[djh]

The pond is 16 metres by 8 metres and about 1.5 metres at the deepest..



The filtering system is a large skippy type filter located in a 3 metre circular pond. It is not conventional in that the filter material is held in a frame using windbreak fabric and weighted down. It has two limitations in that the water flow is very moderate for the size of filter and the filter material is shallow in relation to the size. However it can be made deeper with extra layers.



In between the filter and the pond is a canal about 20 metres by 3 metres that eventually will be filled with oxygenators. What I thought was water cress hasn't grown very well and has now produced blue flowers. It probably is speedwell. Other oxygenators don't seem to be thriving very well so far either, possibly planted too deep.



I had originally decided to fill the water from the Shannon but after a few months of waiting for permission from Waterways Ireland the pond was half full of rain water and the liner damaged in sever places so it has taken nearly a year to make repairs and finish filling it. It is still leaking a bit but there is a separate large pond in progress that will act as a reserve to keeo water levels topped up between periods of rain. The other pond will have a sand covered liner to allow varied levels and double as a wildlife pond. The system has about 180,000 lotres of water and the other one will have about half as much.

The water lilies and some marginal plants were grown over several years in a shallow pond but have slowed up a little in the deeper water. . The marginals were mostly added from the internet this year. Water plants , except for a few sedge haven't grown from seed and the sedge took months to germinate.

The primary ground cover around the main pond is a geranium, grown from seed early in the year. It should be able to keep most weeds at bay and stronger plants can grow through it.. There is a mixture of bulbs and other perennials grown from seed along the lower bank on the south side and the east side will have a wet bed with day lilies and other bog plants.
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[kindredspirit]

That looks interesting.

Could you put up some more pics?

Anything native will grow well, so I wouldn't buy too many marginals from the internet but source them locally from water areas near you. The roots of some local marginals will pierce your liner though.

One comment, the shape of a rectangular pond won't ever look "natural" but what's there is there and maybe you can "soften" the edges or build little peninsulas into it. Or, maybe, put small islands in it.

It's a brilliant project, though. Well done.

[djh]

The photograph below is from the filter pond looking back. The canal turns left into the other pond and there will be just a drop of about 10cm when the water is up to the full level. There will be decking all along the house side. I will probably make up a long planting basket along the decking to extend the water cress out into the pond. Probably made from plastic pipe and windbreak like the filter. . The other side has sand on the bottom to plant into.

The water isn't very clear with a lot of dissolved solids and it will be interesting to see if the filter makes any difference over a period. There are only about sixty small fish in the pond yet so they won't add much to the problem.

[ponddigger]

hi djh,some job,could you explain how you made the skippy filter,jack

[djh]

The water inlet is just sitting on the bottom of the pond. It does slightly circulate the water under the filter.

The frame for the filter is just 1.5" hydrodare with the windbreak material wrapped around and fastened with cable ties. It seems like the windbreak material itself is quite good for holding bacteria on the surface.

There are a few modifications I was thinking of later. I think it will need some added air and I might supply this independently of the pump so the pump can be stopped for periods when the water is cooler. I could add a full layer of continuous filter material so that water cannot track through the gaps so easily. Also since the solids from the pump would tend to collect on the bottom I was thinking of a small sump pump which could pump the sludge to a small flushable filter. There has been criticism of skippy filters in that they tend to dissovle the collected , mainly inorganic, solids from underneath and send them back to the pond.. Also of course pumping from the main pnd tends to break up solids anyway. so they can easily pass the filter pads. . .

[ponddigger]

hi djh, thanks for the imfo.what kind of pump are you using to work your system. jack

[djh]

Pump is a pondxpert 220watt, nominal output 17500 LPH. With a share going to the fountain and the long hose the water going to the filter is probably less than 10,000 lPH. It may be possible to get lower wattage pumps and perhaps use two in summer. The Ecomax 16000 lph is supposed to use just 100 watts with 2.5 metres max head .

[ponddigger]

hi djh, what size pipe are us using from the pump to the skippy filter, jack

[djh]

It's 40mm .

[ponddigger]

hi ,what kind of pond liner did you use, jack

[djh]

The addition of a few koi to the pond has made a big differeence to the behaviour of the goldfish. They were hiding in deep water but now they follow the koi in three or four separate groups and come to the surface much more.

The koi don't seem to be too bothered with rooting up the plants in pots, at least for the present. .

[Rockworld]