Pond Drain

[black angel]

I am going to be building a pond in the near future and have worked out how it will look and where it will go. Ive been reading some books and reading on the net and some people mention putting in a bottom drain. Can anyone tell me more about it and how it works and why you would need one.
The pond isnt going to be too big, under 1000 gallons but more likely between 500 and 750 and it will house no more than 4 goldfish. The deepest part will be 4 foot for overwintering and the shallowist is 12 to 18 inches.
Im also wondering about over flow? Its always raining here and i dont want the pond to flood over. Its going to be built up about 2 foot above the ground so would drilling a hole through the stone above the liner and under the lip of stone and putting in some sort of overflow work?

Thanks

Bri do you still come here?? If so give me the forum if its still going as ive no longer got it

 

[Paul_MTS]

Bottom drains are mainly used on ponds where a large gravity fed filter system is used.

Using a bottom drain set up with gravity fed filter it clears your pond of any equipment apart from maybe airstones.

Water is gravity fed into the filter and then pulled out the filter the other end by a pumped and returned to the pond.

For your size pond you could use one of the Cloverleaf compact series and then returned to the pond via a Oase AquaMax 6000 or similiar dry moutable pump.

http/www.cloverleaf.uk.net/Main%20Page.htm

The top of the filter/vortex needs to be a inch or so above the water level in the pond; pond water level=filter water level

Here's my gravity fed set up...

Water comes into the vortex via a 4" side drain, it then passes thorugh the pump (dry mounted) and pumpe din my bubble bead filter. With the compact series your water would be pumped through A uv then returned to the pond.

 

[black angel]

Thanks for the info Paul, will get hubby to read it as he is being roped in to dig it all out and build it

 

[Paul_MTS]

No worries, to usea bottom drain your pond will also need good foundations with good thick (possible reinforced) base to make sure the ground dosen't shift cracking any burried pipework.

 

[Tcian]

Bottom drains work great for removing all the muck that builds up. You might also want to think about a duel system that incorporates a skimmer which will keep all of the floating bugs, leaves, dust ect at bay. You could design both systems together joined by a tee in the plumbing or two stand alone systems, one for constant filtering and the other (bottom drain) for annual maintainance. Petcocks in the plumbing can be used to direct which inlet the pump will pull from.

Overflow drains are a must. A simple way to construct one is by using 2" PVC pipe run through a bulkhead fitting in your liner about 6" below the top of the water line. A 90 degree fitting facing up with another short length of pipe cut at the maximum water level you want. The length of the pipe going out of the bulkhead fitting can then be run down into a sump from which you run what we call edge drain here in the states to where ever you want the excess water to drain into. The sump should be burried deep enough to run the edge drain under your lawn, garden ect. You can find all this stuff in your local home improvement center except for the bulkhead fitting which any pond supply on the internet should have.

Regardless of which filtration system you use, you will be using a pump to run it. Go overkill on the pump size. This will allow you to incorporate a waterfall, fountain, venturi ect into your return line. The use of petcocks will also allow you to adjust the water flow through each.

 

[black angel]

Thanks for the extra info there Tcian.

The pump is the Bermuda 5000 which if you scroll down you will find here
http/www.gardensite.org.uk/aquatics/pumps-bermuda.php

The filter is this one but hubby reckons it might be too small as the pond may be more than 500 gallons but for four fish might be ok??
http/www.garden4less.co.uk/hozelock-ecop...er-2200-uvc.asp

The plan for the pump is to run a waterfall about four feet long and not bother with the fountain part of it.

Bearing in mind that uk gallons are 4.5 litres would that be strong enough for the waterfall on a moderate flow and would it allow anything else that youve mentioned to run on it apart from the fountain? The skimmer sounds a good idea as well.

Thanks for the input, appreciated

 

[Paul_MTS]

Changed your mind on the bottom drain now?

With that pump and filter combo your going to flood the filter unless the plan is to tee off and direct the rest of the flow straight down the water fall.

I would really recomend going for either the next model up on the ecopower (4500) or getting a slightly bulkier filter. Those filters really aren't much good for anything of a good size pond. The 4500 will be able to manage mostthe flow, come with a larger UV more suited to your size pond and has 2 foams inside rather than 1.

Ideally go for the 9000 model which can handle full flow of the pump then you just sit the filter at the back of the water fall, the 9000's also have a 16W UV so you'll deffinately not have green water.

 

[black angel]

Thanks for the advice Paul. We arent going the route of the drain now just the submersible pump.
We were looking at the bigger filters you mentioned and will now go with the 9000.
Thanks for your help

 

[Paul_MTS]

No problems, pleased to help, it's a change giving advice to someone who listens rather than customers at work that don't bother to take and use the advice.

 

[black angel]

I hear you on that one. Many a time ive listened to people giving really sound advice and for it to be ignored, and not just in pet stores

Im good at listening and taking advice from people that know what they are talking about.

I will no doubt have more questions as the pond gets going

 

[bribones]

im still here lol but the forum aint ,see messages

ive often thought about a bottom filter and may end up changing the pond the submersible and filters ive got are struggling to cope and the pond is pea soup during the summer months even with the uv,i fancy a brick one away from the trees but the garden although long is narrow limiting where i can build

 

[Tcian]

You might also want to think about using a filter that has a top overflow that you can use for your waterfall. It is fed from the bottom of the filter, the water goes through the filter medium and then flows out the cut out top of the filter. Plan the filter location above and to the side or rear of the pond. Hide it with your rockwork and you have instant waterfall. ( Took me longer to get the water to flow-fall the way I wanted it to than it took to set it all up...a lot of trial and error with rock location and flow rates with the petcock.)

You can check out grassrootsnursery.com to see some of his filters, but he put the filter material on top of the filter in the pictures so you can not see the water outlet. A large flat stone on the top of the filter hides everything and gives you easy access for maintanance. I used this system with a submersiable pump rated at 1800 gph, and a 25 gal capacity filter. Excess water flow was routed through a venturi which eliminated any need for an air stone. Venturi was angled into the submersed rocks so as not to jetsun any fish into the neighbors yard. (overkill on pump size) This was for a 275 gal. pond. With this setup, my maintanance consisted of once a year rinsing of the filter material. Water was always crystal clear. I used this pond to grow off koi fingerlings for a year before placing them into the 50,000 gal natural pond. (only 4 fingerlings per year....they grew so fast!)

Sorry, I haven't figured out how to do links yet.