pond help?

[pollunga]

This post is totally un-reptile related, I know. But this weekend we are re-doing our small backyard and wanted to put one of those 100 gallon black tub ponds in it. I know how to set up a fish tank and cycle it and everything, but I have never done a pond before. I am getting the tub from Lowes and they have a biological pond filter with the UV light, but it supports up to 800 gallons. Would this filter be over-kill for a 100 gallon pond? They also have the pump that goes with it, sold separatley of course. And this is a stupid question - how do you get the pump and filter to go together? Do they just attach? The people at Lowes are not helpful and admitted that if I know how to set up a fish tank, I know more than them and they are just there to help with product selection. Anywho, we only plan on putting a few goldfish in it but we want to make sure we can create a healthy water environment for them. Can anyone help? Thanks.

[Adrya]

Ah yes... ponds... one of my specialties.

The biological pond filter with the UV for ponds up to 800 gallons is not overkill and will not harm anything. Do you know what brand of filter it is? Fish Mate? Tetra?

You also want to get a pump that won't max out the filter and possibly overflow it. I would say a pump that is 50-100gph (gallons per hour) would be good.

Also, to connect them... you need to get tubing. There is a black tubing that is either spiral non-kink (recommended) or just regular black tubing. The tubing needs to be able to fit and connect to the filter and the pump... you can make the length of the tubing as long as you wish so you can place it in the pond anywhere, as long as the powercord reaches to where you want it to. Also if you get the tubing to fit the filter, and if it fits fairly tight on the pump but not quite tight enough, Lowe's has metal clamps that you turn a screw and it tightens the tubing... those work great. Also if you want to help prevent any leaks with connecting tubing to filters and whatnot, get some of that pink teflon waterproofing tape.

To get the proper size tubing (1" diameter, 1 1/2" diameter, etc), you want to measure the inside diameter of the outlet (where the water comes out) on the pump and the filter inlet (where the water is pumped into). Does that make sense?

You can use those plastic pre-formed ponds if you want, but in my opinion they don't last forever and eventually develop cracks in high-pressure/weakness areas and leak. We used to use one in our front yard at hour old house before we moved, and it developed a hole at one point and leaked, so then we had to use a flexible liner..

Flexible rubber or Xavan fiberglass liners, or preformed hard fiberglass ponds last pretty much a lifetime and generally have a 20 year or more warranty. And the great thing is you can buy many different sizes and make your pond any shape you want. They can be much more expensive than those plastic preformed ponds at Lowe's, but it's all worth it.

There are a TON of pond equipment sites and everything you need for making/setting up a pond.

Here are some Biological UV Filters that I use and LOVE:
http://www.123ponds.com/filters-fish...-with-uvc.html

Here is the spiral tubing that I'm talking about:
http://www.123ponds.com/plumbing-sup...al-tubing.html

Here are some liners:
http://www.123ponds.com/pondgard-pon...cut-sizes.html

And here are the hard fiberglass liners, and the neat thing about these is they can stand up by themselves on the ground and don't sag or anything, and tougher than anything:
http://www.lilypons.com/cgi-bin/webc...18106199489.39


If you have anymore questions, just ask and I will be more than happy to help you with this pond stuff.

[Adrya]

you get my reply pollunga?