coming? Has it been raining down your way?
Any good QT tips? *** You know I'm just giving you a hard time ***


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Lol. Not much progress on the home in the ground. I hope to throw a tarp over it tomorrow as the water has almost receded. The rain has been sparse, so hopefully work will continue soon. There's so much more to be done on other things though.

As for the qt, this is the first time I've qt'd fish. I didn't qt my koi because I got him from a store selling $150 fingerlings a couple tubs over so I trust them with livestock.

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[Fresh2o]

Certainly a hot time of the year to be digging in the ground.
Tbh I never QTd the outdoor fish. A little reckless I know. They were more of the $2 variety, not the $150.


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[enrgizerbunny]

Hey guys been a while since I updated thanks to knee deep water in my hole. Will I good on there with a bucket and did some digging yesterday.

It doesn't look like much purebred but that's about 2 hours of digging and dressing the sides to make them closer to 90 degrees.

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[Delapool]

Don't remember the tree root? Is that new?

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Don't remember the tree root? Is that new?

It's been there. I've got to dig around it until I can get in with a sawzall and cut it out.

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[enrgizerbunny]

Did some digging today. Tried to make the picture do justice to my progress. I'm digging around the root and on the opposite side to make progress.

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[EOGoldfish]

Looks good!


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[Delapool]

How big are you extending past root? I saw a line another metre past the hole?

 

[enrgizerbunny]

How big are you extending past root? I saw a line another metre past the hole?

Look on the other pictures and you can see the full outline as the area of disturbed earth past the root, a little more than a metre I think.

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[Delapool]

Ah got it. That's huge!!

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Ah got it. That's huge!!

It's supposed to be roughly 1200 gallons.

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[fish wrangler]

What are you going to stock it with?

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