drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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quote:
Originally posted by M2RTY
has it added value onto the hose out of interest?
Not sure, it might be quite interesting to get teh house valued when it is all 100% finished 
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Cosmo
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: Im the real one!
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quote:
Originally posted by drunkenfool
quote:
Originally posted by Cosmo
Why didnt you just limit the flow on the output of the filters back to the pond?
I know it would of decreased the actual water turnover but it would of increased the time the water spent in the filter so the difference *shouldnt* of been too much.
The pond is 19,000 litres and we were running a 10,000 lph 'efficient' pump which would have been fine, but the bubble bead filters create a lot of friction loss and should be run with more powerful pumps (even at the same flow rate) so our 10,000 lph was probably more like 7500 in reality. An ideal pond turnover rate is every 1-2 hours, so with the friction loss from the Ultrabead we werent achieving that so restricting the flow even more wasnt an option unfortunately 
Whats your filter size though? I know a lot of people get hung up on the turnover rate, but Im a bigger fan of water retention time within the filter and the actual size of the filter (well, more the surface size of the total filter media in them).
Obviously it depends a lot on the stocking of the pond vs pond size so you can figure out the rough ammonia rates, but if your filters are already overkill for the actual size then you might of been fine lowering the turnover to 1 in 3hrs (approx 6500l an hour flow rate).
Still though, doing what you have now has future proofed it for stocking and filter upgrades too.
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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I've not calculated the retention time yet but off the top of my head the Nexus 300 is 600 litres and ultrabead is 120 which I think is just over 8 minutes retention. The Nexus 300 comes with 200 lites of K1 media and that setup is rated @ 5000 gallons, we have a pretty high stocking level with 4500 gallons but we have another 40 litres of K1 from one of the filters at my old house which is fully mature, and another 60 littres of brand new stuff that went in almost 3 weeks ago. I know that 9 minutes retentions is quite a good time for a pond, but the sheer amount of fish that we have (30+ koi and some of them are getting on for 30"), we really need more turnover too. The main filter that we have, the Nexus 300, is pretty much the biggest and best one you can buy without going into custom made solutions or multiple setups. Hopefully this will be enough to keep them happy, the ammonia and nitrites in the quaranine pond are almost down to 0ppm but the fish have been fed very little since they have been in there to avoid stressing them too much. I'll let you know how we get on anyway, so long as we can get the windows sorted tomorrow and that I can find a friend or two to help me move the filters back into the greenhouse then the fish will be back in there tomorrow and the pond will be 95% finished! The only plans after that are running a band of 3" ish thick stainless steel all the way around the top to secure the liner in place and to tie in the waterfall and the frames in with the windnow
[Edited on 29-08-2009 by drunkenfool]
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a_j_mair
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Registered: 23rd Jan 04
Location: Scotland
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all seems very complicated to me
petty you had to rip it to bits
watrefall looks as if will be really nice
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GREG 1
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Registered: 28th Jul 00
Location: Essex
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Fantasic work mate, I love the glass/window idea and I am thinking about doing this on my design I am going to start soon.
It will be like your first pond (the rectangle one raised in the garden) but hopefully with a window at the end. Do you have msn mate, saves me asking a million questions in here lol
Cheers
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JayC
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Registered: 17th Jan 03
Location: Whitefield, Greater Manchester
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Send me your email address and I'll send you pics of our 3 pond set up thats now up and running and trading from.
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JayC
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Registered: 17th Jan 03
Location: Whitefield, Greater Manchester
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Heres our site, email my Brother if you need anything or require advice.
You should even come see us, we'll even take you round to see Peter Waddington (if you know Koi then you should know Waddy, read first page on the site).
http://www.thekoiplace.com/epages/es114246.sf
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JayC
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Registered: 17th Jan 03
Location: Whitefield, Greater Manchester
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This is Peter Waddington's,
http://www.thekoiplace.com/WebRoot/Store3/Shops/es114246_shop/MediaGallery/peters_0020_pond.jpg
[Edited on 29-09-2009 by JayC]
[Edited on 29-09-2009 by JayC]
[Edited on 29-09-2009 by JayC]
[Edited on 30-09-2009 by JayC]
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dannymccann
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Registered: 9th Aug 06
Location: Doddington, Lincolnshire
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Christ thats a hell of a project  Thats amazing, very impressive and pretty design, and some very hard work gone into it. You could charge for this sort of job surely?
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GREG 1
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Registered: 28th Jul 00
Location: Essex
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That is beautiful mate, lovely job and great landscaping there!
I would have to put a bench there, could sit and watch the Koi all day lol
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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greg, my msn is anyoneseenmydrink@hotmail.com 
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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I thought it was about time I updated this with some more recent pics. Unfortunately one of the windows had a leak at the top but we didn't want to fix it until the custom made stainless steel surround was delivered that was bought to fix the liner in place around the top of the pond. That was delivered in December so by that time winter had set in and it was too cold to really warrant the effort of finishing it, and then spring time was pretty much spent on the renovation of the inside of the house. I drained the pond by about 18" last weekend and spent most of the day cleaning back the sealant on the window and doing it again, and now after a year of it leaking - NO MORE LEAKS!
So, this weekend just gone we got around to fitting the stainless steel surround and trimming back the excess liner that has been hanging over the edge for the last year. We spent the whole afternoon doing 5 of the sides but the big strip across the back wall will have to wait until next weekend because it will mean getting in the pond with the wetsuit on 
Here are the most recent pics though anyway with the new fish too. All that is left to do now is the one strip across the back wall and then a surround around the outside of the windows to tidy up the sealant.
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Marc
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Registered: 11th Aug 02
Location: York
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I am so fricking jealous of your fish!!! 
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a_j_mair
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Registered: 23rd Jan 04
Location: Scotland
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how many fish have you got?
they look bloody huge
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Simon
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Registered: 24th Apr 03
Location: Oxfordshire
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At work we have designed a pond as part of a new science centre we've done. I'm snagging tomorrow so I'll get a pic of it, it has a viewing window too, won't be for fish though
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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quote:
Originally posted by a_j_mair
how many fish have you got?
they look bloody huge
At a guess, 35 in the pond. (then 3 in the garage and 10 in the lounge )
[Edited on 06-07-2010 by drunkenfool]
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon
At work we have designed a pond as part of a new science centre we've done. I'm snagging tomorrow so I'll get a pic of it, it has a viewing window too, won't be for fish though
What's going in it?
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Simon
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Registered: 24th Apr 03
Location: Oxfordshire
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It's for use by the biology department so is going to be used for plant and insect life. There are two ponds one is raised with the viewing window, the other at ground level.
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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One more quick update about the filtration system in the current state;
There are the 3 filters in the greenhouse, away from the main pond.
The main filter is the Nexus 300 Eazy which is gravity fed from the main pond via the 4" bottom drain. The water is then pumped from that one through the Ultrabead and then back to the pond via the UV clarifier and waterfall. The Nexus Eazypod filter on top of the main big one is pump fed from the skimmer line and then returns underwater to the pond under gravity pressure via the pipe that was originally used on the first pond to pump the water out.
ITT Marlow 10,000 lph high pressure pump for the main filter and then a Sequence 10,000 economic pump running the skimmer.
UV and electrics for the pond and garden lighting
and the stainless waterfall (I will get better pictures of the whole thing when we have finished the very last strip across the back!)
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Simon
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Registered: 24th Apr 03
Location: Oxfordshire
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This is the pond we have designed for the new science centre.
Pretty early on now, the pond to the right will be at ground level. The Ramp at the bottom will take you down to a viewing area for the raised pond, where the two guys are standing is where the glazing will be installed.
Blockwork walls and shelves are done and drainage / pipe routes are in. All the outside walls are being rendered and there will be a coping along the top with railings along the lower wall to the left. I'll try and remember to post a pic when it's a bit further along. I was looking at it today and I think one of the ponds will have stickleback in but that's it on the fish front
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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Sneak a koi in there, you know you want to!
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Simon
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Registered: 24th Apr 03
Location: Oxfordshire
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I'm sure if I showed your photos to them it would change their minds, I'm not sure the ecologist would be too impressed however. She gave us an exact plant species to be planted on the green roof as well as the pond with a specific no fish comment. I think the school are sneaking in the sticklebacks ha. This building includes a brand new 378 meter square bat loft as well ridiculous
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jibjob
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Registered: 6th Apr 08
Location: Elworth, Cheshire
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Im so jealous of your ponds and inside tank setup
Just out of interest how much roughly has it cost you to get the outside setup you have now from start to finish? Im thinking of building something similar but need to work out a rough cost first
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
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It's so hard to put a figure on it because it was done in a few stages but I think the bulding materials for the current pond came to around £3k including the glass, and there was already a big hole in the ground to start with so you would either have to dig by hand or budget for digger hire too. We got the filtration system second hand after having spent a couple of months browsing ebay and koi forums looking for suitable things and then van hire etc to go and get them. If you wanted to buy new though then you would need to budget around £5,000 for the setup we have (hence buying 2nd hand) Then there is the issue of lighting, you could either not light it at all and save loads of money or spend up to a few hundred quid depending on what you want really.
Lastly there is the cost of the fish but again it all depends what you want - you can chuck in a few "Grade A" koi in there and a few goldfish (ebay is actually a great place for both!) and see change from £500, or if you want large show quality koi then be prepared to spend £500++ per fish (The showa that we were given by our neighbour was valued at £1750!)
[Edited on 08-07-2010 by drunkenfool]
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FruitBooTeR
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Registered: 18th Jan 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: S15
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Your fish are looking amazing!
Get a sturgeon in there
Id love to re-do my pond that my dad built into an expensive high quality one like yours, then buy about 2-3 lots of these -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Koifarmerdirect-250-Fry-Koi-carp-sale-/320556273404?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PondsWaterFeatures_UK&hash=item4aa2a48efc
Then watch the £££ grow ...mind you its never as simple as that is it.
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