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New to the forums and advice needed

Posted by fagopher Seminole 9b (My Page) on
Sun, May 16, 10 at 18:29

I am new to this forum. I don't have a pond and never had, but with my wife, we are thinking in adding a pond to our backyard. We found this one and would like your advice in the following:

1. Is this one appropriated? is there another one you can recommend?
2. How can I make it low maintenance? How much time it requires?
3. How much money it needs after setup?
4. can I add fish to this one? The bottom part does not seem to be very large though... do I need to add another pond next to it to be able to have fish?
5. I don't have electricity near the place I am planning, can I use solar pumps?
6. I've heard there are issues with the liners... What can you recommend for this?

Thanks in advance, Fabio


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: New to the forums and advice needed

The link didn't work. But based on your statement #5 (no electricity), you should probably plan on only mosquito fish or minnows since you won't be able to run filtration. A solar pump might power a small aerator, but not enough filtration to support larger fish like goldies and certainly not koi.

With no fish, your maintenance goes WAY down. Just keep decaying plant material cleaned up and you are done.

since I can't see the link, I don't know what kind of liner it comes wiht. 45 mil rubber liners are no problem at all, but some of the thinner PCV liners don't last long.


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RE: New to the forums and advice needed

Hey Fabio, link doesn't work.

Of course you have have filtration.
Look at ccoombs pictures of their pond and the air lifts.
You can run air lift filtration, cheaper and better, from anywhere.
Put the air pump where you have elec, and just run 3/4 or 1 inch pvc to where you need the air.

Corrie


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RE: New to the forums and advice needed

Sorry about the link, for some reason it works for me... but here is another link I found for the same product:

http://www.ultimatepondproducts.com/pondwaterfall/index.html

the price I can ge it is us$750.

Lets say I fix my electricity issue... What can you say about my other questions? Is this one a good deal or is it better to buy the parts.

Thanks


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RE: New to the forums and advice needed

The link you posted works, but it gives no techincal data. No idea how many gallons it is, how deep it is, what size pump it is, what kind of liner. But here's answers to your questions:

1. Is this one appropriated? is there another one you can recommend?

Appropriate for what......a water garden? Koi? goldfish? For a watergarden it is probably just fine. Again...depending on the quality of the liner. Goldies need 50 gallons each and koi need 300 gallons each with a minimum pond size of 1000 gallons.


2. How can I make it low maintenance? How much time it requires?

Low maintenance depends on what's in it. Just plants....it will be low maintenance. Just clean up dead plant material. Add either mosquito fish or mosquito dunks to keep the skeeters under control. Fish means much higher maintenance. You need adequate filtration for goldies and double the filtration for koi. If you put rocks in the bottom, you MUST remove the rocks for a complete cleaning every single year. I highly recomment no rocks in the bottom.

3. How much money it needs after setup?

After it's set up....no money except for electricity to run it and your plants. You do not need any chemicals other than dechlorinator if you have fish. Bottled bacteria and other pond products are not necessary.

4. can I add fish to this one? The bottom part does not seem to be very large though... do I need to add another pond next to it to be able to have fish?

Again...depends on gallons and size. See answer #1

5. I don't have electricity near the place I am planning, can I use solar pumps?

not an issue if you are going to run electricity

6. I've heard there are issues with the liners... What can you recommend for this?

45 mil EPDM (rubber) liners are fantastic, PVC liners are crap.

Hope that helps!


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RE: New to the forums and advice needed

Thanks for the help!


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