Settled in

The fish seem to have settled in really well into their new home, can stand for hours watching then, can't wait for the summer.

Temperature Gauges

Now the fish are in and the pond completed, I wanted to get a thermeter to monitor the water temperature, I looked at a few online, and decided I wanted to get a digital one. And one that I could, use to measure the temperature throughout the pond, the surface temp, as well as the temp towards the bottom of the pond.

So purchased this one online.

Which had a one meter cable, with digital display, allowing the read out of both oC and pF.

I ordered it a couple of days ago, so will update you as it arrives in the post.

Time to Put the Fish in

Now that the pond construction is finished and the water has settled, it was time to put the fish in.

The pond ended up measuring in a 1530 ltres, with a steady flow of water coming through and after adding the required amount of pond safe, and letting it stand, it was time to move the fish over from there old home, and after a lot of bucket jumping, and fish catching they where finally put into their home.

New Pond Construction

The time has come to finally start constructing the new pond, the timber have all been cut to length and stacked ready for bolting together.

  

Once cut to length, it was a matter of stacking the timbers, on the bricks and bolting them together, using 160mm coach bolts, 3 in each end.

New Pond Underway

Well the wood has arrived, and construction, is underway, to stop the timber from getting damp, we started with an engineering brick base, for the timers to rest on,

We will be putting a damp proof liner on top of the bricks, before the timber goes on top.

The timber arrived in 2.4m lengths, 20cm X 10cm, and was left to dry out in the garage, for a week or so to allow it to dry out ready for cutting.

I wanted to have around 1500 ltrs of water in the pond, so ended up working back from there, and after a few reworks of the calculation, ended up on a pond size of 1.9m long, by 1.4m wide and 75cm deep, allowing for the wide of the wood (10cm), giving an internal diameters of 1.7m X 1.2m X 75cm, which worked out to 1530 ltrs, which was well with the pump and filters capacity.

The timber was then cut to length, and dry stacked, ready from r assemble and bolting. 

All very exciting, really feels like the pond is finally starting to come together.

Pond Brain Storming

So, as my passion for my pond grows, so do my pond ambitions, so it is time to start planning for my new pond. I have decided that I want another raised pond, so I started searching google for images of ponds and styles that I liked.

Brick corner pond

Square with built in water feature

Square pond, with wall mounted water blade.

Brick built, with feature wall

Simple wooden sleeper pond.

After looking at the designs, and working out build costs, and my ability, I decided to go for a wooden framed pond, during my period on design, I called into my local world of water store and as I walked in, the had my perfect pond made up in the walkway as you walked in.

This particular pond came in a kit form, and it wasn't so much the kit, more the size and style that I was interested in.

It measured 2.5m x 1.5m x 0.7, which would hold 1357 litres. Which would allow me to keep my current pond and filter system which would handle upto 1500 litres per hour.

This size pond would fit perfectly on my patio, with out taking up to much space. Whilst giving me the extra size that I was after, 

It was great being able to see the size pond, in the flesh, rather than just looking at it on the Internet.

Rather than buying the kit at £749, I wanted to build the same size and style on pond out of sleeper style timber.

My Filter setup

After I decided to up grade my filter system, I then needed to decide how to configure my filter system.  I had to choose if wanted to buy a separate filter box, UV and pump. Or if I wanted to buy one of the complete kits that are paired to together. After looking at the different set up, and waying up the benefits of each and looking at my budget of £200, I decided to go for a filter kit that included the pump.

On the recommendation of the staff at World of Water in Rugby,  I decided to go for the Oase BioPress 4000 Set Pond Filter,

• Guaranteed clear water thanks to mechanical biological filtration and combined effective UVC technology.
• Kits include OASE filter pumps
• Simply and easy cleaning of the filter via the cleaning mechanism.
• Quick-release system for filter opening for easy maintenance.
• A selection of filter media for optimal filtration.
• Can be partly buried for almost invisible installation.
• System capable of delivering water to higher levels
• Includes all hose connections for easy installation.

Included Pond Pump: Oase Filter Pump

Included Pond Filter: Biopress 4000

Included UVC: 7 Watt

System suitable for ponds with:

Max Flow: 2500Lts/ 550Gals

No Fish Stocks: 4000Lts/ 880Gals

With Fish Stocks: 2000Lts/ 440Gals

Koi Fish Stocks: 1000Lts/ 220Gals

The Kit included everything I needed to set up my current pond with its new filtration system,  once the noses had been cut to length, and connected to the pump and the out lets using the supplied jubilee clips, it was set up and ready to go. 

I couldn't believe the difference it made to the water quality, within a few hours it was crystal clear.

Maintenance 

Every week I take the hose out of the pond, and place it in the flower bed, and pump the handle of the filter box, which squeezes the filter material together, and loosens all the waste, which come out of the hose, once it runs clear, i simple pop the hose back in the pond.

Also during the summer month, I turn the pump off, remove it out of the water, open the pump basket and clean out any waste, to ensure that there is nothing blocking or slowing the pump.