Many thanks to the moderators for the welcome back,it is good to be back and iam really looking forward to this project .
On the subject of worms,
Worms... you want composting worms (red wrigglers)... they are found at/near the surface in rich organic matter, moist leaf litter, cold compost heaps etc... you only need 2 or 3 to get started... they reproduce in no time!
Believe this or not I have no worms in the land around my home,the soil is completely impoverished,I tried growing in the dirt I turned the ground over for about three days for not one worm,I have never seen anything like it and I struggled to make anything grow. Most of the other land is set aside for rice so not the rich organic matter iam looking for. I would be better off buying worms and reintroducing them back into my garden. This might seem an exaggeration but it's how it is here.
The thoughts behind the Timer and going flood and drain is due to the size of the pond,it's 5000 gallons,holding Koi at the moment with a few what the locals call Blah nin,really good to eat and fast growing tilapia . The filter box is roughly 500 galls.with flood and drain I can reduce the running costs. Also when I built the pond I thought it was clever to put 2,2 inch bottom drains as opposed to 1,4inch water velocity being quicker through the 2,inch but it doesn't work that way and they can start blocking up,so with flood and drain I can use a big pump really pull the water through bleeding off for the growbeds on there flood cycle,the rest being returned to the main pond.
When I went back to the UK it got switched off and basically neglected,luckily due to the low stocking fish loss was down to just a couple of the Koi. So now it's time to resurrect it in all it's glory,so my thoughts were flood and drain through 4 or more raised grow beds,use the filter box as just settlement and a nursery for small fish,the main pond keep the Koi,some of them are getting quite large now and add food fish as well.
I have found some really good growbeds, the Thais use them for mixing cement in so they are a hard durable material,about the same price as barrels but less work to convert,these I will stand on a simple block base.
Well again thanks,I will start taking pics of my progress and share them here for anyone interested.
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... go auto siphon/loop siphon and run the pump 24/7... no issues with timers and pumps not restarting!