I just recently completed my waterfall last weekend and it's looking very
nice, it's roughly 3 1/2 feet high and flows about 6 feet into a 20 gal
basin...with a little 5 gal basin at the top.

My question is this...I can already tell that I want to add a pond right
beside it which will be fed from the 20 gal(it has an overflow spillway) and
I want to eventually turn the 20 gallon basin into a veggie filter and use
that only, the pond will be no bigger than 150-200 gal and will include a
few(less than 10) fish and various plants....will the 20 gal basin be big
enough and what is the best plant to use? Should I get another small
filter(bottom) to go along with the VF? I saw someone's pics of their VF
the other day and it looked to be a small clover type plant....what is
that? I want to go as natural as possible with my pond.

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

Hi Wilson,
If you do decide to add on a bio-filter as well as your
veggie filter, you might want to re-think using an
"in-pond" type. Think "Maintenance".
External filters are much easier to maintain.

Mark

"Wilson" wrote in message
...
I just recently completed my waterfall last weekend and it's looking very
nice, it's roughly 3 1/2 feet high and flows about 6 feet into a 20 gal
basin...with a little 5 gal basin at the top.

My question is this...I can already tell that I want to add a pond right
beside it which will be fed from the 20 gal(it has an overflow spillway)
and
I want to eventually turn the 20 gallon basin into a veggie filter and use
that only, the pond will be no bigger than 150-200 gal and will include a
few(less than 10) fish and various plants....will the 20 gal basin be big
enough and what is the best plant to use? Should I get another small
filter(bottom) to go along with the VF? I saw someone's pics of their VF
the other day and it looked to be a small clover type plant....what is
that? I want to go as natural as possible with my pond.

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

Now here Wilson, let me break this down to you!

You are like a bass fish, and ponding is like a fisherman. Ponding has cast
it's bait and hook, you my friend has bit on the baited hook, all that is
left for Ponding (Fisherman) to do now is reel you in baby! You've caught
the ponding bug!

You might as well just give in to this addiction and go ahead and build
yourself a big enough pond! Otherwise you will be back here asking us how
to convert your 200 gallon pond to a veggie filter and how to join a
preformed 200 gallon pond to a 2000 gallon epdm lined pond!

Haaaah! I feel so much better now! Welcome to our little POND club!

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

"Wilson" wrote in message
...
I just recently completed my waterfall last weekend and it's looking very
nice, it's roughly 3 1/2 feet high and flows about 6 feet into a 20 gal
basin...with a little 5 gal basin at the top.

My question is this...I can already tell that I want to add a pond right
beside it which will be fed from the 20 gal(it has an overflow spillway)
and
I want to eventually turn the 20 gallon basin into a veggie filter and use
that only, the pond will be no bigger than 150-200 gal and will include a
few(less than 10) fish and various plants....will the 20 gal basin be big
enough and what is the best plant to use? Should I get another small
filter(bottom) to go along with the VF? I saw someone's pics of their VF
the other day and it looked to be a small clover type plant....what is
that? I want to go as natural as possible with my pond.

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

PS:

See "my wife is the best" thread below! That my friend is what happens to
your whole family when you catch the pond fever!

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

"Wilson" wrote in message
...
I just recently completed my waterfall last weekend and it's looking very
nice, it's roughly 3 1/2 feet high and flows about 6 feet into a 20 gal
basin...with a little 5 gal basin at the top.

My question is this...I can already tell that I want to add a pond right
beside it which will be fed from the 20 gal(it has an overflow spillway)
and
I want to eventually turn the 20 gallon basin into a veggie filter and use
that only, the pond will be no bigger than 150-200 gal and will include a
few(less than 10) fish and various plants....will the 20 gal basin be big
enough and what is the best plant to use? Should I get another small
filter(bottom) to go along with the VF? I saw someone's pics of their VF
the other day and it looked to be a small clover type plant....what is
that? I want to go as natural as possible with my pond.

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
PS:

See "my wife is the best" thread below! That my friend is what happens to
your whole family when you catch the pond fever!

Read it

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
Now here Wilson, let me break this down to you!

You are like a bass fish, and ponding is like a fisherman. Ponding has
cast
it's bait and hook, you my friend has bit on the baited hook, all that is
left for Ponding (Fisherman) to do now is reel you in baby! You've caught
the ponding bug!

You might as well just give in to this addiction and go ahead and build
yourself a big enough pond! Otherwise you will be back here asking us how
to convert your 200 gallon pond to a veggie filter and how to join a
preformed 200 gallon pond to a 2000 gallon epdm lined pond!

Haaaah! I feel so much better now! Welcome to our little POND club!

I get the feeling you're trying to say a 200 gal pond isn't really a pond.
I would but I just don't have the room....and from my aquarium
experience, yes I do realize a bigger pond/tank is easier to take care of.

My wife wasn't thrilled at all about the idea of having any kind of water
feature in the yard until I(sneakily) built a little raspberry garden in the
corner of the yard for her.....I then sunk a little 10 gal. preform and a
small pump in the middle and set up a little frog that shoots the water out
of his mouth, lined it with some really nice river rock I had lying
around....it looks really sharp! At first she turned her nose up at it, but
I've since caught her filling it up with water every night and going over to
look at it quite a lot. I then got the ok from the boss to build my
waterfall ......and this is important....nothing bigger than 200 gal. :P

~Wilson~

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
PS:

See "my wife is the best" thread below! That my friend is what happens to
your whole family when you catch the pond fever!

Read it

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
Now here Wilson, let me break this down to you!

You are like a bass fish, and ponding is like a fisherman. Ponding has
cast
it's bait and hook, you my friend has bit on the baited hook, all that is
left for Ponding (Fisherman) to do now is reel you in baby! You've caught
the ponding bug!

You might as well just give in to this addiction and go ahead and build
yourself a big enough pond! Otherwise you will be back here asking us how
to convert your 200 gallon pond to a veggie filter and how to join a
preformed 200 gallon pond to a 2000 gallon epdm lined pond!

Haaaah! I feel so much better now! Welcome to our little POND club!

I get the feeling you're trying to say a 200 gal pond isn't really a pond.
I would but I just don't have the room....and from my aquarium
experience, yes I do realize a bigger pond/tank is easier to take care of.

My wife wasn't thrilled at all about the idea of having any kind of water
feature in the yard until I(sneakily) built a little raspberry garden in the
corner of the yard for her.....I then sunk a little 10 gal. preform and a
small pump in the middle and set up a little frog that shoots the water out
of his mouth, lined it with some really nice river rock I had lying
around....it looks really sharp! At first she turned her nose up at it, but
I've since caught her filling it up with water every night and going over to
look at it quite a lot. I then got the ok from the boss to build my
waterfall ......and this is important....nothing bigger than 200 gal. :P

~Wilson~

Wilson,

Welcome to the 'getting hooked' club.

Starting at 200 is a good start. Maybe you and your wife will get hooked.

With regard to the veggie filter, think surface not gallons. 200/20 is a
gallon comparison. The general recommendation is a veggie filter of not
less than 10% of the pond surface. The goal is enough room for bacteria to
convert nitrites, for muck to settle or be filtered and for vascular plants
to out do algae by grabbing nutrients nutrients. Most of us use plants that
grow like mad and have good root systems.

Happy ponding!

Jim

--
____________________________________________
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per jogger) at:
www.jogathon.net
See our pond at: http://www.home.bellsouth.net/p/pwp-jameshurley
"Wilson" wrote in message
...
I just recently completed my waterfall last weekend and it's looking very
nice, it's roughly 3 1/2 feet high and flows about 6 feet into a 20 gal
basin...with a little 5 gal basin at the top.

My question is this...I can already tell that I want to add a pond right
beside it which will be fed from the 20 gal(it has an overflow spillway)
and
I want to eventually turn the 20 gallon basin into a veggie filter and use
that only, the pond will be no bigger than 150-200 gal and will include a
few(less than 10) fish and various plants....will the 20 gal basin be big
enough and what is the best plant to use? Should I get another small
filter(bottom) to go along with the VF? I saw someone's pics of their VF
the other day and it looked to be a small clover type plant....what is
that? I want to go as natural as possible with my pond.

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
Now here Wilson, let me break this down to you!

You are like a bass fish, and ponding is like a fisherman. Ponding has
cast
it's bait and hook, you my friend has bit on the baited hook, all that is
left for Ponding (Fisherman) to do now is reel you in baby! You've caught
the ponding bug!

You might as well just give in to this addiction and go ahead and build
yourself a big enough pond! Otherwise you will be back here asking us how
to convert your 200 gallon pond to a veggie filter and how to join a
preformed 200 gallon pond to a 2000 gallon epdm lined pond!

Haaaah! I feel so much better now! Welcome to our little POND club!

JMK...you hypocritcal porger you!!! In another thread you visciously
attacked me for thinking of my next pond even though Shareholders Pond is
not quite done, and here you are in another thread encouraging this PORG to
build a bigger pond. *sniffle* I feel so...so...used...

BV.

in jest of course...

"Just Me "Koi"" wrote in message
...
PS:

See "my wife is the best" thread below! That my friend is what happens to
your whole family when you catch the pond fever!
snip

That post coming from the guy with the second best wife.

BV.

"Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote in
message .. .
Wilson,

Welcome to the 'getting hooked' club.

Starting at 200 is a good start. Maybe you and your wife will get hooked.

With regard to the veggie filter, think surface not gallons. 200/20 is a
gallon comparison. The general recommendation is a veggie filter of not
less than 10% of the pond surface. The goal is enough room for bacteria
to
convert nitrites, for muck to settle or be filtered and for vascular
plants
to out do algae by grabbing nutrients nutrients. Most of us use plants
that
grow like mad and have good root systems.

I am finding the Water Hyacinth to be my best filter so far. The anacharis
seems like a strong contender as do the Water Iris. I think the celery and
parrot's feather will form a close send soon.

BV.