This 5th year for our backyard pond should be the start of really getting it right. I struggled with an all-new learning process from the time I began digging the hole five years ago. Issues ran the gamut from fluid dynamics to aquatic botany to stone masonry. It started small, growing bit by bit each year. Five of the original ten goldfish, now at 10″ in length, have four new youngsters bringing the school back up to nine this year. We lost one of the big fancy white guys to a random die-off over the winter. Liner problems are resolved and incremental upgrades to the pump and filter system are now set for the long term.
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The main improvement this year involves going to a dual-tandem internal circulation pump setup. This enables much greater fountain flow under normal conditions. A 3-way valve allows just one pump to maintain circulation internally, with the fountain turned off. This comes in handy for saving water on windy days. Ultimately I expect it to be the bridge to full 365 days/year operation. The filter design was always good. The only issue there was tweaking the media pack for optimal performance. I finally found the right stuff for that. The coarse malata provides a flat, firm porous surface with which to sandwich finer layers to mitigate channeling.
Only a couple days of stone-work along the bottom wall and BBQ flowerbed remain to finish this long-running DIY project.