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  • Results 1 to 18 of 18

    Thread: Redoing my current pond

    1. #1
      Nguyen365's Avatar
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      Redoing my current pond

      I’ve been thinking about redoing my current pond to add 1 or 2 bottom drain to it. Good thing with my pond set up is that it is a raised wooden pond and I can either increase the dimensions of the pond by adding 4 more layers for 4x4s to make my pond 12 feet by 6 feet by 3 feet which is about 1700 gallons. This would be the expensive route.

      The other option is just simply buying another pond liner and laying it on top of the current pond liner after putting sand or dirt in between to make sure the the lowest part of the pond will be in the middle and installing a retrofit bottom drain.

      The third option and cheapest is adding a retrofit bottom drain to the current lowest part of my pond which is on the edge of the pond and sweeping all the koi waste into it.

      I did draw up some drafts for the expensive setup with an rdf.

      Any recommendations?
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      Last edited by Nguyen365; 12-13-2018 at 05:37 PM.

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    2. #2
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      https://webbsonline.com/Item/94023?g...HoHd8vRoCJXQQA
      What do u guys think about this retrofit bd? It’ll be a straight connection my my pond pump and the cheapest route

    3. #3
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      what is the difference between submerged pump and retrofit bd-> pump? i would think they are the same,right?
      Tony

    4. #4
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      Well with the bd I can simply sweep the fish waste into it and have it pull with the submerged pump. With just the submerged pump and my rectangle pond, it doesn’t have enough circulation for it to take all the waste out. Ideally it’s best for me to redo my pond with maybe a 2 bottom drain. If that’s the case might as well increase the height to 3.2 feet as well. Just kicking some ideas around.

    5. #5
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      If you use a retrofit drain for the cheaper route then adding 2 would be plenty to sweep the pond. Submersible really dknt sweep much area at all. I would do 2 retrofit. Run 2 periha and use a leaf basket before the sieve pans you have. The leaf basket will help handle the thicker algae if you get it down the road. Especially string algae.

      Oh and the aquadyne is great. I was using the 3 inch with air. But since pond is in garage I just use a midwater intake on my 10 foot tank. Works fine but the bd was a little better. Fish will bump into the pipes a little with the retrofit drains
      Last edited by kevin32; 12-13-2018 at 06:19 PM.

    6. #6
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      Did anyone said retrofit bd ?

      It work much better than leave the pump and a strainer inside
      But I’d still prefer a true bottom drain if possible
      My koi ran and ruff their scales off those pvc pipes which I don’t like pipes in the water column but no choice for this pool
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      M.Nguyen


    7. #7
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      That’s a clean bottom on that pool

    8. #8
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      Quote Originally Posted by Nguyen365 View Post
      That’s a clean bottom on that pool
      Yea pic of day 1...see the new transferee
      It does a great job sweeping waste so no complain
      M.Nguyen


    9. #9
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      Quote Originally Posted by OCkoiFan View Post
      Yea pic of day 1...see the new transferee
      It does a great job sweeping waste so no complain
      Midwater intake bro. 16 koi in 10 foot diameter pond. Just 4 inch midwater intake and 40 liter air pump to push waste to the midwater..your kiddie pool would be much easier and your fish can't really avoid the retrofit bd line.

      Clean bottom also mean little. I prefer to see algae and things growing in the bottom of the pond and walls. Ny lack of natural sunlight is keeping algae 0 but I still prefer some algae
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      Last edited by kevin32; 12-13-2018 at 09:27 PM.

    10. #10
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      Or I can flip the pump on its head and make a makeshift stand for the submerged pump and leave like and half an inch space and make it act like a retro bottom drain

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    11. #11
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      Quote Originally Posted by kevin32 View Post
      Midwater intake bro. 16 koi in 10 foot diameter pond. Just 4 inch midwater intake and 40 liter air pump to push waste to the midwater..your kiddie pool would be much easier and your fish can't really avoid the retrofit bd line.

      Clean bottom also mean little. I prefer to see algae and things growing in the bottom of the pond and walls. Ny lack of natural sunlight is keeping algae 0 but I still prefer some algae
      . Midwater intake?

    12. #12
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      Quote Originally Posted by Nguyen365 View Post
      . Midwater intake?
      Just an intake to the rdf.
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      In my case the aeration lifts the solids off the bottom. Then the a bit above midwater intake takes out the neutrally buoyant waste. This is a concept kent Wallace also believes in. In. My case and many others it does work. I also feel it is easier to move water and waste around with areation vs water flowing. Tpr etc. Large ponds though should have tprs also imo

    14. #14
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      I just need more and bigger kois to fling the waste into the pump by swimming past them . Lol

    15. #15
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      Quote Originally Posted by Nguyen365 View Post
      I just need more and bigger kois to fling the waste into the pump by swimming past them . Lol
      Koi do sweep waste and obviously my 16 koi do. I would not add any bigger koi unless you make your pond 2,000 gallons or more. I'm pushing the limits. But have rdf, 4 tier shower. Reverse osmosis. All has to work in harmony my friend

    16. #16
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      I would hate to lose the depth with option 2. If I did that I would probably add some more 4 by 4s around the top. You must have a pretty good budget or you wouldn't be considering an rdf. I guess it comes down to how much time you have, how much you want a bigger pond, and how motivated you are.

    17. #17
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      Quote Originally Posted by pickerel View Post
      I would hate to lose the depth with option 2. If I did that I would probably add some more 4 by 4s around the top. You must have a pretty good budget or you wouldn't be considering an rdf. I guess it comes down to how much time you have, how much you want a bigger pond, and how motivated you are.
      Agree. Reducing the volume to put in a BD seems counter productive so I'd scratch that option.
      Are the RDF /Showers just a dream or what filtration do you have now that the BD's would be feeding?
      --Steve



      Koiphen 2021 Koi Person of the Year!

    18. #18
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      Just thinking aloud no purchases have been made.
      Last edited by Nguyen365; 12-14-2018 at 03:00 PM.

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