Depth of goldie only pond.

[BruceP]

Im kinda getting serious about adding a fourth pond to the yard this spring. It would be just for goldies and a few water lilies. We have a flower garden that is about 10 x 10 that could be converted if the 'one who must be obeyed' agrees. I think she will as she is as goldie goofy as I am and would probably like more space for her water lilies. It will be in full sun unless I rigged up a shade sail. 10' x 10' (100 sq. ft.) would give us about 750 gal. per FOOT of depth. 1.5' deep would be about 1100 gallons. Soooooo, the big question would be HOW DEEP? :)
I'll most likely use a bottom drain to gravity fed filtration with pumped return. Size and type of the filtration will depend on the depth, obviously. Fred, no Im not going to use sponge filters. LOL
I'll probably have a mix of ryukin, oranda, ranchu, and a couple pearlies thrown in for good measure.

[small_ranchu]

This time I would say "how about green house with a lot of tub". Pure Japanese theme. Everybody has pond at the back yard but you will be the first one who has green house for fish.

Then you can use sponge filter. lol

[Hondataeg6]

This time I would say "how about green house with a lot of tub". Pure Japanese theme. Everybody has pond at the back yard but you will be the first one who has green house for fish.

Then you can use sponge filter. lol

That would be awesome, if the tubs weren't so expensive...

[small_ranchu]

You can do American style tub aka rubbermaid tub. :)

[Hondataeg6]

Then it wouldn't be a pure Japanese theme or would it.. Bruce I would think 1.5' deep would be fine.

[small_ranchu]

A tub with Japanese theme has an unrealistic price.

[johnatoranchu]

Depth is really governed by weather conditions. How hot are your summers and how cold are the winters,
John

[BruceP]

Winters outside would be too expensive to heat. Lilies can survive the winters as long as they are hardies but fancy goldies are a no no. Been there, done that, buried them! We have left wakin and koi out all winter in the past but we are capable of bringing every thing inside for the winter now.

There would be nothing more we would love to do than to have a green house pond but with me unemployed right now this is going to have to be done on a shoestring budget. I'll probably DIY most of the filtration.

I'm leaning towards 1.5' deep. We have one goldie pond that is 2' and another that is 2.5' deep but I dont think they necessarily need to be that deep if you can keep the predators out. I used an electric fence last year on one of our ponds. So now that I know i can control the predators I don't think depth is that importand. 10x10x1.5 would allow me to use 15x15 epdm. Anything bigger or deeper I would need to go to 20x20 epdm and the price more than doubles for the liner.

[suphi]

Cement tub is pretty cheap, and is widely used by fish breeders/keepers in Thailand. It's no good in winter, though.

[BruceP]

Ive done two other ponds using wood framing with epdm rubber liners that work well. One has bead board on the exterior and the other has ceramic tile. I think that this one will be the same construction with the same or similar tile. The current tile sided one uses 1' tiles so if I made it 1/2' below and 1' above ground I could use the same tile and the two ponds would match. (That is important to 'the one who must be obeyed'). Having a bunch of Japanese tubs in the backyard just isnt going to hack it here. But you are right Fred, I could use sponge filters if I did that. :)

[extrasharp]

why no foam filters?:BackOut:

[BruceP]

why no foam filters?:BackOut:

Cindy.... that was a jab at Fred. >:) Sponge filters wouldnt handle the volume of water that a pond contains. They work well for the shallow tubs that these guys are using for TVR developement because there is no water movement with sponge filters and for some reason they are convinced that water movement is bad...>:):youtellme:

[extrasharp]

I was going to do a sponge pre filter that goes up into the waterfall filter that will be my biofilter. I'm open for suggestions?