New Pond build-Finally Got Some Fish In!

[emmaandaj]

Hi,

Got out in garden this morning to find about 4inches of frozen snow. As mentioned earlier my hose pipe and water meter had frozen up-so had to unwind the hose pipe cram it into a large koi bowl and fill with boiling water. Ten minutes of a blow torch got the tap running and i started to fill again.

Then Stu turned up-im amazed he made it in the weather!Found filters full of snow-unfortunately pond vacs dont like snow so again out came the hot water. Managed to get filter empty only to have the few millimetres of water freeze up so had to poor in boilikng water then soak up with a towel before it could freeze. We then cut templates for the air lift dividers, cut the perforated sheets and slotted them in. We then siliconed them up. We also added more clamps for the air line (i managed to kick most of them and brake them whilst emptying the filter bay!) We also got the dremel out and cleaned up transfer ports etc.

We then stopped for a cuppa and warmed up before heading to a dealers to pick up a few fittings to fit onto air line to bottom drain so pond can be filled to the top. Got back int the dark and managed to fit the valve to blank off the air line.

Pond is now nearly half full and should be close to the top by morning. Will post pics when i get up tommorrow. Big thanks to Stu for working at minus 3 degrees all day

Andy

[Gazza]

Well done guys it can be hard working in these cold conditions and look forward to seeing some pictures

[eds]

Can't wait to see pics of this running. After seeing the power of Stuart T's airlifts on his pond I'm sure this will be very impressive.

[emmaandaj]

Hi,

Got woken up by Stu at 9am this morning-asking if he could come over and help me finish up, Im sure Stu is more dedicated than me! Anyway got up to find yet more snow fall over night! Managed to uncover filters and shovel up snow. Stu arrived and we had a cuppa then back out in freezing cold!

Heres some pics from yesterday:







Pond filling up:







Airlift dividers fitted:



Air line clamps fitted:



First job today was to fit air ring, unfortunately the clamps all came away (were secured with gold seal) So we had to drill seal and screw them in again!

Then we had to un freeze frozen 4 inch ball valves!

Things then went a bit pear shaped-as water rose up i found a big leak from the four inch inlet into static k1 chamber. Upon inspection we found it hadnt been fibvreglassed in very well. We decided to drain that chamber and isolate so we could fill up pond. I will clean it up over xmas and refibreglass it in properly.

We fitted air ring any way and have left fluidised (only few inches of water to stop freezing



We then rigged up air supply to uplifts-only temp and far from set up properly but it means that the skimmer filter is now drawing until i can sort out other filter. Im guessing there is probably about 16000lph going through at moment but only a guess from my previous experiments.







Pond full at just under 5400 gallons-may be able to raise water level once all filters are running properly.



Andy

[Gazza]

Hi Andy,

Looking gretat mate and a nice size plenty of room in there

I wouldn't fill it to high as its nice to have a little gap even though if you do have a jumper it will always end up on the path

[fair1535]

Hi.
I am relatively new to this forum and have been watching the development of this pond from the start. I will be starting a new build in the new year and without doubt will be incorporating the air up lifts. It has been a fascinating read and would like to thank all that have contributed. My current and first attempt was 9000 gallons which ran well until the liner developed a leak. It has been drained down fish transferred to a 1400 gal holding tank. I fit a 4" bottom drain gravity fed to nexus 300 eazy return via sequence 1200s, 55w tmc and venturi. Also dropped a couple of 9" ceramic air stones in. I spent latter part of year building shelter for set up. I will post some pics. New set up will be block, rendered & fibre glassed, definitely 2 perhaps three drains, carnt wait!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2010. BEST REGARDS STEVE

[Bob Hart]

Looking fantastic Andy, filled at last eh

Is it all working out as you designed it to be?

[emmaandaj]

Hi,

Gazza-bit bigger than i had intended, am really pleased with it-its taken long enough!

Steve-definately worth looking into air uplifts-Janes pond (vippimini) is what inspired me!

Bob-touchwood all seems to be working. My biggest fear was that the two four inch returns that feed the pond from the last chamber would back up with the flow. Ive only tried it with one set of uplifts running and there was no change in the water level so hopefully should be ok. I can definately make the uplifts much more efficient with a bit of tinkering-have just set it up as a temp measure to get the water moving. Will do the filters properly when weather warms up!

The pond surface was frozen solid yesterday-will try and rig up aireated bottom drain at weekend

Andy

[fair1535]

Hi Andy.
Hows the pond and filter set up going?
Any more piccies

[emmaandaj]

Hi All,
Thought id better have an update. Following the fill up over xmas i found several leaks in the filters, i drained the pond down below the level of the leak. Unfotunately i lost all interest due to cold weather (snow on ground at time) Once the weather warmed up a few weeks ago, i thought id better crack on.

Had to totally drain pond as water had gone stagnant. Leaks were found where id fibreglassed into pipes very badly. These were cleaned up and then resealed. Gave the pond a real good clean out. All filter bays were then filled and tested for leaks. Had to drain back down as still had a leak on one chamber which was then resealed. Ive also fitted all the air lines for the fluidised and easy chambers. Ive fitted a air line and made a manifold to run the air uplift system. Ive fitted a shelf ready for the three airtech 130's and started painting the filter chamber to brighten it up once its been decked over. Last weekend we bought some soil and plants to go round the back of the pond.

Stu came over this morning to help move some fish across. We scraped and gave the fish a good check over before putting in the pond. The water level is just below the full line as i need to drill a hole for a pipe so i can fit a valve before filling right up. A friend is popping over tommorrow with a core drill so i can get valve fitted and pond filled. Will then be able to get filters up and running tommorrow evening (have been tested last week) Will then move some mature media over from the growing on pond along with a few more of the fish!

Big thanks to Stu for all the help over the last three years!

Just downloading pics on to computer-will post later.

Final filtration details are:
Bottom drain gravity fed- static k1 chamber- fluidised k1 chamber- returns to pond via air uplifts (approx 16,000-20,000lph)
Skimmer gravity fed- static k1 chamber- fluidised k1 chamber- returns to pond via air uplifts (approx 16,000-20,000lph)
Skimmer pump fed- bakki shower (to be added later) with 55 watt UV
Aireated Bottom drain powered by Airtech 130

Air uplifts were tested with a 40lpm air pump and produced 16,000lph on one filter bank, im using one 130 airtech to power both banks of uplift pipes so would guess at about 16,000lph - 20,000lph per filter bank. Will have a proper test to find out at weekend.

Andy

[Bob Hart]

Hi Andy,

Great to hear you finally have some fish in the pond. Is everything running OK then? All the filter water levels and turnover working as you designed it to?

Fibreglassing is fun isnt it - lol

[emmaandaj]

Hi Bob,

I tested filters last weekend-all seemed ok. The filters havent been filled as i need to fit a valve first-just need to fill tommorrow evening Got 200 litres of mature k1 ready to go in and 400 litres of new k1.

Fibreglassing was great fun! The pond wasnt to bad BUT the filters were so cramped and messy! Problem was where we had glassed inside the pipes between pond and filter-due to lack of space/access! All sorted now though thank God!

Andy

[emmaandaj]

Hi,

A few pics:





























Andy

[vippymini]

so nice to see your project coming to a satisfactory end...
just a bit of turf to neaten up the lawn and itll be a stunning garden

i bet your glad not to be using those power-hungry electric pumps
come on then what is the total wattage for the pond then. (probably less than one sequence pump)

its a true green pond

[emmaandaj]

Hi Jane,

Am so glad the fish are in-still lots to do but the bulk is done! Think we can say your pond inspired me slightly

Estimated wattage:
88 Watts Airtech 130 Powering fluidised k1 chambers x2
88 Watts Airtech 130 Powering Air Uplifts x2
88 Watts Airtech 130 Powering Bottom Drain and small qt system
55 Watts Uv
72-92 Watts Sequence 12000 On skimmer (maybe upgraded to run bakki shower at later date)

Total 392 watts for 390 lpm and aprox 44,ooolph-52,000lph

I could probably run the whole system off of just two 130lpm air pumps but want as much air as possible, maybe might shut one pump down over winter?

Cheers Andy