Hi all (new here:))

I am in the process of building a pond, albeit not a koi pond, its a large one

I have put in a 110mm pipe with 45° bends (I dont like 90° bends) and am worried about the following:

If I have a leak on one of them bends, I will be stuffed. What are the chances of the 110mm fittings leaking?

I will be skimming water off the side of the pond and will have the bottom drain only to get rid of any stuff that will over time collect there. I have glued the joints and let them set for a week before I put the pipe in position and compacted it with a cement / river sand mix.

Your thoughts?

Hi KaiV

Welcome on the site.

To answer your question, I don,t think your joint will leak, specially if you followed the correct gluing procedure, no reason that it should. Although one should test your joints before you cast them in.

But it just sounds like you are going about this the wrong way. That bottom drain will get blocked in time and it will be useless to you.

Sucking water from anywhere else but the bottom of your pond and a bit from your skimmer, is a serious no no.

You should get someone that knows a bit more to assist you in the basics of doing a trouble free pond before you go too far.

Just my quick thoughts.

Neville

What you saying is that one should only suck from the bottom drain?

KaiV

Yes absolutely, if u you don't, a plug will form and it will block up.

A bottom drain should always have a strong enough flow as to keep the solids in suspension to the point of discharge. Be it your filter system or your settlement chamber.

Yes you should also only suck from the bottom drain, (deepest point in your pond). This way you will remove all the sediment and the result will be clear water. Your pond floor should always be sloped towards this point, to allow sediment to get there.

Sediment in the bottom of your pond lead to all kinds of problems later and once wrong you cannot rectify it easily. Sediment removal is a very important part of pond design.

How big is this new venture of yours literage wise, is one bottom drain going to do the trick?.

Hi KaiV

Here is some sound advice. Unfortunately my friend here only refer to concrete pond's. Maybe he should do a article for us on liner ponds as well.

http://koi4u.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:shaping-the-base&catid=7:pond-construction&Itemid=12

Keep this website address it is a valuable one.

Neville,

I think you should adress the question about a skimmer in your posts.

Hi KaiV,

Thanks Pieter I missed this

KaiV wrote:

Neville What you saying is that one should only suck from the bottom drain?

Sorry I missed your statement here.

What I really meant to say is from your bottom drain and a % from your skimmer, this should be set to be just enough to keep your surface clean.

Just a point to note: If you suck from the bottom drain of your pond a safety feature should be installed so that you cannot empty your pond. (believe me it does happen)

What I want to suggest is that you install a small dia say 10mm flex pipe from your pump suction and the other end should be fixed to a point in your pond that you are happy with as a low level point. Then when the level reaches this the pump sucks air and stops to pump, if left long you may loose the pump seal a cost of around R150.00 but save your fish.
When the pond has to be emptied and it is supervised then this tube can be placed deeper down.