My Koi Pond holds about 14,768 gallons of water including the two Vortex's used as settling tanks. Pond dimensions are 13' wide at the top by 24' long and 7' deep. The pond slopes from the 13' width at the top to 12.5 wide at the bottom edge, and from 6'5" deep on the edges, slopes to 7' deep in the middle. I have a shallow area of 3.5' deep by 6' by 13 feet on the East end of the pond for catching the fish when I need to (see diagram below). By having a sloping bottom and sides, it helps move the waste to the 4" aerated bottom drain.
The aerated bottom drain lid forces the surface water down the sides of the pond and into the 4" drain using my Sweet Water Air pump. The water gravity flows into the lower part of the 1st of two Vortexes in a water swirled much like a toilet bowl. The water then drains from the top of that Vortex to the bottom of a second Vortex, continuing to swirl, settling the waste. The water is then pumped to the filter from the top of that container. It's very important to keep the heavy waste out of a bead filter, and really increases the efficiency of the water cleaning system.
Pond Vortexes
My two skimmers keep the dust, leaves and other debris off of the surface of my pond. This water goes into a 5-gallon leaf catcher, and then can be pumped to the waterfall or to another discharge pipe below the surface of the pond. See the step by step building of the Waterfall,
SkimmersI use an Aqua Bead 6.0 Plus filter that is fed by a 1/3 horse Evolution pump. It pushes about 107 gallons a minute through the filter. The water then travels through my UV light, and returns to the pond either by the waterfall or is piped to enter about 2' under the surface of the pond, for the wintertime use. My bead filter has a 3-horse power blower on it that is used to loosen up the beads in the filter for the backwashing process. By breaking the beads free before the backwash it makes for an even better cleaning of the filter.
My UV light is a Zapp Pure, 120-watt unit that really keeps the pond water clear, and the algae under control. Bead filters don't clean out the algae so it's important that if you use one of these filters that you also use a UV light.
I installed a Foam Fractionator (protein skimmer) that I made to help pull out the dissolved proteins and other organic carbons that are in the pond water. These dissolved organics can make your pond water look a little cloudy and if there is lots of it those conditions can actually inhibit the growth of the fish. If you notice water foam around the waterfall, or have seen that oil looking sheens on the surface of the water, you could benefit from a Foam Fractionators. They are simple to make, and can be a wonderful addition to your filtering process.
My Counter-Current Foam Fractionator (Protein Skimmer) is built in sort of a U shape. The pond water enters from one side of the fractionator and exits to return to the pond on the other side. Because of the bubbles formed, the waste leaves the unit in the form of foam just a ways up from the pond return. I dropped an air stone in the first 4" pipe, and have it resting on the bottom where the elbow connects the bottom pipe. Air rises up and with the water coming down causes quit a stir and forms many bubbles. These bubbles pick up pollutants such as proteins and other dissolved organic compounds along with fine particles that cling to the surface of the bubbles making a foam like substance that we want to rid our ponds of. Foam Fractionators are designed to collect this waste and remove it from our ponds. There are many ideas for Protein Skimmers discussed on the internet if you want to build one for yourself.
