[medicineman]

The filter is projected to be around 150 gallon in volume which is not overkill at all and in certain conditions (such as koi keeping) some may even be considered under capacity. But still that is a staggering 20% volume of the pond and I'm pretty sure for a planted setup such portion is more than enough. Such allows me to re-setup the pond for koi keeping or fancy goldfish or other form of non-aquascaping aquaria should sometime in the future under circumstances when I'm unable to take care of plants anymore. when building something of a bigger scale and it is integrated to your house, future things must be taken into account, unlike a stand alone tank which easily tucked away into the closet or disassembled to blocks of glass.

I plan to mimic nature more by adding an all time fresh water flow to the pond. Not at a large scale like of natural streams/rivers, but more like 15-20% WC each day that runs constantly - copying to smaller limit how fresh water supply huge ponds and how the pond empties by overflowing into another stream. Sure this might sound like an act of wasting water so I will make sure to add a water regulator to make sure the fresh water supply is constant and as necessary, such as calibrating to 250-500mL per minute. The benefits of adopting such system will also be carefully monitored and taken into consideration on whether to continue or discontinue.

Obvious drawbacks are :
- Limitation to using well water (tap water would be expensive)
- Wasting of water collumn fertilization because water is constantly changed
- Wasting of water
- Electrical bill for water pump
- More difficulty in maintaining lower temperature
- Water source dependent - bad water source equal to less satisfactionary result
Expected benefits :
- Good plant growth
- Fresh well water is rich in minerals and CO2 - less fert is needed
- Less pollution from bio load and fert/chemical residues
- Less algae from less accumulation of nitrates and phosphates
- No need of painful weekly WC
- Able to support considerable bio load without crashing or excessive filtration

There are several hundreads of gallon of water by the towers to supply the house water need (not only aquaria). So well pumps (2 wells) will be going on and off on a regular but not continous basis to help prolong longevity. These towers will also make pressure on the water regulator more constant.

If you observe point #4 on the filter compartment (overflow drain) is there to take care of excess water from the constant inflow of fresh water. It does it automatically and keeps water level constant too.