Pool for Koi pond?

[Chris2]

The good news: I should have my new backhoe (Kubota BH75) in a day or two.
The not so good news: I had to promise my wife that I would build her a Koi pond in return for my new tool (toy).
My question is can I just simply burry one of those cheep air rig top swimming pools or will it just rot out in a short time?

[js5020]

I personally would take a look at some pond info, and do it once with pond liner and use some proven techniques,,, if your gonna do it,,,do it mostly right, besides the wrath of a woman with dead Koi from a failed pond is to be avoided!

[Chris2]

As much as I hate doing things twice this is just a test run to see if she will actually take care of it, she gets lots of ideas. She had a small goldfish pond several years ago that went down hill within 3 months (half my fault I put it under a tree)

[js5020]

Well then it can be a small pond/water garden. What size you thinking about making it?

[flusher]

Originally Posted by Chris2

The good news: I should have my new backhoe (Kubota BH75) in a day or two.
The not so good news: I had to promise my wife that I would build her a Koi pond in return for my new tool (toy).
My question is can I just simply burry one of those cheep air rig top swimming pools or will it just rot out in a short time?

Get yourself one of those galvanized steel stock watering tanks at your local farm supply store, use your new toy to dig a hole and drop it in. Makes a good, inexpensive starter pond for koi.



Add a cheap pump from Harbor Freight to circulate the water and make the koi happy. Or spend more $$ at a pet store and get a filter system.

If you have trouble keeping the koi alive, switch to goldfish. They're much more forgiving.

Don't have a backhoe, hate to dig holes by hand, so my koi pond is an above ground tank (1400 gal) with a rubber liner and a homemade filter system.

[Chris2]

My original thought was to do it at a 90* angle around my deck which would have been 6-8' wide and 25' long 4-5' deep. Now I think I'll go cheaper on it and do a basic oval or kidney shape in front of the deck 6'X10' or 8'X15' at least 3' deep. I am still trying to talk her into the small one because I plan on digging out a creek behind the house and make a small pond out of it, don't know if that will work but I値l give it shot and see what happens. There is one on E-Bay preformed liner 9'11"X5'6"X24" I think all of these are too small for koi maybe goldfish. The one on E-Bay was close to 400 + shipping (don't remember what that was). I just thought one of those pools would be cheep and easy.

[Chris2]

Nice, I didn't know you could get those tanks that large. But I would still have to put in a liner so that would be wasted $$ since the ground would be the form.

[woodlandfarms]

Are you REALLY sure you want one? They are a major PIA. We have one at our house in LA.. Nothing but work. Just like a fish tank, fun for the first month, then miserable for the next 10 years. Do not do it. Filtration, cleaning, $1000 koi dying for no reason... Just say no. Get her a llama or better a cat.

That said, I would not do a kiddie pond. They really will only give you a season or two at the best. Just dig the hole, get some EPDM from Home Depot (or cheaper if you order online) and use the EPDM Pond Liner... Make sure you put an old carpet or carpet pad underneath the liner. Keeps rub spots down to a mimimum. If you are going for koi, create a quality filtering system. There are many to choose from (from simple natural veggie filters to complicated UV / Sand filters which we saddlly have), but design that now before you dig your hole. We did not and got burned because we could not find a hidden spot to put the large filters... We never thought of it until it was too late. Also, factor in electricity and water. Depending on where you live it is nice to have an auto fill up feature.

Carl

[ronjhall]

I have a pond that was dug with my BL4690 BH in 2002.
It is 11' X 16'. Just about right for us.

Use a good liner material. Put a good sand base and protector for liner.
Ours is a skimmer/bio-falls type. Pond started at 3' deep. By the time all sand and rock were added depth is just over 2' deep. This a good depth that allow you to get into pond and work on bottom with water in pond. Any deeper and you cannot rear bottom without getting wet.
The biggest thing we have done is eliminate all vegetation in pond. This has cut down on pond maintainability greatly. Wife is not that happy with this change. But it has really made a difference. You do not have to worry about freezing where you live. We always had some type of heater in pond. Did not put one in this year. It was cold here in MI. this winter. Mine and my neighbors pond did not loose a single fish and saved a lot of money running the heater. Yesterday I replace the pump in the pond. These thing can use a lot of electricity and are expensive to buy. Our uses about $30 a month if run full time. I put our on a timer that shuts pump off during the hottest time of day. This kills off the algae that collects on the falls and saves $'s.
One other problem we have is Cranes. There is a rookery about 1 mile from our place. Our neighborhood ponds are one of their favorite places to visit. We have a motion sensor lawn sprinkler that keeps them from spending to much time at our pond.
We have stopped trying to raise Koi. While they grow bigger than Goldfish. They are not as forgiving of water that is not just right. No problems with Goldfish and they thrive on clear water.

Please ask questions if you need more help.

[Chris2]

Thanks for all the help guys. I lean more to Woodlandfarms idea (don稚 do it) but a deal is a deal so I'll go small and cheap. At the very worst I'll get more play, I mean work time on the BH a year from now filling in the hole I just dug. Because she WILL let it go down hill, I just really wanted this BH.