My freind just gave me a kidney shaped preformed pond. I've chosen a nice shady spot in the garden and am about to dig it in. It's about 100-120 gallons. I need some advice about choosing a pump and or filter. I'd like a fountain type feature so it would have to be submersable and inexpensive. Any advice?
I'm also wondering about circuit interuptors. Do you need them with all pumps or are there any that don't need them?
Also what are the minimum temps for orandas , it rarely dips below freezing here and usually for a couple of days. The pond probably wouldn't freeze over, especially with a fountain in the middle. Any comments?

I think you may still have to take your fish in? Not sure though about oranda's. I like cal pumps, I have a 4,000 gph that does a great job. For your size pond I would go with a 500 gph, don't want to beat the fish to death. I have a 110 gallon water troff that I tried to use a 1,200 gph pump in, it was too large, the fish hated it. The 500 gph pump worked great. They do have pump filter combos for this size, not sure if cal pump does but I know other manufacturers do. That is the way I'd go. You can build your water fall where and how you want it and run your hose to it. You might want to think about getting a deep tub, possibly black or some very dark color, and have your hose from the pump go into that. You could cut off about an inch down from one side, angle that side toward your pond and you should get a nice even water fall. With this you'd want to build up the rocks around it etc. to hide it. Another great idea would be to build a trickle tower for your water to go through, this would be great for you fish because it will allow good bacteria that eat ammonia and nitrites while the water flows through it. Basically a trickle tower is a tall wide pipe which you'd hook the hose from your pump into the base of. The tower sites upright and you would fill it with lava rock. The water flow's through it over the top. The water should flow evenly over the top for best results.


About the shade spot. Good for fish, great for keeping algae, but if you want water lilies you have to put it in a location that gets sun . They like full sun but I have seen some that will accept part sun, but the deffinately have to have sun.


I hope I've helped some.

Scott

Thanks for the info. What do lotus need, sun or shade. I like regular lilies too, but I'd prefer to keep the fish in the shade so I don't need to worry if it gets hot. I thought that pumps were s'posed to pump completely per hour, so a 120 gallon would needa 250 etc. Am I right. Wouldn't a 500 pump do too much ?

With regard to water turn-over and filtration, the more you can get, the better. It'll keep the toxins in the water down if it's filtered 4 times an hour rather than 2.

Don't forget too include head loss as a factor when you are buying a pump. The length of piping, the amount of bends in the pipe(e.g. 90 degree elbows), and the distance the pump has too push the water vertically will all decrease a pumps output.
I would take a guess and assume that everyone who runs a pond is getting less GPH through their pump than what is stated on the pump.

Lotus like full sun . 500 gph would probably be best. Personally I wouldn't go much lower or much higher.

Scott