Well, hubby is out there extending our patio right now, so I know this is actually going to happen! Im sooooo excited!

I was so bummed when I cracked my acrylic tank that I was going to use as an aboveground pond, but sooooo what!!!!! This is going to be sooo much better!

We have a raised porch that is covered. We are going to extend it out to the side of the house to make kind of like a sun deck. We are going to build a 110 gallon pond right into the deck so we can sit out there in the sun, with out toes dipped in the water!!! ooooh its going to be nice....

Im taking progress photos so I will post new ones when I have them....


Here is hubby tearing up the stairs and the old deck. He is going to move the stairs up a bit and the deck is going to go up to about where the AC unit is.


Ok, ok!!! I know the demolition process isnt all that exciting but I know the rules, I cant post something like this without sharing pics! So its a start. THe beginnig phase...YAY! So excited....and I just cant hide it...(ok now thats going to be in my head all day)

Wow, congrats, can't wait to see the pics... !!!

Oh! that's great!

I wish I had a place where I could do that kind of construction.

I would make something that would blow away my little pond.

Have fun,

Ok well he really has done a lot with the deck! Looks like it wont be too long until we can put that pond in. Ace hardware has them for pretty cheap, but we have to order it so I need to find out how long it will be before it will arrive.

Ok, so you guys know me. I have to plan and draw out EVERYTHING! I cant do a project unless I draw it out.

So I have pictures below, but first...

I need people to advise me on this. I want to make sure this is going to work.

I have some info for ya and a few questions.

Ok now the pond is going to be 110 gallons. I want to make my own filter for it and the skippy filter seems easy enough and they swear it works, so Im going to give that a try.

I decided to use my OLD container pond as the filter for the new pond! It is a 12 gallon plastic flower pot. The Skippy filter people say round containers work well and they recommend a stock tank but stock tanks arent made as small as I need for this. So hopefully this will work.

Here is the Sippy filter info, tell me what you think and do you think my 12 gallon plastic flower pot will work?

http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm

Also I would like to ask, if I have a 12 gallon filter for a 110 gallon pond, how many gph should my pump be? I dont know if it makes much difference but the distance from the top of the filter from the level at which the pump will be on will be about 2.5 feet Im guessing.

Please help???? Im really confused about that one. I have no clue what to get.

Ok picture time...now you have to tell me if this will work! lol







I guess this will be my version of the Skippy Mini Me

Please tell me this works! Im so excited now!!!!

hmm..so no one knows what size pump I will need? Darn, ok well maybe I will just take a guess and say one that pushes 500 gph? If I have this thing stocked full of fancies will this be enough? I mean I know its not if say it was an aquarium, but I dont know if being in a pond with plants and all makes a difference...

Luv the drawings! If the artwork looks that good the pond will be stunning!!! What will happen when you move again? Will you be able to take it all with you?

Looks like its going to be pretty cool....I think I'll have to build one of those filters for my new pond that I'll be starting once my mom decides where she wants it

Gia I missed the fact that your tank cracked That's too bad....but in a really good way!
You're getting a 110 gallon pond built into the deck!!! That is so awesome and I just couldn't be happier for you!

Wow, your new pond is going to be amazing! I bet you are so excited!

Your grass is already so green, what part of TX are you in? I'm in El Paso and most lawns are still preatty brown. No rain for us in a while, but thats preatty normal.

Congrats on your pond! Hope to see lots of pics when its finished!

well, it will make a nice addition to the house for the next owners! lol. When we move to West Virginia I want a MUCH larger pond, so I wont need this stuff anyway. Im excited because it gives me a little experience building a small pond and filter before I attempt my 2000-3000 gallon pond at my permanent home. Besides we are going to be here for at LEAST another year, if not longer, so I have a whole year to enjoy this small pond.

I really want an oversized filter so that it will have as little maintainance as possible. Im thinking of getting a larger container to make the filter out of. I saw a large and very sturdy bucket at the feed store that is about 15-17 gallons I believe, and I think I may use that instead.

I still need opinions on the filter vs. pond size and pump. Im just not finding that anywhere and its getting frustrating.



LOL! Yeah I was dumb. I was doing something I shouldnt have and I broke it. Oh well, I got it for free and it was basically junk anyway. It had scratches everywhere are the top was broken, so I thought Id salvage it and try to make a pond but that didnt work either. Thats ok though. Im not heartbroken or anything



About 3 or 4 weeks ago we got quite a few rain storms and EVERYTHING started blooming! All our trees have leaves now, all my flowers are budding and blooming. There are wildflowers, roses, and everything else all coming to life now. Its soooo pretty! Im SOO glad the grass is green again. It looked so ugly all winter. I live by the Ft. Hood army base, if you know where that is.

Oh yes I know where Ft. Hood is. We are retired Army, and have Ft. Bliss here, and I have friends that work on Ft. Hood. That would explain your green grass. LUCKY!

Well I havent gotten any responses from you guys about the filter or pump. That makes the 6th time Ive asked in this forum in about 5 months so Im going to let it be.

Besides I got a reply back from the people who make the Skippy filter and they told me a 250 gph pump with a 20 gallon filter would be fine. I still dont think that is enough with a pond full of goldfish, I think Im going to go with an adjustable 500 gph pump.

Oh well. Im taking a gamble here, but thanks anyway.

Sorry I couldn't help you out Gia, I don't know anything about ponds. You will have to let us know how it goes so that we can learn.

well Ive been asking all my other goldfish and ponding groups and no one has answered those in the last two weeks either so I guess no one knows.

Figures because I cant find a good formula online or anything like that either, so after trying to find it myself it doesnt really surprise me that no one knows.

I think Im pretty sure what I want to do now, whether it works or not, lol!

Ill monitor it and report back and let you know if it works good. I just want to be able to stock it full or be able to twice overstock it with fish and plants and still have good water.

Not saying I WILL, but that is what I want so that the pond will be as maintainance free as possible. We'll see how it goes...

The general rule for pond pumps is that you want to turn over half the water volume per hour. When I was researching pumps last year that is what everyone told me. So to be safe I was even going to be going a bit above that. Also what a lot of people dont realize is that you lose a lot of pressure for every foot the water is pumped vertically.

So because I was going to have a rather heavily stocked pond I was going to do about the entire pond volume per hour. Hope that helps.

Thank you! I appreciate your input. Well then with just a small 110 gallon pond I bet a 500 gph filter would be ok, but if I find a bigger one on eBay for a good price then Ill buy that.

That sounds good. All the guys I worked with thought I was crazy for wanting to overfilter by so much. They kept telling me it wasn't necessary. I told them that with large koi and goldfish, trust me, you want to overfilter!!