pond building

i'm going to build a 4' by 4' pond and i was wondering how deep should i make it and what do you guys think about home made bio filters i been looking at videos on you tube and alot of people are on bored with it . if any one has personal experience with home made pond filter let me know how its going for you and how you made it (: please let me know

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Comment by Alan Kirkup on April 23, 2013 at 3:32pm: Can you make your text any bigger :) What do you intend to put in your pond livestock wise, what are the average temperatures in California during cold snaps, is it likely to be exposed to attacks from water birds?

Comment by Bryant Avila on April 23, 2013 at 5:38pm: i want to put some plants in it like water lotus also some kio . i think the coldest it gets in California in the high desert is 30 degrees and for birds no the only big birds that might have a chance of eating my fish a crows but my dogs do a pretty good job at keeping them away (:

Comment by Robert Jango on April 25, 2013 at 12:08pm: If 30F is the coldest it gets then ice won't be a problem. So normally I'd say 2 feet, but with a big dirty fish like Koi you'll want a lot of water. So make it 4 feet if possible with a shelf for marginal/shallow water plants. If you have room to make the pond larger, do it. This will save you a lot of headaches in the future.

As far as filters go, I'll be installing a skimmer in my pond pretty soon because I get a lot of leaves and stuff falling in. I don't know you're situation but if you're going through the process of installing a filter you might as well go for one that does mechanical filtration as well.

What kind of filter is best? I think DIY is generally better than the over-priced retail crap. I might build a small reservoir where the water from my pond will enter via a powerful pump, be filtered, and returned through a waterfall. In the fall I'll have to scrape the leaves off the filter screen everyday. My pond is almost 20,000 gallons; so the pump in the reservoir will have to be powerful one and, unfortunately, expensive. I could also decide, instead, to get a commercial skimmer, but I won't do anything before consulting with the New England Aquarium.

Pond building is a lot of work. You're right to plan before jumping into this thing blindly. I'm also thinking that ziggynjiggy's advice (above) might be best for your small pool.

PS.

In Massachusetts a "pond" is anything that holds more than 15,000 gallons of water. Even pools for humans (more than 15,000 gallons) are regulated as ponds.