considering to build a pond of my own some time in the foreseeable future, what are some of the problems you guys have faced, bro Thomas and dragonfire.

a concern of mine was appropriate circulation of the pond.

For me, I had a lot of teething problems with my drum filter. It being a single point of failure in my pond, and being somewhat less than bulletproof was a source of stress. Heck. I started dreaming about it, which can't be good :)

That's behind me now tho. Know the unit inside out, and can pretty much fix most problems. The warranty support, even though it is out of China, is good. As I tell they folk on Koiphen, it is a solid unit for folk willing to DIY. I will be using a somewhat modified version of the drum filter in my new pond. I know where the faults of the unit are. And I know precisely how to get rid of them.

My advise to you would be to plan everything to the finest detail when embarking on your quest. Comb through the details over and over. Once a pond is built, making changes is nearly impossible.

- Size and volume? Affects fish load.
- Placement? Ground beams and buried utilities can be a concern.
- Type? Poured concrete? Prefab Fiberglass? Liner? (not so common in Singapore)
- Technology? Breakback brush and mats filter? ERIC raceway? RDF? Sieve?

Don't worry too much about circulation. Strategically placed drains and returns will sort that out. Airlift pumps can make great circulation devices that move a lot of water for very little energy input.

wow that is good that you know your system inside out, this way need not rely on contractors who probably have less knowledge on fish keeping than yourself :)

so far i have been keeping my fishes inside FGTs through the years and faced various issues. like u said, would plan to the finest detail so as to avoid any future issues. i would look at what my needs are and design a system accordingly. i am looking at an above ground cement pond as my house is elevated from the ground and it'd be nice to feed the fishes from my window :)

i probably start a new thread soon to discuss this further.. just been reading up and asking friends on what issues they've faced so far so i can plan and design to avoid those..

btw u mentioned 70+ ton pond. what sort of dimensions will u be going for?
i m more the type looking for bigger swimming space instead of depth, understand you keep koi and Koi's need quite a deep place. for my self majority rays and just a few arowanas...

Dimensions still being planned right now. Getting the house design sorted before the pond.

My max depth will likely be 1.5m, fully below ground. It will be running along side my house at 1m depth, with a deep open area taking up most of the front.

My house is actually at the bottom of a hill. The driveway goes over the top and shelters most of the pond area.

Koiphen build thread is at http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showth...House-New-Pond!

You folk might want to look at the dracodrum RDF. It is an interesting design that might interest local pond owners as it is very compact, and can easily be retrofit in existing ponds.

http://www.dracodrum.com/dracodrum.html

thank you for sharing :)

Mine just using simple filtration... a few compartments of overflow and underflow compartments. I am using 2 pumps. One of the concerns is that I cannot use a more powerful pump for my filtration. This is because the water level will go very low at the last compartment where the 2 pumps are placed. The water levels will get lower and lower after each underflow compartments... u must be careful when planning these compartments so that u will not have a problem of putting a very powerful pump and it starts pumping out water so much faster than the water that can be 'taken' in by your inlets and through each compartments...

Another issue that I am facing is that I do not have control valves both at the inlets and outlets of the filter system. This will be a problem whenever I am doing water change as the water level in the filter compartments will vary with the pond water accordingly. Sometimes when I am doing a 50% WC, the water level in the compartments also lowered and all the medias are exposed... if there is control valve, at least I can shut it off and the water level inthe compartments will not be affected by WC.

Initially I thought a UV light is a must to keep away the green water, but strangly, my UV light was faulty few months back and I disposed it off. Till date, the water still as good. so I also not very sure if UV light is a must or not. But I guess it is always good to have one if possible...

Good luck in your pond building :)

Can you pls share contact. Thanks.

http://www.goldcrest.com.sg/spilfyte...pill_kits.html

Ask them about the Oil Dri Premium Absorbent granules.

Btw, laterite is now very hard to find for a good price. It seems that Seachem Red Fluorite is a viable alternative, and should be available at LFS. Need about 1 cup per basket.