I live in South West, Florida near Fort Myers. The last owners filled it in with dirt and put astro turf on it to make a place for their dogs to go to the bathroom. (n)(n)(n). So we dug up all the dirt and found this(see image #1). So we went to Home Depot and rented a jack hammer and proceeded to do this. (See images 2-6). Now, this is what it looks like... (see image #7)
The pond measures approximately Wider Diameter: 82 inches Shallow End Depth: 13 inches Narrow Diameter: 46 inches Deep end: 20 inches Overall Length: 18 ft
I used an online pond calculator (www.btlliners.com) to calculate it is approximately 900 gallons.
Now, my questions...
1. We want to turn this into a turtle/frog/fish pond with lots of live plants. [b]With that being said, what are my different options for substrates? Most importantly, the cheapest methods but still do a great job with allowing us to plant live plants? I have done some research from buying expensive plant substrate products to reading about organic soil and pea gravel. Just not sure which way(s) would be most cost effective as I have a large surface area I need to cover and do not want learn the hard way this time! LOL
2. I have 2x 2200 GPH pumps and 1x 1700 GPH pump, will this be enough to properly circulate the pond? 1x 2200 GPH pump will be feeding a waterfall feature and a spitting frog. 1x 1700 GPH pump will be feeding the fountain feature and the other 2200 GPH pump will have a filter attached to the intake and it will feed another waterfall at the other end of the pond. Does this sound sufficient?
3. With regards to turtles, frogs, fish and live plants... what breeds/species/types are recommended for this area and this size pond? (I understand that there is the risk of unwanted guests showing up and eating our pond friends so we installed a low voltage electric fence around the property and I will be installing a 10ft x12ft x8ft canopy over a majority of the pond. We will do our best to keep critters at bay.). The burnt orange canopy you see in the picture ended up being too small and not enough coverage so I will be installing a larger canopy tomorrow. The new canopy has a high enough clearance that will still allow for some sun to make it under. But even with the canopy, would it still be recommended to have a pond net over top of it?
4. What is the best mixture for the water? I have read that rain water is the best, is this true? I can easily provide it with plenty of rain water living in SWFL but at times of no rain... should I substitute with straight well water from the ground or water that has gone through the water softener?
5. What am I missing or not aware of?
Any other recommendations would be very much welcomed! Thank you all so much!
You are essentially koi pond size. When my dad had one, I built an under gravel filter out of pvc drilled full of 1/16" holes. Made a big rectangle with several cross pipes with T's and elbows. Buried it in sand blast gravel. We had the fountian pump pull through that. The koi loved it and reproduced several years. Keeping racoons from fishing in it was a problem.
