Hi,
Firstly I think introductions are in order. My name's Gary and I'm new to the Koi scene.
Never kept Koi before but I can't wait to get going!
I've decided to begin a project at home after "some" (read as hours upon hours) of research and since then my mind has been filled with idea's, planing, filters and and and... In the world of happy koi.
I have a couple questions for the professionals out there and some that will probably sound like extreme beginners talk so I hope you don't mind if I pick at your brains and get some feedback that will be vital to the success of my project and at soon, happy Koi.
1. Are my pond calculations correct (Due to irregular size)I took a piece of string and used it to measure the perimeter of the pond giving me 86.94199ft. I divided that by 4 and then multiplied the result by itself giving me 472.43185157250625 (Surface area)
I then multiplied that by depth of 2.788705ft(Average) which I then multiply by that magic formula 6.23 to end up with 8207.85 gallons or 31070.09 litre sized pond?
2. Are my turnover rates correct?My pond size is 8207.85 gallons or 31066.87 litres
It has a shade ratio of about +_40% during the day so I've added 25% to this figure for compensation (I'd rather go with the higher figure of 25% than the 17.5% for half day specified in my research)
So with the additional 25% compensation
10259.82 gallons
or
38837.65 litres
My pond pump circulation requirements
+_10259.82 gallons/hour (Ideal)
+_38837.65 litres/hour (Ideal)
or
6839.88 gallons/hour and a half (optimal)
25891.76 litres/hour and a half (Optimal)
or
+_5129.91 gallons/2 hours (Minimum)
+_19418.825 litres/2 hours (Minimum)
3. (Linked to questions 1,2 and 4) Is the selected pump suffice?I'm planning to use the Speck BADU eco touch since I've read great reviews, the flow rate is within range (Max 6200gals or 23469.55 litres) and of course the power saving capabilities will help long term.
4. Gravity system?My pond is more or less on level ground so although gravity fed systems in the ground on the same level would be perfect, but this poses a couple problems.
I would literally need to pump the water out the chambers first before climbing in and manually scooping the poop (literally) and clean it out as one wouldn't be able to drain the muck out the filters using the standard bottom situated ball valve system as they'd be situated under ground if at all. Further if I had to dig to +_ 0.5m lower than the pond to build a low level filter housing it wouldn't exactly be ideal in my situation as space doesn't permit.
This got me thinking of raising the filtration system above ground and using gravity return system to feed the waterfall and overflow/return pipes.
My drawing skills aren't so lekker so pardon the lack of accuracy.
Refer to picture 1[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]*Legend
1. Bottom Drains
2. Skimmer
3. Pond shallow level/Step
4. External Pump
5a. Settlement chamber
5b. Filter chamber
5c. Airation & Bio filter chamber
5d. Polish chamber
6. Waterfall feature to pond
7. Chamber drains
8. UV lighting
9. Gravity feed to waterfall
10 Overflow pipe to pond
11. Fountain
*Note: The brown lines/sections indicate boundry walls and black the plumbing.
Refer to picture 2[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The pump has a head of approximately 15m so 2 meters push and 1.4m pull from the bottom drains should give me what kind of flow rate?
Would adding a second pump make sense after this flow rate drop?
and lastly
5. FiltrationGiven the pond size etc how big a volume should my chambers be to cope with the filtration requirements?
What filtration and bio media should I use in my 2nd and third chambers and how much? And how would I set it up to allow proper filtration and nitrate exchange on BIO media?
Brushes, Jap mat, Aqua rock, bio balls, shaved plastics, hair curlers etc. the amount of suggestions and possibilities is bewildering for my poor brain.
If there are any suggestions or I've begun this wrong to begin with please feel free to voice your opinion.
Muchly appreciated
Thanks for your time and patience
G