koi pond build, suggestions wanted

[critter69]

A lot goes into it. Depending on your location and freeze potential be sure you have a sump deep enough to protect them. Make sure your pump and filter can turn the pond over enough times a day. Cosmetic design is your preference. Other design will go by pond loading, plants, fish only? Tons of questions to answer. I built my mothers and we have koi that are 23 years old now.

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I live I Colorado and I put in a small pond, gold fish, and have had them for six years in there. Mine is only 2 feet deep, fish stay in it all year. I have a pump that I have a water fall ( stream) not sure what you want to call it. But a good flow of water And the surface freezes but where the water fall comes into the pond stays open no mater how cold it gets, as long as you have flowing water they will live through some down right cold temps.

[DRettele]

I've built a couple. Last time was 16 years ago at our current house. Like others have said you will want to have a 36" or deeper section to allow the koi to have some deeper cooler water in the summer months and also to keep them safe from predators such as raccoons and herons that like to stand in shallow water and spear fish. Carpet is good to line the pond before placing in the rubber liner. If you can plan for a pond bottom drain - trust me in this as it will make draining and cleaning the pond MUCH MUCH easier. If you do go with a pond bottom drain use 4" or larger plumbing to avoid the muck from clogging the drain. Other things to consider before building is whether or not you want to use submersible pumps or out of pond pumps. Make certain to research the volume of water you want to turn over every hour and the distance you will be pumping the water from pump to filter and waterfall including height. The same goes for submersible or out of pond UV water sterilization lights. You will want a UV light to keep the algae under control. Also research and think about a filter. There are many many options for all of these and how you want your finished project to look and ease of maintenance are key. Plan electrical outlets for pond and UV light placement.

I didn't do a pond bottom drain and wish I would have. I went with two submersible pond pumps with inline UV sterilization lights (one submersible and one out of pond). My filter is home made from a 300 gallon tank and stand I bought from Water Garden Gems in Marion. It is one of the tanks they use in their large building where they have all of their fish. I drilled two holes for the pump outlets to pump pond water into the bottom of the filter. I built a small stand inside the tank out of PVC to support the filter material for the water to flow up through and out near the top where I drilled and installed bulkheads to large PVC to direct the filter outflow into the back of my waterfall to go back into the pond. For the pond construction think about how you will want to cosmetically hide the liner on the top edge of the pond. I made a small shelf all the way around so I could place large rocks on it with the liner behind it. Bring the liner up behind the rocks and lay it on top of the ground outside of the pond. You can trim any excess later after all of the rocks are secured in place. With this method you can fill your pond enough to not expose any of the liner and with the liner brought up behind the rocks you won't have any water seeping out.

I'll try to follow up with some photos. Wish I would have taken some when I built it 16 years ago.

[Hollywood]

hey yall, while being unemployed I figured I could pay myself by investing in my house. One of the things I'd like to do someday soon is build a koi pond to go along with a new and larger backyard deck/patio (also someday soon). I already did a quick search for the topic here but other than a few individual tips (like buying rubber liner from a roofing company at 1/5th the cost) I didn't see what I was looking for.

So please, tell me how to do it, preferably myself. I'm no expert but I'm somewhat handy and have a modest assortment of tools.

thanks in advance

I didn't read the entire thread but, an inexpensive way to build a long lasting Koi pond is to use an old hot tub for the shell. Then line it, create waterfall, landscape with large rocks etc. Digging the hole will be the toughest part. Having a deep hot tube eleminated the freeze factor for our fish.

[DRettele]

First pic is from 1993.
The second pic is from this afternoon.

The structure behind the waterfall is where I have my filter hidden. The back is open for access to pull the filter media out and flush.

The dimensions are about 24 foot by 14 foot and the deepest spot in the pond is right at 3 foot.

[BrandonH]

First pic is from 1993.
The second pic is from this afternoon.

The structure behind the waterfall is where I have my filter hidden. The back is open for access to pull the filter media out and flush.

The dimensions are about 24 foot by 14 foot and the deepest spot in the pond is right at 3 foot.

Very nice. I had some great looking Lilly pads, then my daughter go 2 ducks and they ate any plant in the water.

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[DRettele]

Very nice. I had some great looking Lilly pads, then my daughter go 2 ducks and they ate any plant in the water.

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Ducks! I can only imagine! The Koi do enough damage to the lilys rooting in the pots and such. I try to find the largest round river stones I can to place on top of the pots.

I don't know why I typed that the first photo was from 1993 - it wasn't - it was from 2013.

[fowlwaters]

Please be very careful when selecting aquatic plants to put in the ponds. I deal with invasive aquatic plants in a lake and I will bet all of them came from a koi pond in someone's yard.

[DRettele]

Please be very careful when selecting aquatic plants to put in the ponds. I deal with invasive aquatic plants in a lake and I will bet all of them came from a koi pond in someone's yard.

That water lettuce may look nice but it is one hellova invasive plant. I won't go near that stuff.
I really don't understand how something could "accidentally" go from someone's backyard water garden to a lake or river. I know it doesn't happen accidentally - idiots don't want to kill it and will put it into another body of water.

[LFD2037]

First pic is from 1993.
The second pic is from this afternoon.

The structure behind the waterfall is where I have my filter hidden. The back is open for access to pull the filter media out and flush.

The dimensions are about 24 foot by 14 foot and the deepest spot in the pond is right at 3 foot.

Wow! That is an impressive set-up! Almost as big as my swimming pool. Beautiful job!

[fowlwaters]

That water lettuce may look nice but it is one hellova invasive plant. I won't go near that stuff.
I really don't understand how something could "accidentally" go from someone's backyard water garden to a lake or river. I know it doesn't happen accidentally - idiots don't want to kill it and will put it into another body of water.

High water events such as flooding it will flow out of pond into drainage ditch to the lake. Yes water lettuse is very bad had a new plant show up last year Chested Floating Heart and it is very costly to get rid of.