drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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quote:
Originally posted by FruitBooTeR
Would you say a bottom drain is needed in koi ponds of your size / just a bit bigger as ive looked at both ponds youve done and you didint include one in the build..
Ideally, yes. We had a retrofit one on that pond in aber but for the big 20,000 koi pond at the house I am in now we have a 4" bottom drain that goes underground and comes out in the greenhouse where the filters are.
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FruitBooTeR
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Registered: 18th Jan 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: S15
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Oh right cool
How does it work then, I suspect due to the high volume of water above the pipe there is enough pressure to force the water through the pipe to filters at a continous rate?
Where do you put a pump, do you have an external one which would then pump the water from the filters back into the pond? Is that how it works pretty much?
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Basically the filter and pond have to be at the same height, and they are connected with that big 4" pipe. You then pump water out of the filter (then through the UV and return to pond), the water level in the filter drops so water starts to flow from the pond into the filter to equalise the levels, then when you switch the pump off, water from the pond keeps flowing into the filter until the levels are equal again.
We have an ITT Marlow 10,000 litres per hour high pressure pump after the main Nexus 300 filter, and that then pumps water into the bubble bead then on to the UVC and waterfall return. I'll get some pics of it all tomorrow if you want?
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FruitBooTeR
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Registered: 18th Jan 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: S15
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Yeh please mate im thinking of ripping out the pond we have got currently which is just a hard pre moulded one and making a bigger one which comes above the ground with decent filters etc like you have got.
Piks will be good cheers 
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Got some pics for ya...
You can see here the main filter sat in the greenhouse, at the same height as the pond.
The outlet of that big filter goes to this dry mounted pump on the floor, and then that pumps water into the Ultrabead filter.
The pressurised water then flows out of the Ultrabead and through the UV and back to the waterfall return to the pond
(The video sender on top of the UV sends the video from an underwater camera in the pond to the AV system in the house)
Here is a quick pic of the waterfall return too, but its not the best photo. We didn't get it 100% finished before the winter because we got some custom made pieces of stainless steel to go around the inner edge of the pond to hide the liner, but they were only delivered in late December and by then it was too cold for us to be bothered to fit them!
I'll get some more pics up when it's 100% finished though anyway 
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Oh yeah, and the other filter on top of the main one is connected to another pump which runs the skimmer line. The return from that one flows by gravity back into the pond via a 2" hole that goes through the back wall of the pond.
EDIT - and the cistern on the back wall in the greenhouse is for the automatic water top up. It was all plumbed in and hidden but the water purifier was outside of the greenhouse and the cold weather froze it and shattered it, so we are just using that hose in the meantime until I can be bothered to get a replacement!
[Edited on 25-03-2010 by drunkenfool]
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FruitBooTeR
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Registered: 18th Jan 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: S15
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Complicated and expensive stuff
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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lol yeah it was good fun setting it up. Retail price for the filtration and pumps that we have is probably around the £4,000 mark but we got it for a LOT cheaper off ebay
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