I have recently build a pond and theres some debris and murky water some times. I have benoficial bacteria and I am going to add aeration and a couple water falls. I'm wondering if I need a skimmer, if I'm going to also put in a biofilter (plant area) where a lot of the debris seems to accumulate? Has anyone got away from using a skimmer and just having the biofilter? My pond is about 1/4 acre and 330,000 gallons. Work in progress pictures for reference. The blue circles are where I'm putting the waterfalls and the green is the biofilter. Thanks!

GDub,

That is going to be a pretty pond!

Is the entire bottom of the main pond going to have a liner? If so, then you will need a very efficient biofilter process since you won't have any plants in the shallows of the main pond.

There are going to be a lot of nutrients for algae unless your really circulate water through your biofilter area. (Do you want algae during the bloom times, or want clear water?)

Can you get your pond running (and mature) and then determine if you need the skimmer? I would create a "place" for the skimmer during the design phase, then add it later if needed.

P.S. It looks like you are going to have some cinder blocks at the deep end of the "gravel beach". These can be "toe-stubbers". I remember someone's good idea to place plastic pots just inside of the rock wall. They then planted water lilies, etc. in the pots. This would give you a little bit of nutrient uptake in the main pond AND you could then tell grandkids not to go past the plants. If you place the pots at the proper depth, you could wade out and "weed" them by hand if any undesirable plants take hold.

Good luck on your project!

Thanks for the reply

The cinder blocks are there to stop the rocks from falling into the deep end. Probably not a bad idea to make a line of plants there. There's geoteck in the shallow to help hold the rocks up when we put them in so they don't just sink into the clay. I'll be putting in an aerator in that shallow end and maybe tilting it to push the water towards the tip of the shallow where the biofilter is.

We do not want algae and there's lots around this area, so planning to mitigate that. Hopefully with enough water movement.

Cheers

I don't think just tilting an aerator to push water to the biofilter will be sufficient circulation.

You mentioned waterfalls. Is that going to be your water source into the biofilter (or your suction intake out of the biofilter)? I think biofilter size and efficiency versus circulation rate will be your balancing act. I would leave some room to modify your designs as the "plan" eventually runs into the real world.

The "natural swimming pool" people have some good design ideas on cleaning up your water. I have included one link to show you the kind of projects that fall into that category.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/natural-swimming-pool-zmaz02aszgoe

The grass in your pictures is very green. Obviously, keeping any sources of fertilizer out of your pond and watershed will help with your project.

Best wishes!

I'll have another aerator in the deep end in addition to the one in the shallow end. I'll be using the can air 2-ss. It should turn over my water once an hour. I'll have the water from the water falls pulling from pumps in the deep end and then flowing off the waterfall in the shallow, and a pump in the shallow end flowing off the waterfall in the deep end. I'm thinking that will also help "rotate" the water. I have another smaller pump I'll use for the skimmer and that cleaned water will flow down a stream in the shallow end.