I need help in determining how many gallons I have in my new pond.

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
28,938
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
I imagine I'll be doing LOTS of tweaking.
This is the hole so far.
Along the "wall" of the porch, I already messed up. I dug to the edge and didn't leave a ledge for my flat stones. I intend to use cement and stones around most of the parimeter for strength.
I will attempt to remedy that by partially filling the liner (Firestone liner) with water, pulling the liner back and back filling the area with soil to build a shoulder that I can roll the extra liner on top of and place my edging on. It should work. Especially since this is an area that will never have any foot traffic once the walls are back up.
 

Attachments

  • 20170810_150703.jpg
    20170810_150703.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 10
  • imagejpeg_2.jpg
    imagejpeg_2.jpg
    218.9 KB · Views: 10
  • image_03.png
    image_03.png
    1.7 MB · Views: 10

Teodora'sDAD

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
350
Location (City and/or State)
Michigan
I'm using the skimmer with its own pump motor and it will be feeding the gravel bed and return near or at the waterfall. The skimmer has filter media in it.
I have purchased a solar air pump that should supply some aeration during the sunlight hours.
The main pump motor will be sitting on bricks inside the pond and feeding the waterfall via the pressurized enclosed filter. It has an 18 watt UV.
Part of the pond will get partial sun. The rest is shade.
As long as your canister filter is running 24/7 you should be golden. Everything else seems good. Keep in mind UV lights are awesome but will also hide any problems with the balance of your pond. For that reason I would suggest that you check your water levels from time to time and make sure you are constantly adding beneficial bacteria- even if your pond if beautiful you should always be adding to your colonies. People call me crazy, but I turn off the UV lights for about 24 hours after adding bacteria. I cant believe that the UV rays dont kill fragile suspended bacteria in a pond before it establishes.
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
28,938
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
My new plan is for the filter to feed a 40 gallon tote/turned filter with a spray bar inlet and perforated outlet that comes up high enough to act as an overflow.
This plan seems like a better one than the gravel bed plan.
But this will require gravity to exit out of a waterfall. So will have to be elevated.
The truth is I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't know for sure how I'll end up filtering the thing.
I'll surprise myself.
 

Teodora'sDAD

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
350
Location (City and/or State)
Michigan
I do like that idea a little better.
You could always berm up dirt around your box or sink your box in to the ground a little bit. If the bin fills from the bottom and rises through your bio media all you need is a slit for the water to fall over. Or you can install a 2" bulkhead fitting and run a pipe up to the waterfall. That way the unit can sit back away from the pond a little bit. there is definitely many different ways to do this. ;)
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
28,938
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
The liner and underlayment are in.
It was pretty rough on the back. It's mostly filled with water.
1,265 gallons according to my water meter.
 

Attachments

  • 20170813_105248.jpg
    20170813_105248.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 12

Moozillion

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Messages
10,744
Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana, USA
@ZEROPILOT. Did you take a look at my latest post on my " building our turtle and tortoise resort"? It explains everything about filtration there with lots of ideas you might find of interest for this.
MARK!!! I forgot where you've posted your turtle resort thread, and I can't find it!!! :( What section is it under?
@Markw84
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
28,938
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
@ZEROPILOT. Did you take a look at my latest post on my " building our turtle and tortoise resort"? It explains everything about filtration there with lots of ideas you might find of interest for this.
This is a very late reply and an update thread.
Yes sir. I view EVERY ONE of your pond threads.
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
Moderator
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
28,938
Location (City and/or State)
South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
After a few years of having a trouble free and clear water pond, I've finally found that my Smartpond 2,000 GPU filter is leaking again because it has distorted again (x3) The cheaply designed uv bulb housing has failed again and the filter pads are again failing....They never were available from Smartpond. (The sold me the wrong ones. Twice)
Now the Chinese EBAY Jabao filter pads I'd been using that fit pretty well are also not available.
So, I've ordered a new, highly rated 3,500 gallon filter from THE POND GUY.
It uses no filter pads.
My 2,000 gph pump is housed inside a filter bag and my waterfall outlet has a ten gallon box full of a few years old lava rock.
I have high hopes.
 

Attachments

  • UltraKlean2.jpg
    UltraKlean2.jpg
    66 KB · Views: 1

New Posts

Top