Hi all,
I'm in Columbus Ohio and have been reading quite a bit about ponds. I just
dug and filled my first pond...it's about 600 gallons I'm guessing. I'm
still debating some things and hope you can help:

1. It's in shade for the most part but does get some sun through the trees
in the AM. With the falling bird poop, seeds from trees and leaves, what
type of a filter should I use?

2. What pump should run the above filter?

3. If my liner springs a leak, what do you do in a case like this? When I
dug my pond, I hit a trash pit in the era of the early 1900's...found some
nice broken glass, barb wire, rusty nails etc. I think I took all
precautions but who knows.

4. I'm putting a small water fall in. I have an old cast iron hand pump (the
kind you'd find under a wind mill) and I'd like to rig the water to trickle
out of it. It'll be up about 4 feet and the out. What type of pump should I
use for this...or should I use the same pump to run the filter???

5. Any drawings or pictures of how the plumbing on these systems work would
be great! I'm on a budget so DIY things are great!

Thanks all!
Allen

Hi Allen and welcome to the world of ponding. It is VERY addicting!! I have
two ponds, the upper one which is the original pond is about 10' x 8' x 2',
then a stream that runs to a larger pond 18' x 14' x 5'. My upper pond is
only for plants and tadpoles also in part shade under a willow tree. I don't
have any problems with the bird poop but I do with the leaves. There are
several things you can do. When you sit out there have a little net handy to
scoop out fallen leaves...have netting over the pond to catch the
leaves...have a skippy filter that will collect all the leaves. In my upper
pond I collect the leaves, do a thorough cleaning in spring and fall and
have one of those laguna filter chamber boxes that gets cleaned once a week.
It doesn't catch the leaves at all though really.
The pump you use should have a good turn over for the amount of gallons in
your pond. Each pump tells you how many gallons per hour it will turn over.
In my larger pond I have a retro bottom drain that feeds into a filter box
and the pump is in there. There are 3 media chambers in there...quilt
batting, scrubbies and then lava rock. This then feeds up to the upper pond.
As I said the upper pond is for plants and so as the water passes through
into the stream, the plants also act as a natural filter. The stream is also
lined at the top with lava rock for more filtration before the water
re-enters the lower pond.
As hard as we try, leaks do happen. Sounds like you put your pond in a
hazardous area with all that stuff there. Did you line it with carpeting or
anything to prevent the debris from poking into the liner? The weight of
the liner in time will cause these things to put pressure on the liner and
then probably a leak. You will then have to find where it is leaking, which
is very hard to do...and repair the hole.
There are several chat/bulletin board sites that have a lot of great people
with lots of advice and DIY projects. Just do a search and look around for
awhile, when you find some you like join in the discussions. Most are
really very helpful and ponders seem to love DIY stuff.
Good luck. Feel free to look around my site at my ponds.
Bev

--
http://bevsplace.ca/
"Banks2070" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
I'm in Columbus Ohio and have been reading quite a bit about ponds. I just
dug and filled my first pond...it's about 600 gallons I'm guessing. I'm
still debating some things and hope you can help:

1. It's in shade for the most part but does get some sun through the trees
in the AM. With the falling bird poop, seeds from trees and leaves, what
type of a filter should I use?

2. What pump should run the above filter?

3. If my liner springs a leak, what do you do in a case like this? When I
dug my pond, I hit a trash pit in the era of the early 1900's...found some
nice broken glass, barb wire, rusty nails etc. I think I took all
precautions but who knows.

4. I'm putting a small water fall in. I have an old cast iron hand pump
(the
kind you'd find under a wind mill) and I'd like to rig the water to
trickle
out of it. It'll be up about 4 feet and the out. What type of pump should
I
use for this...or should I use the same pump to run the filter???

5. Any drawings or pictures of how the plumbing on these systems work
would
be great! I'm on a budget so DIY things are great!

Thanks all!
Allen