Build A Koi Pond

Spend some time looking at photos of backyard ponds or if you know of anyone who has a Koi pond spend time studying theirs. The most valuable tool you can have in the beginning of building a Koi fish pond is patience. Take your time, think and re-think your Koi pond or backyard pond, and refine your ideas as you research by reading and talking to others.

The Pre-Planning phase is the most important step, make sure and take your time when planning your pond designs. You will save time and money when you pre-planning your pond designs. The worst thing you can do is build on a whim.

The first thing to do is plan your budget. Make sure you know what you need and what it will cost. The larger the pond the larger the expense will be. That means the size of your budget will determine the size of your pond.

If you skip purchasing essential items (filter, UV ultraviolet light, and pump) it will leave you with a bad outcome and you will walk away aggravated with the experience.

If you do not feel up to the job you can always leave it to the experts.

The easiest way to build a low maintenance fish pond is to create a working ecosystem within the fish pond. The way to create this ecosystem is to combine the following elements. Leaving any of these features out, will cause more difficulties in establishing a balanced ecosystem not to mention more time and money spent on maintenance.

• Purification system: A Biological filter or Pond filter In a closed water feature (i.e. non-spring fed) you need both a mechanical filter to handle larger debris and a biological filter to remove excess nutrients which cause green, murky water.

• Pond Pumps: Recirculation of a closed water feature is essential to add oxygen to the water for fish and bacteria. In addition, recirculation water keeps it fresh and allows gases to escape.A waterfall is another excellent way to add oxygen to you Fish Pond

• Koi Pond Liner and Underlayment: To greatly reduce water loss to the soil, an impermeable membrane (liner) is mandatory for small water features (under 1000 sq. ft.). A 45 Mil EPDM Rubber Pond Liner is recommended. To pad the liner, an underlayment is recommended. Woven underlayment will allows gases to escape and unlike sand, an underlayment will pad the vertical edges of the liner.

• Plants, Fish and Bacteria: Plants remove nutrients from the water for their own nourishment. Fish eat insects and in turn fertilize the plants. Bacteria eat the nutrients that create green, murky water therefore keeping the pond clear. Note: Eliminating any one of these variables in attempt to cut corners, will increase maintenance and decrease water clarity. By establishing a working ecosystem you work with nature instead of against it.

The reason why ponds do not turn out right is that most people do not do enough research and have insufficient equipment.

Fish Pond Supplies

A couple of points to remember: DO NOT Line the Bottom of the Pond with Rocks! The Bigger the Pond - the Easier to Maintain! To keep your pond clear install a UV Light.

Here are some water features that you will need when building your fish pond, and what functions they perform.

However, it will also increase the oxygen content of the water in another way, because as it splashes into the pond it will create a disturbance at the surface and this will have the effect of increasing the surface of the water to the air, so more oxygen can be absorbed.

For this system you will need a pipe connecting the main water supply to the pumping system or to replace lost water you can use a fine nozzle spray hose as this will dissipate much of the chlorine into the atmosphere.

Overflow

You will need to allow for an overflow on occasions of heavy rain which suddenly overload the pond water. Pipes can be placed around the pond just above the water surface, or they can be placed upright. In either case they will exit into the drainage system. Be sure they are covered with a suitable wireweld mesh so the smaller fish will not be carried away. The system described will circulate the water and oxygenate it but it will not remove debris, so this is the need for the bottom drain.

Bottom Drain

When using an external pump you must have a way to pull the water out of the pond. There are several drain methods available: bottom drains that install through the liner, vacuum bottom drains that sit on top of the liner and strainer baskets that cover the end of a hose to prevent fish from being sucked into it.

The most low-maintenance method is installing a 3" bottom drain through the liner. Both the vacuum bottom drain and the strainer caps are unable do as good of a job as one installed into the floor of the pond. Even a 2" bottom drain with the anti-vortex cover is not as good as the black-domed 3" bottom drain because it traps leaves and large debris at the cover and does not allow it to go out of the pond and into the leaf basket of the external pump. That trapped debris has to be pulled off periodically with a net or pole of some kind so there is a little more work to it. Although the 3" dome allows leaves and large debris to leave the pond it also sucks in small fish so one has to accept that he will need to rake off the top of the 2" periodically if his fish are less than 6" long.

The drain cover is best made from an inert material such as PVC so it will not rust or release chemicals in so doing.

Where the bottom drain is located can mean the difference between a "self-cleaning" pond and one that needs attention. It should be placed at the deepest part of the pond and the floor of the pond should slant gradually down to the drain to encourage all the debris to fall toward the drain. It should be installed half-an-inch lower than the pond's floor and be located as far away from the water return as possible to encourage healthy water circulation.

Koi Pond Filters

The removal of unwanted material in a pond is know as filtration and it can be achieved in one of four different ways: Mechanical, Chemical, Biological and Vegetative.

Liners Or Preformed Shells

• Liners allow you to be more creative with the shape of your pond. You must conform to the manufacturer’s idea of the perfect pond if you use a preformed shell.
• None that I know of come in four feet depths - a must if you want to offer your fish protection from predators.
• It saves you no time to put a preformed pond into the ground. In fact, it costs you another step to backfill to fit the shape of the shell.
• You can not put maintenance-saving bottom drains in the hard plastic shells.
• When the ground shifts (as it often does) the form will shift with it and your carefully constructed leveling job will be for aught.
• Forget putting that beautiful large boulder on the lip of the preformed shell. It will crack under the weight.
• And when it cracks let us know if the patching material stays on for more than a month.

The EPDM 45 mil rubber liner material is the only way to go.

EPDM carries a 20-year warranty. Because it is thick it is also very heavy. That could be the only negative about it! It is well worth the extra labor to install.

The liner is the skin of your pond and will be around for a very long time. Do not cost yourself trouble, money and aggravation by trying to find a “deal” on this particular product. After all, what good is a liner that does not hold water?

If someone offers you an irresistible deal on 45 mil EPDM — resist it. We have seen where folks are selling 45 mil EPDM rubber liner material for CHEAP prices and found out that it is used by roofers and has been treated with some kind of chemical that is very toxic to fish. Be sure the material is fish safe.

Money Savers or Not

Here are a few ways to avoid costly errors when purchasing equipment:

Research, research, research. There is a load of misinformation on the internet. Be careful.

Decide whether you are purchasing for the present or the future. For example, if you are planning to sell your home within a year then you wouldn’t probably want to put on an external pump. It would make sense, however, to purchase an external pump if you will be living with the pond for a couple of years or more. External pumps, though higher priced, cost less because they save money in the long run.

Decide whether your time is worth more than the cost to build your pond with a low-maintenance system. Then bite the bullet and opt for the low-maintenance system. You’ll thank yourself later for being so good to you.

Do not ever try to seam two pieces of liner together because someone gave you a piece and it was not quite big enough. You will be replacing it later, trust me!

Do not undersize your filter. It will require constant cleaning and will not keep your pond properly clean or healthy.

Do not go with a system just because it is a name brand that you trust — and do not always trust name brands. Labels will mislead you and just because a company spends a great amount of money on marketing does not mean it is a good product. There are many out there that are not worth the paper the ads are printed on.