Discuss – Generally, it’s best to not have submerged plants in large pots, when also keeping KOI. The ideal KOI pond is much deeper than the average water garden, so the necessity for plants to help with water quality and shade is reduced.
Water Gardening is the fastest growing segment of the horticultural world and over twenty five million Americans now enjoy the pleasures of splashing water, swimming fish and the myriad wonderful water plants. According to Lilypons, that number is increasing at the rate of 15 to 25 percent each year. And no wonder. There is just nothing like a small pool with a trickling stream, colorful fish, margin grasses and water lilies. Birds come down to bath and in fact, you can create an entire little ecosystem – a water world with a host of water related flora and fauna. The sound of water gurgling over rocks is the music my wife and I listen to each evening of patio dining throughout the spring and summer and well into fall.
Discuss – Individuals should make sure that they do not make their fish pond too small. This is a mistake that a lot of beginners make.
I design them into many of my clients gardens and no one has yet regretted it. Quite the contrary. Talk to anyone who has a water garden. They sound like converts to another way of life. So happy are water gardeners with the decision they’ve made, we’re going to show you how to build your own. If you want a water garden but don’t want or haven’t the time to build your own, contact us at landscape-design-garden-plans.com. We’ll be delighted to design and build you a water garden or we’ll help find someone in your area.
Discuss – The poor Koi keeper is left wondering what happened. He then proceeds the way of many before him, with a shovel, lots of sand and a determination to fill in what was once a treasured feature of his garden, his Koi pond.
The hole should be of a pleasing shape, geometric for a formal garden, natural for an informal. Depth is not terribly critical for over wintering fish because of the effective pond heaters which can be purchased. (As long as the water doesn’t freeze all the way down, and poisonous gasses can escape, the fish will be fine all winter.) But a pond that is three feet or more in any direction looks best with a depth of at least 18 inches. For larger ponds, some portion, especially in cold areas, should be 3 or 4′ deep. (My water garden is about 6 ft. on the long side and over two feet in depth at the deepest part. Vary the depth. A shallow section where the fish are easily visible and where you can feed them and watch them romping around is a pleasant feature.
Discuss – Location is everything. First individuals must decide where they want to dig their fish pond.
Also, when digging the hole, build shelves into the sides. These are useful for placing margin plants and for hiding the liner and pump elements with river stones. Two shelves is ideal but one will work, especially on a small pool.
It is critical that the top edge of the hole be level all around. To check this, take a long, straight board and lay it across the pool with a level on it, or use a string with a line-level. Where it is low, build up with soil or lower where it is high. Getting this right will make it possible to fill the pool to the top with no portion of liner showing.
When the hole is dug, clean it of any protruding roots and large rocks, then place in the underliner. This can be an old carpet, a carpet liner or liner protection fabric, purchased from the suppliers. Make it as smooth and neat inside as possible, folding the material into pleats. Work from the inside to the outside, starting at one place and working around the sides in one direction. Leave a little extra over the edges and cut away the rest.
Discuss – There are also bubbling devices that can be placed in koi ponds to provide aeration if installing a waterfall is not practical. Especially in the bottom of the pool, koi pond aeration is a necessity, since this area is farthest from the surface.
Next comes the liner. There are several material choices for the liner, my preference generally being 45 mil EPDM Pond Liner material. This is flexible, relatively easy to work with and is strong. 30 mil Butyl rubber Pond Liner is also good and is a little easier to work with. Lay the liner in as you did the underliner, working out the wrinkles, and folding over the excess. Leave about a ft. extra over the edge and trim away the rest. (A linoleum knife, if you can find one, works well. A utility knife is also fine.)
Once the liner is in place, mark the water level, fill it and let it sit several hours. There should be no drop in water level. If there is, go all along the sides and look for a low spot. Most likely that is where it is loosing water. Holes are not common and should not occur if you have been reasonably careful.
Discuss – Provide adequate shade by having 60 to 70% of the pond’s surface area covered with floating plants or other types of shade.
Being possessed of abundant wisdom you no doubt acquired all the materials you would need for this project before beginning. Thus, you now find yourself surrounded by a ton of river rock and perhaps field stone of all sizes and shapes. River stone is rounded by the effect of water and looks right in water. Field stone is also a natural stone, weathered and smoothed and looks good around the outside of the pond.
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You also have your pump near by. (The size of the pump you will need is a factor of the gallon capacity of the pond. Your supplier will tell you how to determine that and help you to select the right size.) (Or go to landscape-design-garden-plans.com).
Recirculating pumps draw water in through a filter and pump it back out, usually through plastic tubing which runs from the pump to outside the pond, usually to some sort of waterfall. From there it runs back into the pond, aerating the water and providing visual and audio pleasure. (Fish love this. You’ll often find them sporting in the water as it pours into the pond.) The filter can either be connected to the pump or you can use an external filter for easy cleaning.
Discuss – Ensure that you have good mechanical and biological filtration and that your pump will turn the pond water over totally at least twice per day.
Place the pump in the deepest portion of the pond, on the opposite end from where the water returns to the pond. Hopefully that will also be somewhere you can easily get at it. Run both the electric cord and the plastic return hose up the sides of the pond. Before you cut the hose, which carries the water from the pump to the waterfall, make sure it is in place with enough extra hose with the pump for easy lifting for cleaning. Since you don’t want to see the pump, place rocks on both sides of it, both just a little taller than the pump, and lay a rock over the top. Use the rest of your river stone and the field stone to lay into the sides and along the top for a natural look. Sand and or small rounded gravel can be poured over the bottom.
Discuss – Another way to obtain Koi pond aeration is to have different kinds of under water pond plants such as Anacharis and Hornwort. These plants will grow and spread out very well under water.
You next need to create the means by which the water is returned to the pool – a waterfall of some sort. This needn’t be elaborate and shouldn’t be out of proportion to the pond. Above all, make sure that where the water comes out of the tubing, no portion of it fails to make it back to the pond. If it does, the pond will slowly, but surely empty. This is why you left extra liner. Put extra liner behind and around the waterfall, all sloping to the pond. Water may escape and run under the bottom of the rocks but will still end up back in the pond. More than ninety percent of
Filed under Koi Pond Building, Koi Pond Do It Yourself by on Nov 10th, 2008. Comment. 
Discuss – Another consideration is that fact that you will really want to keep your Koi pond close to your home in order to protect it from predatory animals and children that may inadvertently bring harm to your pond, equipment, or fish. This is after all a rather sizeable investment you will want to protect it.
Good concrete pond construction means not taking shortcuts. Improper methods can lead to more money spent on maintenance, repairs, or replacement than on the cost of the initial construction. Since good concrete pond construction equates to having one that lasts a lifetime or longer, follow these rules of thumb to get it right – the first time!
Keep in mind that for suitable concrete pond construction, you need to pour the concrete to a thickness of four to six inches. After deciding on the dimensions and outlining the area, all soil (and rocks!) should then be dug out. Forms then need to be built and placed where concrete is to be poured, along with the proper placement of cut-to-fit reinforcement bars (rebar).
For digging out the area for concrete pond construction, you will need shovels, picks, a crowbar, and, of course, a wheelbarrow. Some other necessary items include a carpenter’s level, string, stakes, sheets of plastic, and a long two-by-four.
Pouring the cement in concrete pond construction should be done in one day, unless the pond is very large, and then it must be poured in sections. Pour cement in the bottom of the pool first, then the sides. If shelves have been dug out, pour cement there, next. Finally, pour cement for the top of the pond and for any coping that may be involved.
Discuss – The poor Koi keeper is left wondering what happened. He then proceeds the way of many before him, with a shovel, lots of sand and a determination to fill in what was once a treasured feature of his garden, his Koi pond.
After you have completed these first steps of your concrete pond construction project, you need to let the cement cure for several days under plastic. Treating with muriatic acid at this stage helps prevent high pH levels in water later, which benefits fish and plants. After the acid treatment, apply several coats of paint made for pools or masonry sealant, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly.
Concrete pond construction can be a true learning experience. It’s best to start with a smaller pond, then if you meet with success, you can then move on to a larger project. But once you get the hang of concrete pond construction, there’s no limit to where you can go from there. So learn, build, and then build some more!
Carlo Morelli writes for OnlineTips.Org, where you can read tips on
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Filed under Koi Pond Building by on Nov 7th, 2008. 2 Comments.
Discuss – Ensure that you have good mechanical and biological filtration and that your pump will turn the pond water over totally at least twice per day.
Those of you familiar with my writing are accustomed to raves and rants about doing things in cooperation with nature instead of fighting against her; many years of trying it both ways have convinced me that the natural way is less costly to install and maintain, is easier on our fragile natural resources – and more fun!
So when I began researching water features several years ago, I was concerned with the most natural, low maintenance systems. My research unearthed numerous horror stories of thick, “pea soup” green ponds which had become nightmares to their owners. Drastic measures were taken to rid the ponds of the algae problem – extensive, sand-based filter systems and extremely expensive ultraviolet light sterilizers were used in an attempt to solve the problem.
I felt that the above “solutions” were merely treating the symptoms rather than the causes…the UV light did indeed kill the algae, but also killed all the beneficial pond organisms – those that contributed to the reduction of algae – so the problem returned soon with even greater severity.
Discuss – Make sure that when constructing a natural pond, that you dig deep enough, so that the pond does not freeze over during winter. Also, consider what types of aquatic life you want to include in the pond before digging.
I finally found a system based on cooperation with natural systems – one that was inherently low maintenance; following are several of the basic principles of this system, principles that contribute to a healthy, low maintenance water feature.
One of the most important conditions to provide in the pond is a rock and gravel floor…the millions of tiny spaces created are colonized by beneficial microorganisms which break down organic waste deposited by fish and decomposing plant parts. Using rocks and gravel creates a huge biological filter, reducing maintenance for the separate filter and creating a clean, healthy environment.
Rocks and gravel also: (1). provide a home for helpful aquatic insects and snails (2). protects the liner from sun and damage from larger animals (3). is more natural looking than a smooth surface (4). is not slippery like smooth surfaces (5). will hold the liner securely in place.
Including aquatic plants in your pond also contributes to a healthy ecosystem; plants use the carbon dioxide and nutrients that are produced by the beneficial organisms in the gravel and in the biological filter. Without plants, there would be a nutrient overload in the pond, resulting in toxic conditions for other pond life. And yes, algae is plant life – a small amount of algae is normal, and even beneficial, to the pond ecosystem… we just don’t want the algae to get out of control.
Discuss – Generally, it’s best to not have submerged plants in large pots, when also keeping KOI. The ideal KOI pond is much deeper than the average water garden, so the necessity for plants to help with water quality and shade is reduced.
Aquatic plants also provide: (1). beauty for the pond (2). oxygen for pond animals (3). shade from intense sunlight (4). food for insects and fish (5). shelter for small pond creatures.
Other factors contribute to the beauty and health of the low maintenance pond ecosystem. Colorful fish provide hours of relaxing entertainment, as well as feasting on algae, mosquito larvae and other insects. Though most pond owners feed a small amount of food to their fish, in a well-balanced pond, fish can feed themselves.
It’s also important to provide an efficient skimmer to catch the larger surface debris, and a biological filter, through which the pond water is pumped.
In conclusion, a healthy, clean and beautiful pond ecosystem relies on the interrelationship of all parts. Each link is important for the survival of the whole.
My initial research into water features turned up a multitude of systems and options – along with a lot of conflicting ideas and advice. The systems that impress us as the most user-friendly, lowest maintenance and most compatible with nature are now produced by several manufacturers…we’ve been providing these systems to satisfied clients for over five years.
Discuss – Building a fish pond entails more work than just digging a hole in the ground, and filling it with water. The first thing individuals have to do is use a plastic lining to separate the ground from what to become the fish pond.
If you have any general or specific questions or concerns about water gardening, feel free to contact me.
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Filed under Koi Pond Building, Koi Pond Do It Yourself by on Nov 1st, 2008. Comment.