5 replies to this topic

[thesoul2008]

I am about to buy a new house (if all goes well) there is a MASSIVE backyard to fill and i thought well why the hell not put in a nice big pond....

i live in Alice Springs so i think i will have to do some things a little different to everyone else..

i was thinking of having a small above ground pond which will overflow into a bigger pond in the ground.

the top pond will be about 4 feet above ground and will be 60cm deep 100cm by 100cm
Hopefully i can make this BIGGER


the bottom pond will be 120cm deep and 300cm by 300cm

i am still thinking about going a little deeper with both ponds just looking for some ideas from people who have done something like this before.....

the top pond will be about 470 Liters and the bottom will be about 8478 liters

i am thinking about making my own filter i think i will use a wheelie bin and put Zelbrite (pool filter sand) in it and some filter media it will be a gravity return.

any suggestions or other ideas are appreciated.... if anyone has tried this please tell me how it went....

for a pump i am looking at using

http://www.pondsuppl...1-pr-16266.html

if anyone has any suggestions for a better brand please let me know as i know nothing about pond pumps.....

I like to have a mix of cichlids in the top pond all year round i was thinking of putting

http://www.fishtanks...P...&ProdID=216

1000watt heater in there that should be plenty big enough to handle even the cold parts of our winter...

still undecided on the types of cichlids i am going to put in there but im 90% sure i will start with yellow labs and a couple pleco's

in the bottom pond i am thinking baramundi or possibly KOI's not to sure yet i may even end up heating this pond as well and keeping tropical fish in here as well..

i am not 100% sure how i would heat the bottom pond possible something like

http://www.heatingyo...le-heaters.html

any other suggestions on what i can do to heat it fairly cheap would be appreciated...

will keep posting when (if) i get the house to do this and hopefully once i start i will post some pictures up...

[BiGz]

What is the lowest the temp gets up there? Can't really answer all your questions but a as a previous Koi buff I would suggest having a pond that is at least 1 metre in depth and they tend to prefer ponds that are longer than they are wide and no less than 3m in length which it seems you are doing anyway.

[Goldfishguru]

hi
that pond pump u are looking at i have heard there pretty good and they are worth about $550 at the lfs so i would advise u to get it about the yallows and plecos. me personally i wouldent put them in with koi or barra cause theyll be eaten especially buy the koi as they get quite agressive with smaller fish so u might wanna put yellows and plecos in the top pond and koi and barra in bottom. u might wanna put a post up how koi and barra get along cause i dont know how they would go together id think theyd attack each other but i dont really know about that. also if u live in alice springs the sun will b a problem so u will need to put a shade cloth or something to block the sun because ure pond will go green. its middle of winter here in wa and my pond dont get much sun only about 30min a day and its full of bacteria and algae. if u ever have to deal with the algae problem go to ure lfs and get some algae clear stuff u need to add about x8 medicine spoons of it every 3 wks and give ure pond a scrub on the side b4 u put the stuff in so algae is floatin around and then the clearing liquid can kill all of the algae. if u see ure pond goin green make sure u deal with it quickly as its hard to control when the whole thing goes green. and yeah thats about it good luck with ure pond and make sure u post some pics when its done

happy to help callum

p.s any other questions pm me and also goldfish go well with koi and look good in pinds together and barras would suit a dam rather than a pond!!!!

[Goldfishguru]

if u want any pther info off other ppl pm muscle man as hes got a big pond aswell
cheers callum

[BiGz]

UV clarifier will deal with that, but a properly setup filter system would keep your water clear. Adequate off the shelf systems are VERY expensive and still not as efficient at least in the mechanical filtration as a correctly done DIY system, best system I know of involves a vortex setup and not a small sized one like is retailed at lfs but a custom built one. Having the pond in full sun light is not such a bad thing as long as its deep (koi can suffer sun burn).

[Sushi]

Hey,
We've got a decent sized pond at our place, would be a few 1000 liters. Its in a corner outside the patio, so its technically in full sunlight but the shade from the patio covers it a fair bit during the day however it does still get alot of sunlight. All we have in it is a basic pond pump with one of those massive 30x10x10xm filters. It used to get inested with all forms of algae, some stuff that was so thick and fast growing it was unbelieveable. But a guy at the local nursery got us onto these algae blocks, they are about the size of a shot glass and i'm pretty sure you can get them at any lfs you might have to get it off some site thesoul2008. It says on the label one block treats 100 liters, but I just spread about 3 or 4 of them out in the pond every month and the water stays crystal clear. As for your big pond if you cant have barra with your koi why not try some salmontails?? lol i've always wanted to do that, but their rare now days. goodluck with it mate, hope you get the house