Question
Hi,

I have a large stone pond, it's close to 800-900 gallons. It's oval shaped, about 4 feet deep at the bottom and has a small area where the pond drops down another 4 feet, the fish like to hide down there. I run a 1 horsepower sump pump to circulate the water. The pipe from the sump leads up to an upper level bowel. When it overflows it cascades down a stone wall and creates a cool waterfall!

Hopefully you've made it this far and haven't clicked the "I'm sorry this is outside of my expertise button" lol. Basically, I'm not happy with the set up for my pond and am looking to educate myself a bit more on the proper conditions to make it a bit nicer.

The water never seems to be clear in the spring and summer months. The water only seems to be clear during the late fall and early winter months. I don't use any filtration with my pump. I'd like to ask for any information resources that you might recommend to me that could keep the water clear.

I have a large swimming pool that I switched the pump and sand filter out on last year. So I have a large sand filter tank filter at my disposal. I also have a one horsepower "collection basket pump" that goes with it. Would you recommend using this set up on the pond? Would it help? Ecologically, would this work? What might you recommend?

I'm also looking for an alternative to the standard small feeder fish that I have in my pond. I'm looking for freshwater fish that are more visible, larger, vibrant and lasting. I've considered Koi, but would like to see what other kinds of large breed fish they have out there. I'm open to any ideas you might have!

I realize this is somewhat vague, but if you have a couple of pointers for me that won't cost me an arm and a leg I'd greatly appreciate it! Are there any books you might recommend?

Thanks in advance,

Joseph McKenna
Pink Floyd Expert-Allexperts

Answer
hmmm:  You could set up the sand filter it would have to work much like an under-gravel filter would except it would not be under the pond... so say... between an under-gravel and a canister filter....the difference being that you would pump the water to the filter.  You could actually make it into a strata type filter with larger rocks on the top, medium rocks in the middle, gravel on the bottom and sand on the very bottom... much like a spring would work.  That would help to keep your pond cleaner during spring and summer... the problem during those times is algae... sunlight = algae...which leads to murky pond.  There are chemicals you could use such as a clarifier, etc... which would make the pond clear too.  If I understand your question... you'd like to make this pond into an outdoor fish tank... This is going to require warm water.  Goldfish and koi are cold water fish so they can tolerate the pond setting... most everything else is going to require warm water ad that is going to cost you a fortune to heat.  Let me know if you are interested and I will go further into this for you.  dave