VERY early in designing the largest pond I think I can do on my property (6 acres but narrow w/ a flood plane)
I think I have decided that I want to build something using techniques similar to what this guy did.
http://kilk.com/pond/I am planning on excavating hopefully around 12 feet deep in the deepest part. The overall deep part I am thinking I want around 20-25 feet wide and 30-40 feet long.
off of the VERY deep part I will put my dock, and it will gradually stair step up the longer part. the long sides will be a fairly steep angle.
Along both of the longer sides I am hoping to put around a 4 foot wide 3 feet deep (all gravel) area w/ a pipe in it to pump water up for vegetation on the sides and part of the bio-filter system. Off to the side of the stair steps at the shallow end I am thinking about building a massive gravel area biofilter.
How big should I build this gravel biofilter? I am thinking 15x15 and around 3-5 feet deep should be about right. this will be supplied by PVC pipe that flows water UP through the gravel which will then flow into the deep part of the pond and back towards the skimmer which will be hidden under the dock.
I am hoping for a waterfall feature which will also flow into the deep part. this will probably be closer to the shallower end and will be around 4 feet high and dump directly into the deep part.
I am looking pretty heavily at the helix pond skimmer.
Approximately what size liner should I use for this? or at least how do I calculate this. I will alter the size as needed in order to not have to try and seem two liners together.
what size pump will I need in the helix in order to push that kind of water through all that pvc.
are their any articles where I can read about how gravel filters like I am trying to do are constructed? I am sure I will have to reduce the pvc diameters as I move further out in order to keep the flow rates and pressures more even.
any other tips or ideas or concerns for me to do some more research on?
