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
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*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
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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. Filtration

Given 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

Hi Gary, the problem I have with your system is that your will be pumping directly from your bottom drains. All the muck will be "liquidised" into small particles by the pump and will run through your whole filtration system, and your pump basket will glog up.

The whole idea of a settlement chamber is to allow large particles to settle in that chamber, to be flushed away before it reaches the pump and biological filtration. The idea is to pump fairly clean water from your settlement chamber to your other filtration chambers, alternatively and ideally suck from your last chamber.

Maybe you should try to have at least your settlement chamber on the same level as your pond. Even it it means that you have to pump it empty when you clean the system(as apposed to the ideal of just opening a valve if the bottom was on ground level)

Hmmm, I see what you mean and it makes sense. Thanks.

I had a look see last night at the space I estimated and its larger than I thought so depending on the size requirements of the chambers I might be able to build a partial underground pump house measuring +_ 2.5m x 5m... Would this be sufficient space to build the required chambers into? If it's too cramped fret not, I'll just have to relocate the washing line somwhow

How deep would you recommend it be for proper gravity feed? Same level as the bottom piping 1.4m so say about 1.5m deep ok?

What size/volume am I looking at for each chamber?

Can anyone tell me how bad the water surge would be before levelling out if the pumps were switched off for maintenance?

Hi Gary,

are you from South Africa?

Hi Pieter, Gary is van SA. Sien [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Pieter J de Villiers wrote:

Hi Gary,

are you from South Africa?

I am indeed sir

Thanks Paull, het dit gemis.

As I am a sand filter “man” I would do things differently

OPTION ONE:
Draw water straight from the pond through a bottom drain each with it’s own 50mm pipe to the pump then a 2 x 3 bag sand filter and 2 x 25lt Ultra-Zap Bio filters and back to the pond

I am running 5 ponds on a similar system for years, with no problems.

***Bottom drains > 50mm pipes > valves > pump> sand filter> ultra zap bio filter> valves > back to
pond***

OPTION TWO:
You could us 110mm pipes on the bottom drains to a settlement chamber, and then draw water from the chamber to the pump and from there back to “option one”

***Bottom drains > 110mm pipes > settlement chamber> 50mm pipe > pump> sand filter > ultra
zap bio filters > valves > back to the pond ***
Connect the skimmer direct to the pump “line”

Never use the same suction pipe on a bottom drain and the skimmer. Use ball valves to control the water flow between the weir/skimmer and the bottom drains.

ESTIMATE COSTS:

2 x 3 bag sand filters R 3600-00
6 bag 3-5mm sand R 320-00
2 x 25 lt bio filters with media R 4 400-00
50mm Ball valve R 110-00 each.
1 x 1,1kW Quality pump R 2 000-00
You still need 50mm & 110mm pipes, bottom drains, bends and glue

Thanks Pieter.

I visited another gentleman who also goes by the name of Pieter in East rand, also very helpful, and he was also using a sand filter system with ultra zap and uv setup. His water was sparkly clean n good but after hearing so many bad things about sand filters i thought it wouldn't be wise. Since then i've learned there are special sands available for this kind of setup so i'll see what i can get and compare my options. Thanks a million for your help

Gary,

When you visit the Westrand, you are most welcome to pass at my place to view my ponds.
Only E-mail me................