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Hybrid Pond™ Kits are Part Water Garden Pond - Part Koi Pond

Dolphin Series Hybrid Pond™ Kit Includes:

• Proudly Made in the U.S.A
• Dolphin Hydro Vortex™ easy to clean backwashable waterfall filter with 25″ wide waterfalls, filter cleanout kit with 10′ of heavy duty black 1½" flexible PVC pipe, and 1½" stainless steel lever shut-off valve, 7.32 cubic feet of Hydro FilterSilk™ easy to clean filtration media with 2,708 SSA - NO additional bio media required
• HydroFlush™ backwash system with 1½" flex PVC pipe, 3-way diverter valve and 10" round valve box
• Piper HydroClean™ Pond Skimmer with stainless steel and nylon leaf net, Black Knight Filter Brush Rack, 6″ inlet pipe, three 2" dual female threaded outlet ports, and one ½" auto water fill valve port. Remote installation capable and fish safe.
• 
  4" Bottom Drain
• HydroSieve™-PF compact pond sieve filter for bottom drain
• 3-way control valve between pond skimmer and pond sieve filter with 10" round valve box
• PA-4000 pond aeration kit
• Two 36 watt UV clarifiers with fittings and 2" ball valve
• Standard valve box for UV's and air pump
• 35' of heavy duty black 2" flexible PVC pipe
• 2" Cam-lock check valve assembly with intake strainer
• 2" Union Spring Check Valve for HydroSieve™
• 20' x 25' 45 ml EPDM fish-safe rubber pond liner for pond
• 5' x 5' 45 ml EPDM fish-safe rubber pond liner for waterfalls
• 525² ft. 15 ml geotextile underlayment
• Additional pipe, liner, and underlay included for optional Stream Kits
• PVC glue and primer
• Tube of 100% silicone sealant
• 16 oz. can of HydroFoam™ waterfall foam sealant
• All required PVC fittings
• Stainless steel hardware
• Choice of Auto Water Fill Kits
• 6″ skimmer remote installation pipe NOT included
• Choice of self priming external pumps with integrated leaf trap: C-5700-2B, C-6300-2B

>What is a Hybrid Pond™? A Hybrid Pond™ is safer for koi than a water garden pond, but is more natural looking than a koi Pond in the landscape. A "hybrid" of the two, only made possible by the Patented Hydro Vortex™ backwashable Waterfall Filter. If you don't have a backwashable waterfall filter, a remote installation capable pond skimmer, a bottom drain, and a bottom drain pre-filter, a UV, or external aeration - you don't have a Hybrid Pond™.

Our Exclusive Dolphin Series Hybrid Pond™ Kits make Beautiful ponds
That are Part Water Garden Pond and Part Koi Pond

We got into the pond industry back in the mid 90's and there was only been two types of ponds - a koi pond, or a water garden pond. Many online retailers falsely claim their water garden pond kits are "also known as" koi pond kits. This is a classic case of "misinformation". The two types of ponds couldn't be more different. A koi pond has a smooth liner bottom with no gravel. A water garden pond bottom is covered with gravel. A koi pond always has a bottom drain, a water garden pond does not. We have both water garden pond kits, and koi pond kits. We also have a hybrid of the two with our exclusive Hybrid Pond™ Kits. You will see that we combined filtration equipment from a koi pond kit and a water garden pond kit into our Hybrid Pond™ Kits. No other pond kit manufacturer has a Hybrid Pond™ Kit - because they do not have backwashable waterfall filters, or bottom drain pre-filters like we do.

When doing your research online and you want actual truthful information about pond kits, we suggest you contact a prominent koi club member in your area - and they will tell you that a water garden pond is in no way the same, or even similar to a koi pond. Find a local koi club in your community by clicking this link: www.akca.org and ask them yourself: "Is a water garden pond the same as a koi pond?" We are confident that they will tell you the same thing we are telling you: A koi pond is in no way the same as a water garden pond. Yes, you can have koi in a water garden pond - but that doesn't make it a koi pond. The fundamentals are simply different.

Over the years, we have known several contractors that have been sued by their customers because their customer wanted a koi pond, and the contractor installed a water garden pond instead to the customer's dissatisfaction. Koi ponds have smooth liner bottoms with a bottom drain and no gravel on the bottom. Water garden pond bottoms are covered with gravel and do not have a bottom drain. A koi pond's physical structure is behind the liner. A water garden's structure is rock retaining the earth inside the liner.

This is what led John Russell, the CEO, Company Founder, and product design engineer of Russell Watergardens to invent the Hybrid Pond™ concept. With the Patented Hydro Vortex™ backwashable waterfall filter, also invented by John Russell, the Hybrid Pond™ concept became a reality. Koi ponds all had similar items in common, such as a backwashable pond bio-filter, a bottom drain, skimmer, UV, external aeration, and no rocks or gravel in the pond. So it dawned on John to combine the two and the Hybrid Pond™ was created. Simple as that. A koi pond is the safest form of pond for raising and growing koi. A water garden pond is intended to look more natural than a koi pond in the landscape, but is not the best choice for raising and growing koi. The Hybrid™ Pond is the best of both worlds together in one pond. See How to Build a Hybrid Pond™ by clicking this link.

Long After the Price has been Forgotten, Value and Piece of Mind are Not

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Part Water Garden. Part Koi Pond. A Different Way to Build a Pond.

A Hybrid Pond™ combines the natural appearance of a Water Garden Pond with important design principles found in a dedicated Koi Pond.

It was created to answer a question we had after years of designing, building and maintaining ponds:

Why should a homeowner have to choose completely between a natural-looking water garden and a dedicated koi pond?

Water Garden Ponds are designed to become part of the landscape. Boulders, waterfalls and aquatic plants create a natural appearance.

Dedicated Koi Ponds take a very different approach. They're generally deeper, with smooth interiors, bare bottoms, bottom drains and filtration systems designed to continually remove fish waste and other debris from the pond.

We liked characteristics of both.

So John Russell developed the Hybrid Pond™ to bring them together.

The Natural Beauty of a Water Garden

From above the water, a Hybrid Pond™ can look much like a beautiful natural water garden.

It can include:

• Natural boulders around and within the pond
• A biological waterfall
• Aquatic plants
• A marginal plant shelf
• Koi and other pond fish
• Naturalistic landscaping around the pond

The boulders within the pond help retain and naturalize the submerged vertical walls, much like they do in a Water Garden Pond.

But look beneath the water and you'll find an important difference.

There is no rock or gravel covering the bottom of a Hybrid Pond™.

That's where the koi-pond side of the design begins.

A Clean, Bare Pond Bottom

In a conventional Water Garden Pond, horizontal surfaces are commonly covered with gravel or river rock.

That creates a natural appearance, but submerged gravel also creates spaces where sinking fish waste, leaves and other organic material can become trapped.

A Hybrid Pond™ takes a different approach.

The main pond bottom is smooth, bare liner, with the floor sloping toward a bottom drain.

Instead of intentionally providing places for sinking debris to settle within the pond, the design encourages that material to move toward the bottom drain so it can leave the pond and enter the filtration system.

It's a basic principle behind the Hybrid Pond™:

Put the debris somewhere you can remove it.

Bottom-Drain Pre-Filtration

A bottom drain is only useful if there's a practical way to deal with what it collects.

In a Russell Watergardens Hybrid Pond™, the bottom drain is connected to a HydroSieve™ pre-filter.

Water and sinking debris travel from the bottom drain to the HydroSieve™, where larger solids are separated from the circulating water and collected in an accessible stainless-steel basket.

Instead of removing that material from gravel on the pond bottom, you remove it from the pre-filter.

That's a major distinction between a Hybrid Pond™ and a typical Water Garden Pond.

Plants Without a Gravel-Covered Bottom

One of the things many people love about Water Garden Ponds is aquatic plants.

We didn't want to give that up.

A Hybrid Pond™ includes a perimeter marginal plant shelf, but rather than planting directly into gravel covering the pond liner, aquatic plants are kept in baskets.

This provides the natural appearance and enjoyment of water lilies and other aquatic plants while preserving the clean, unobstructed pond bottom.

Plants remain part of the pond.

A gravel-covered bottom doesn't have to be.

Deeper Water for Koi

Water Garden Ponds are typically relatively shallow and often include multiple planting shelves.

A Hybrid Pond™ is designed differently.

The pond is at least three feet deep, providing considerably more water depth and swimming space for koi while retaining a naturalistic appearance around the perimeter.

Instead of multiple stair-step shelves extending across the pond, the Hybrid Pond™ uses a more koi-pond-inspired interior with one marginal plant shelf and a deeper central pond area.

That combination is one of the defining characteristics of the design.

Surface Debris and Bottom Debris Are Handled Separately

Debris doesn't enter a pond in only one place.

Leaves, blossoms and other floating material collect at the surface.

Fish waste and waterlogged organic debris eventually sink.

That's why a Hybrid Pond™ addresses both.

A HydroClean™ pond skimmer removes floating debris from the surface.

The bottom drain and HydroSieve™ address sinking debris at the bottom.

Together, they create circulation from both the upper and lower portions of the pond rather than relying entirely on a single surface-skimming system.

Backwashable Biological Filtration

A Hybrid Pond™ uses a Hydro Vortex™ biological waterfall filter.

This is one of the Water Garden Pond characteristics we intentionally retained.

The Hydro Vortex™ provides biological filtration while also creating the natural waterfall that becomes part of the landscape.

But unlike waterfall filters that must be dismantled and have their filtration media removed for cleaning, the Hydro Vortex™ is designed to be routinely drained, rinsed and backwashed without removing the FilterSilk™ media.

That allows the Hybrid Pond™ to retain the beauty of a water-garden waterfall while incorporating filtration designed around routine maintenance.

UV Clarification and Aeration

A Hybrid Pond™ system also incorporates two components commonly associated with more advanced pond filtration systems:

UV clarification helps control free-floating algae responsible for green water.

External aeration supplies additional oxygen and improves water movement within the pond.

Together with surface skimming, bottom-drain pre-filtration and biological filtration, these components form a complete system rather than relying on one filter to perform every job.

So What Makes It a “Hybrid”?

The easiest way to understand a Hybrid Pond™ is to compare the three designs.

A Water Garden Pond emphasizes the natural landscape.

A dedicated Koi Pond emphasizes the koi environment and efficient waste removal.

A Hybrid Pond™ intentionally borrows from both.

Water Garden Pond, Hybrid Pond™ or Koi Pond?

We don't believe one pond design is right for everyone.

That's why Russell Watergardens offers complete kits for all three.

Choose a Water Garden Pond if...

Your priority is a highly naturalistic pond with abundant aquatic plants, boulders and the traditional water-garden appearance.

Choose a Hybrid Pond™ if...

You want the natural appearance of a Water Garden Pond, but prefer a deeper pond with a bare bottom, bottom drain, pre-filtration, UV and aeration.

Choose a dedicated Koi Pond if...

Your primary focus is keeping and displaying koi, and you want the pond designed around koi-pond circulation, waste removal and filtration from the beginning.

None of those choices is automatically right or wrong.

They're different ponds designed for different priorities.

Why We Created the Hybrid Pond™

Before developing the Hybrid Pond™, we kept seeing the same divide.

Water Garden Ponds offered the natural appearance many homeowners wanted.

Dedicated Koi Ponds offered the deeper, unobstructed interior and bottom-drain filtration preferred by serious koi keepers.

We didn't think those choices had to be mutually exclusive.

So we combined selected characteristics of each into a third approach.

Natural above the bottom. Clean and unobstructed below.

That's the idea behind the Hybrid Pond™.

Designed for Routine Maintenance

There's one characteristic we don't consider unique to the Hybrid Pond™:

Easy maintenance.

All Russell Watergardens pond systems are designed around routine maintenance rather than waiting for a major annual teardown.

The difference with a Hybrid Pond™ is how the pond itself is constructed and how water and debris move through it.

Floating debris goes to the skimmer.

Sinking debris moves toward the bottom drain and HydroSieve™.

The Hydro Vortex™ waterfall filter can be routinely backwashed.

The UV clarifier and aeration system each perform their specific jobs.

Instead of allowing a year's worth of material to accumulate before addressing it, the system gives the owner accessible places to remove debris throughout the season.

We think maintenance should be designed into the pond from the beginning.

Build the Pond That Fits You

A pond is something you'll look at, maintain and enjoy for many years.

Before choosing a pond kit, don't begin by asking which box of equipment you should buy.

Begin with a more important question:

What kind of pond do I actually want?

If you love a traditional naturalistic water garden, build a Water Garden Pond.

If koi are your primary focus, build a dedicated Koi Pond.

And if you find yourself wanting characteristics of both...

That's exactly why we created the Hybrid Pond™.

[ EXPLORE HYBRID POND™ KITS ]

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