(Part 2) Top products from r/ponds

The pond looks to be a great one for longterm viability. It's deep, which is good to keep the fish alive during the winter, and it's long and narrow. These are a tad easier to maintain because the water can follow one path. From Plant Filter / Waterfall to pump. This keeps the water moving which thus thwarts as many anerobic zones from building up. (Anerobic means no oxygen. It's a bacterial zone where Nitrates are converted to Ammonia - fish don't like ammonia. This is the exact opposite of what you want to happen.)

To start with, plants are your friend. They are more vital to the wellbeing of a pond than fish. You can have a pond w/ no fish and just plants and it's great, but if you have a pond with no plants and just fish, it's a horrible situation. One that is full of chemicals and stress over diseased fish.

Regarding the plants, when they multiply that means they're healthy. It's the same thing that all plants do, but pond plants -since they have ample and abundant water and food - grow quickly. This is good, but better to keep it in check. There are three basic types of plants you need for proper pond balance and filtration.

• First is an underwater grass. The ones I use the most are Anacharis and Hornwort. YMMV as I'm just seeing that Anacharis is prohibited in Chicago. These plants do some decent filtering, but work mainly with the oxygenating of the water. Photosynthesis + daytime = Dissolved Oxygen for the fishes to breath. (Note: I hear Hornwort, under certain conditions, can produce more CO2 during the nighttime hours than it produces O2 during the daytime hours. Apparently fish have died as a result.)
  
  
• Second is a plant to shade the pond. This can certainly be a tree above the pond, but otherwise plants like Hyacinth and Water Lilies will do a good job blocking the sun from getting into the water. The reason for this is really just to thwart algae. When algae has light and food it will grow. So the whole point here is to thwart algae on all fronts while trying to maintain a good looking pond.
  
  
• Third is the most important. They are labeled collectively as 'Marginals', but really these are any plant that grows up outside the pond. 'Marginal' as in they grow on the 'margin' of the pond. They vary from bushy - Mint, Lizard Tail, and Celery, to tall and thin - Horsetail, Rush, and Iris.
  
  My baseline for an ideal plant filter, which in your case would be a smallish stock tank / waterfall weir on one side of your pond full of Mint, Corkscrew Rush, Horsetail, and some tall plants like Umbrella Palm, Giant Reed, Cattail. All while making sure you have room for a Canna. These are some of my favorite plants. But you can pick and choose as you like. The essential point is to have a variation of small / bushy and tall / thin plants as they have different filtering qualities. I am told the tall and thin ones are great for good, heavy duty, filtering, whereas the bushy ones are great for quick filtering. Either way, they're pretty. This stock tank gets water flowing into it, pushed through the plants, and then lets it go through a waterfall.
  
  Now all this is just to process the Ammonia waste from fish. Ammonia kills fish, and you really can't see it. Apparently a reddish tinge develops in the water, but I've never seen it. But, fish produce Ammonia, so if you don't have your three types of filters you will have issues utilizing all these awesome plants to keep your pond clean.
  
  
• First is a Mechanical filter. This is just something to get the floaties out of the water. Something that will coat the roots / block the water flow / gunk up the pump. Just get it out.
  
  
• Second is a Biofilter. This is a colony of Nitrobacters whose sole purpose in life is to convert Ammonia into Nitrates and Nitrites. You can read more about this cycle here. It's pretty important. Now, MY favorite biofilter is a 5g bucket of lava rocks surrounding the pump. I know it's not the prettiest nor easiest way to do things, but it gets the job done and it's cheap. If you'd like you can use items like Springflo and whatnot. But essentially this is just a home for your bacteria colony, which are living everywhere in your pond if the water is slow enough, but having a proper filter is important.
  
  
• Third is the plant filter. Using Marginals and other such plants you position them in such a fashion where the water is forced to go through them. This allows the water to move through the root systems and get stripped of its Nitrates. By doing this in an overkill fashion you won't have any algae problems because the algae won't have anything to eat.
  
  Doing something like this, or an approximation of this, will keep the pond clear and the fish happy. You can get Nitrate and Ammonia testers to see what your levels are in case that might be the issue. I must say that multiple fish without any plant filtration and no algae makes me suspicious.
  
  EDIT: Things

1. I got the container at a place near Nashville called Southeastern Salvage. I couldn't find anything online, but here’s what the barcode sticker says:
   HF1562LAW
   LG antique white planter
   745896421086
   
2. Paver base from HD to level the container.
   
3. The fountain is the Beckett Container Garden Fountain Kit. It's available at Home Depot and Amazon. I added some aquarium filter media which really helps with cloudy water.
   
4. Typical pond liner from HD. This was the smallest size at my store and still way more than I needed.
   
5. Aquarium safe silicone.
   
6. River pebbles from Home Depot for substrate - I know most pond-owners don't recommend this, but my container is small enough to vacuum the gravel when it gets gross. This choice was may too natural/orangey and makes the fish harder to see.
   
7. I happened to have a broken concrete block (like this) which made a a nice base to keep the pump off the bottom and leaning another piece on it gives the fish a hiding spot.
   
8. Floating plants: water lettuce and water hyacinth. Aquatic plants: hornwort, anacharis and golden creeping jenny I pulled out of my flowerbed and tossed in.
   
   The build was pretty simple, when you break it down. It took a while just with life stuff getting the way and I didn't do everything exactly to this order - adding floating plants before I was done sealing the edges, didn't do the final liner trim until very last etc., but this is the gist:
   
   
9. I chose the location and made a pile of paver base wider than the bottom of the container.
   
10. Set the container on the paver base and set a large bubble level across its top. Pushing down, I worked the container back/forth/side/side until it was level all the way around and felt pretty stable.
    
11. Spread out the liner in the container (letting excess hang over sides) and filled with water making sure there were no bubbles or anything. I should have done a better job working out/consolidating the wrinkles/folds at this point. It was pretty hard when it was full, but it turned ok (not great). Once the container was full, I trimmed most of the excess to make it easier to work with, leaving about 12" all around.
    
12. I went ahead and put in some gravel, the concrete block pieces, and fountain at this point, though I should have waited to make it easier to work out wrinkles in the liner. I used the fountain to remove water until the water level was about 6" below the rim to keep the liner pressed against the sides, but allow me to access the edge. Then, I tucked the liner under the rim of the container and trimmed some more excess. Next, I used aquarium safe silicone to adhere the liner under the lip of the container rim so the edge of liner is concealed by the lip of the container. I used clamps in a few places to hold it in place while the silicone set. I had to be careful to keep the outside dry where the liner contacted the silicone to get a good seal. I did another pass later to remove the final bit of excess and add silicone where needed.
    
13. Filled it back up adding pond water conditioner, added plants and fish. I used this new tank bio starter stuff too. I lost 1 goldfish on day 2 so it was probably on its way out anyways but the rest seem healthy after about 2 months.

I think I mis-read your idea. You want to have option of using the bottom drain, not use it as your primary pump in-tube.

It would work, but IMO, not well. The main issues are going to arise when you need to use it. I assume this will be during times when you want to drain and clean the pond, and there will be a lot of muck and sludge on the bottom of the pond. Will your pump handle this? Even Solids pumps (like this Savio WMS pump) only generally handle solids, but will still get clogged if it sucks enough. These things only have a tubesize of ~1.5" generally, if I remember correctly, and add a ball valve and Y-adapter to that, and I envision clogs.

Personally, for full drain and cleans, I like pumping most of the water out, then using a Shop Vac to get the sludge out. If you want to use a bottom drain I'd say a 3" tube would be great, but not if you want to use a pump to pull the water through that.

That being said, I would be interested in hearing an argument in favor of bottom drains and how they have them set up.

Well there are whole books about tips and tricks.

This one isn't bad: https://www.amazon.com/Water-Gardens-1-2-3-Home-Depot/dp/0696230402

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I may be able to give you some good feedback. Good luck!

It's not alot of water, maybe 30 to 40 gallons max? , perhaps find a cheap cannister filter online.

That's likely most hassle free for indoors.

https://www.amazon.com/Cascade-CCF3UL-Canister-Filter-Aquariums/dp/B0002DJ9NY

Look at some of those, there has to be a cheap and cheerful option available out there. First figure out how much water the planter will hold and buy a filter with pump that will turn the water 2 to 3 times an hour if you plan to add fish.

If not that maybe build an l-shaped bog style filter in a planter to fit in the corner behind it.

I've got a DIY barrel filter on my 4600 gallon. The design could easily be used on a slightly smaller pond as well. In fact there's tons of designs you can use based on the surrounding area.

You could also use a pressurized canister filter. I prefer laguna filters and in my mind they're the best. There's the 4000 model also which is the upgraded version of the 3200. Both would work and can handle a flow up to the number in their name.

Whatever you do for a filter, you're going to want a minimum of 3000 gph pump assuming you're fully stocked.

Which leads to the question of what are you stocking it with?

I dont have any experience with that model. I purchased an aerator late in 2013 for one of my deep ponds that freezes over but does not require a heater. Its been outside since I purchased it and I keep it running full time through the year:

Laguna Aeration Kit for Ponds https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HASBFE?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I have replaced the plastic tubing and bubble stones but the main unit is still running strong.

Yes you can get fancy guppies, and male look prettier, but if you wanted you could get girls, or both but you’ll have lots of babies (that can be a plus). Sponge filters aren’t expensive.

Just find a properly rate air pump for your size, typically they have the rating in the description. You’ll also need a piece of sponge, airline tubing, and an air stone

airline tubing

sponge

You should be able to find airstones for $1-2 at a local fish shop. You’ll also need an air pump rated for your pond size.

Cover it with pond netting https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FNK87C/ref=s9_top_hm_awbw_b3tCFND_g86_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=mobile-hybrid-11&pf_rd_r=PVTNSTM0QMV5A06WAB9Z&pf_rd_t=30901&pf_rd_p=95dc2232-20a1-54db-a085-817cd62261a0&pf_rd_i=3564016011

Just ordered one of these, we'll see how it goes.

You can also buy these donut looking things that are supposed to kill the larvae. They just float on the surface and don’t harm the fish at all.

Here: Donut things