All Sifus Please Comment

[junkeatng]

Hi All,

I will be starting reno for my new home soon. In the front garden, I will be building a fish pond. I will use this to keep some TVR and other Top View goldfish. I may even keep some carp. I have not made up my mind yet.

Anyways, I have attached a drawing for the pond. Please excuse the grainy quality of the pix. Some explanation.

- The pond is 36"(W) x 36"(L) x 24"(D). This can contain about 135gal of water.
- Tiles are dark coloured granite or similar.
- There is a 3" 'wall' around 2 sides of the pond (I'm wondering if I should make the wall taller (8") to prevent cats from makaning my fish).
- The water depth will be maintained at 24" at all times.
- Above the pond there will be some wooden strip structure for shade
- I intend to use a Hight-flow canister filter (any recommendations on the brand and type I should use)?
- I intend to house the filter in a waterproof wooden box. There will be ventilation vents at the side of the box.
- The inflow tube will be at the east corner of the pond.
- Will fit the outflow tube at the Northwest wall using an installation set to regulate flow (make it like a waterfall).
- Above the wooden box, I will place a pot of creeper plant so that this will provide more shade for the pond.
- At this point I have not planned for a air-pump. Whould it be necessary?

I would appreciate any comments from all of you regarding this setup. All comments are welcome. Also...does anybody know how much I should budget for this setup? Any other factors I may have missed out?

Many thanks!

[Pilik-Palak]

My comment is that ur pond might not suited for dorsaless type goldfish and since the depth is is 2ft,Can try keep wakin ,ryukin,single tail goldfish and koi together.Good luck.

[LauLanChu]

My opinion is your design like a deep well at one corner. How you going to appreciate your fish?

[CnT]

With only 3'x3' swimming space, i would only keep slow swimming gfs, like ranchus, moors, orandas, etc... fast swimming ones like koi, carp, wakins will need more room to swim around.

Dark color tiles good for hiding unsightly brush algae (tis is a good thing)... and dark background makes gf color stand out more.

Dont understand how a 3"/8" wall will keep cats out?

Water depth is good.

Some shade is good.

Get the biggest cannister filter u can fit and afford. Eheim is best. But not sure if the filter can sit above the water level. As i know, cannister filters can only work when the pond/tank water level is above the filter top. Unless u place the pump into the pond.

Good idea hiding the filter. Im still trying to figure a way hide mine too :P

Waterfall, if splash too much will disturb water surface then cannot see gfs clearly. I would set it to flow down the side of wall. This helps cool the water, and acts as additional wall algae filter too.

Try to incorporate the creeper/money plant as part of the outflow. Tis adds another filter, ie. plant filter.

Some aeration would be good idea.

How many fishes u plan to put in? Id say about 9 would be the max.

I have a similar setup to urs, but 2x the size. Let me know if ud like more info. Glad to share.

Good tat ur planning things in advance and thinking ahead. A true enthusiast

Happy planning

[CnT]

Oh, now i understand the cat wall... sorry, abit slow at times... 3" seems abit low, mayb 5-8"? Note, not only cats, but if ur keeping fast swimmers, they may jump out.

Since ur in planning stage, may i suggest an idea? how about raising the pond above ground level and place a side glass to the wall... then u can view ur gfs from side and top view. Sweet!

From my observation, if u like watching ur gfs, then u may want to consider how u plan to watch them... standing up? or sitting down? which in-turn decides if the pond should be below or above ground level... since gfs r not large, i tend to watch them quite closely, like near the waters edge... Unlike watching big kois in a swimming pool size pond, standing up is no prob... but i can just imagine standing up watching gfs in a below ground pond... hmm, they look pretty tiny from way up here... am sure they would look much better if im sitting on the floor.

Apologies if im rambling too much n not making any sense

Happy planning

[junkeatng]

The problem is I have very limited space in my compound for a pond of bigger surface area. So the only choice is to make a deeper pond for more volume. Also, due to Feng Shui...the pond must be below ground level.

Looks like I have to make the wall a bit higher to discourage cats. But I'm also concerned that this will limit the line-of-sight to the water. So the viewing angle will be from directly above only. Has anybody ever encountered problems with cats? And is there any way to stop them from attacking the fish?

In terms of the filter...as CnT mentioned...is it true that a canister filter will only work when the water level is above the top cover? Can anybody verify this? If this is true...I may have to look at other filter options.

Any suggestions? Tks!

[LauLanChu]

Canister filter should work on theory of gravity pressue (same as siphoning). If you read the manual they would always ask you to place below than tank. However, I have seen some canister filter works on pond and tub. It may not be functioning efficiently but still working.

[chochiss]

with the depth of your pond, ryukin & wakin would be the only option for goldfishes. if you wanna keep ranchus in 2ft depth.....all the best!

[Pilik-Palak]

Originally Posted by junkeatng

The problem is I have very limited space in my compound for a pond of bigger surface area. So the only choice is to make a deeper pond for more volume. Also, due to Feng Shui...the pond must be below ground level.

Looks like I have to make the wall a bit higher to discourage cats. But I'm also concerned that this will limit the line-of-sight to the water. So the viewing angle will be from directly above only. Has anybody ever encountered problems with cats? And is there any way to stop them from attacking the fish?
In terms of the filter...as CnT mentioned...is it true that a canister filter will only work when the water level is above the top cover? Can anybody verify this? If this is true...I may have to look at other filter options.

Any suggestions? Tks!

The onli way i can think about is to put a dog cage near ur pond.keep a small size dog .Hope that help.I do hv a cat problem so my dog will sleep near my goldfish tank .I just put a smooth matt near my pond.He know what to do.
The problem is that he sleep with the cat.Onli one cat that he don't chase.

[HNLim]

Originally Posted by Pilik-Palak

The onli way i can think about is to put a dog cage near ur pond.keep a small size dog .Hope that help.I do hv a cat problem so my dog will sleep near my goldfish tank .I just put a smooth matt near my pond.He know what to do.
The problem is that he sleep with the cat.Onli one cat that he don't chase.

Looks like your dog is not "straight"!