New to pond fish, but want to keep koi

17 years ago

Got a couple of years experience with tropical aquariums, but ponds are new to me. I well aware of the nitrogen cycle, and stocking levels with comparison to surface area(though addvice is welcome)

I'm looking at building a pond in the next month or two, so I'd like plenty of input.

Due to the fact their are little children, this will have to be a raised pond (was thinking of 4"by4" posts every meter to suport the pond. It needs to be a minimum of 2foot above the ground, and i will get a digger in to bring the level below down 2.5-3 foot giving me a total of 4.5-5foot depth.

I have a large garden, but not huge, would a pond 2 meters by 3-4 meters be big enough for koi. I have read that Koi can grow up to a metre, and going by the aquarium guide of 4 times the length and 1.5 times the width, compared to their total body length.

I also read an article about mud pools, which are supposedly far better for the koi. the soil here is very heavy clay, and is quite often boggy, though i do live on a hill, there is a fairly high water table.

I'm more likly to want to line it (for peice on mind rather than anything else) whether that be with flexible liner or precast(havent seen anything like i want yet)

though I wont compromise on the fishes needs, I havent got huge amounts of money to throw at this thing, so DIY addvice is also welcome.

the other thing I've read about is (as with indoor aquariums aswell) that plants will help with the filtering process, and that is something I'd really like to have, ie a well planted pond .

Comments (2)

frloplady
17 years ago
Nice size pond for koi. If you think you need plants to help with filtration I'd advise a smaller pool for the plants that would feed into the pond. Koi can live ok with plants..and then they can eat them all too.

My koi pond is clean of plants. I have my separate lily and goldie ponds for my plant enjoyment.

Go with bottom drains in the pond and gravity feed to a settlement tank. It will take out most of the solids and keep the bottom of the pond clean. Lots of DIY filtration out there. Good ideas abound on other web sites. They can't be mentioned here.
surfhead
17 years ago
you are looking at about 3000 gallons, plenty of room for koi, and a good depth too. a few pointers. 1) don't build the raised sideds out of wood. the pressure from the water over time will bow the wood and you will need to run a stringer across the top to hold the frame together. I would used cement blocks....much stronger and you can put slate, tile or stucco to hide the blocks. 2) I second the comment about a gravity fed bottom drain into a SC. Take it a step further and make it an aerated bottom drain. Best thing you can do for your pond IMO. 3) bowl the bottom of your pond so the deepest point is at the bottom drain. 4) for a GREAT DIY mechanical filter try a DIY Microscreen. its self cleaning and GREATLY improves them effectivness of your bio filter because it's not getting clogged with muck. 5) so much more, too much to typw out here....read read read. visit koi phen . com (remove spaces, this sight is blocked, not sure why, its one of the best koi sites on the net!) they have TONS of info on pond building and a lot of the big dogs in the industry (koi judges, pond contractors, breeders, etc) hang out there.
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