I already have a pond and the start of a filtration unit I never finished building. My pond was not originally built for ducks, but for koi and goldfish. A few years after building I had the idea to add ducks to our backyard flock with the pond area as their run. I'm now considering letting the ducks run the entire yard except the garden, but that's another thread one day. Back to the pond... I built it to have the max water level be just above the existing grade. I'm now considering raising it to anywhere form 12"-18" above grade. I had a raised fish pond at our old house using stacked landscape timbers for the walls and I'm thinking of using the same method to raise the duck pond. The reason I want to raise it is the part of our yard near the back fence is the lowest grade and in May for 3 years now the yard floods back there thanks to days of thunderstorms that we get hit with. The pond is located only 10ft or so from the fence and was under water last year. In addition to the flood I'm expecting every May now (weather change...), there's the issue of all the muck the ducks drag into the pond and create around it. If I put straw, mulch, sand or any other matter around the pond, it's going to raise the surrounding grade and end up right in the pond thanks to the ducks. Raising it will not wash their feet, but it will keep them from kicking and blowing stuff in with their flapping. Also, if I raise it I won't have to worry about the grade around the pond so I'll be able to put down a bedding material over the dirt which should help keep them from getting so muddy and in turn making the pond muddy. Perhaps I'll do an outdoor DLM. So, I'm going to raise the pond...
Now on to the filter. I need to filter the pond water. It's about 1500 gallons of water, and could be 2000 gallons if I raise it 18". That's a lot of water to filter, so I need a sizable filter. I have a 100 gallon trough to work with. Aside from drilling some holes in it for water to spill out back into the pond, I haven't done much with it to make a filter just yet. I want to dig it into the ground to be level with the new height of the pond. Then I want to run PVC from the bond of the pond into the trough. The PVC will allow water to siphon from the bottom of the pond into the trough. I'll place my 1600 GPH submersible pump into the trough and pump water back into the pond. I could pump to a waterfall feature or some other spillway/fountain setup, but that's getting fancy and can wait for another future project. Within the trough I plan to use lava rock and open-cell foam as filter media to filter the water before it gets to the pump.
If you have any thoughts, experience or suggestions to share, please do.
Now on to the filter. I need to filter the pond water. It's about 1500 gallons of water, and could be 2000 gallons if I raise it 18". That's a lot of water to filter, so I need a sizable filter. I have a 100 gallon trough to work with. Aside from drilling some holes in it for water to spill out back into the pond, I haven't done much with it to make a filter just yet. I want to dig it into the ground to be level with the new height of the pond. Then I want to run PVC from the bond of the pond into the trough. The PVC will allow water to siphon from the bottom of the pond into the trough. I'll place my 1600 GPH submersible pump into the trough and pump water back into the pond. I could pump to a waterfall feature or some other spillway/fountain setup, but that's getting fancy and can wait for another future project. Within the trough I plan to use lava rock and open-cell foam as filter media to filter the water before it gets to the pump.
If you have any thoughts, experience or suggestions to share, please do.