Hi, Last week I finished off my waterfall.......finally!!

Anyhow before that I just had a 50mm pvc return and a 50mm bottom drain as well as a DIY skimmer connected to my suction pipe.

So before my waterfall was done I lost 2 9cm shusui via my bottom drain. They were sucked in and found then in my .75 speck pump basket.

So now all was fine for a while. So last week I finished my waterfall, I then split my return pipe and added a venturi below the waterfall and on the waterfall pipe after the venturi I added a ball valve so I could control the amount of flow on my waterfall, obviously the less water out my waterfall the more the venturi blows.

So I have my venturi facing the wall, this in turn creates a flow pattern which flows towards my diy skimmer, the skimmer has a ball valve on it as well so that when i'm feeding i can switch it on and off.

The venturi was blowing quite hard so on the elbow join just before the venturi I cut 2 slits, 1 facing towards the floor and one facing towards the wall. Now I have a nice little rotation going, not too hectic, but think the slit facing the floor might be blowing out rather hard cos now this morning I see my gin rin yamabuki ogon which I bought a few weeks ago landed up in the weir.....and he was about 11 cm's so expected him to be fine in the......unless he just had a slip of memory and vetured a little too close.

I had my ball valve on my bottom drain closed about 25% for the last few weeks, well since my 2 shusui's got sucked in and since then my fish have grown a bit so opened it up fully on saturday to find my ogon sucked in this morning.

So, question is, I have a fair amount of current on the one side of the pond, have a .75 pump which I'm sure pumps out quicte abit, fish dont battle to swim around in the pond, just pi$$ed that I lost this ogon this morning so wanted to know if it's ok to have current in a pond.......have a few smaller fish and they dont have a problem, just worried they might be blown towards the bottom drain.......was told that the swim fine and the current should not be a problem!!!!

I specifically like the current cos everything flows towards my skimmer so keeps my pond nice and clean, also like the cuts on the bottom of the elbow to the venturi cos this blows downwards and keeps the floor pretty clean and it blows towards the bottom drain.........any advice???

I'll edit a pic and upload in the next few!!!

Hi Cliff,
A current is a really good idea. It is essential in a pond in my opinion.

If you have a good water fall going you don't need venturies. I see your venturi is bowing quite hard ... I would remove it. You can still get current and have the water fall. Rather direct some of the water from the venturi to the waterfall. Or the very least get the venturi out of the water and you can spray it onto the surface.

Have a look at a nice clear tropical fish tank or a marine tank and watch the current within the water. You should try to get that in the pond.

The current should not be too strong though. Koi need some rest.

Regards,
Chris

Hi Cliff
It sounds to me as if you have a torrent rather than a current in your pond!
From your posts, while building your pond, I get the impression that your pump is not so strong as to be the witch in the story of creating-an-excessive-flow.
It must be quite a strong current that can suck a 9 cm Koi through the bottom drain!
Some thoughts though, which maybe the experts can comment on;
1. Is the 50 mm bottom drain causing a restriction that forces a strong flow through it?
2. What type of bottom drain is it that allows a koi to pass through it?
3. On the pictures it appears that the bottom drain has a domed lid. If so, is it possibly too wide open? With no lid the Koi surely went investigating.
I am looking forward to hear the experts’ opinions.

I took a video this morning but need to convert and host and the hosting sites I see are now blocked at work

Will figure out an alternative

ok...lets see if this video plays!!!

Cliff,

Nothing wrong with that current.