Water Garden/Coi Pond

[Timber]

Yea I was tossing around a bottom drain because I have a nice pump for that but I am going to use it on a skimmer instead. It has been my experience in the past that over the season I have to enter the pool frequently for all kinds of reasons. I see a bottom drain as a very inconvenient leak to fix down the road. I also will have fish breeding so I don't want a bottom flush. I have a special pond vacuum for cleaning the pool bottom and the stone. The pond depth has a lot to do with geography. My climate hear is not very harsh but that depends on who you ask. The temp can go down to 0 degrees but never stays there. As a rule winter is around 30 to 40 degrees. I have never lost fish do to cold. The big key is to not let to pool freeze over and seal in the methane gas. That is what kills off your fish. Thank you for the link though I'll spend some time there today. I know a lot but many people know much more than I

 

[flusher]

Timber:
Looks like an neat project for you and your tractor.

I plan to try my hand at koi next year. But my pond is much less ambitious than yours.

It's just a box with inside dimensions 7'x7'x3' deep (about 2000 gallons) framed using 2x6 redwood. Inner walls are 3/4" P.T. plywood, outer wall is redwood planking with foam insulation between.

It has a 5'x5'x18" deep hole centered on the box with a bottom drain installed. I'll use a butyl liner and hide the edges with trim boards. It'll have a simple pergola to shade the fishies and provide attach points for netting to keep the predatory waterfowl away.

There's a simple 3-chamber filter design on KoiKorner

Welcome to: Keith's KOI Information Korner Page


This is a simple, old fart's design (my Medicare kicked in this month) with minimal digging and no concrete work. Like to do carpentry, hate concrete/masonry work.

 

[npaden]

Thank you for the link though I'll spend some time there today. I know a lot but many people know much more than I

Just keep in mind that some of the folks there have spent more on their ponds than most of us have spent on our tractors. But there is a lot of information there and they really do know their stuff.

 

[Timber]

Timber,

Not sure how much you want to get into your pond. Koiphen.com is a site that has a TON of information on Koi and pond building. If you want a real Koi pond you should probably look into a bottom drain for sure and it probably should be deeper. The people over there are pretty into it and might go a bit overboard but they sure have nice ponds. They have a specific forum for pond building also - Pond Construction and Filtration - Koiphen.com

FWIW, Nathan

Hey I really have to thank you for this information about Koiphen, What an incredible board. It took a bit to get signed in but you are right there is a world of information there. I have already added some ideas into my thinking. You are right though people do seem to go to extremes

 

[Timber]

Well it rained all last week so I wasn't able to get much done after work and this is what I started with saterday morning



I pumped out the water, the clay seems to hold water pretty well



I did a little more shape laing out to get an Idea of were I want to go with this

 

[Timber]

Ok now time to get serious. I need to open up the pond so the first thing is to start cutting a path into the bottom






The wet clay has been pretty slick as well as heavy. I have found that it is easier to grab a scoop and get on the ramp and float the bucket and pull it out. If the front wheels dig in I have to dump the load and curl the bucket and push myself out & recut the ramp

 

[Timber]

The nice thing has been that below the top soil line it is root and rock free for the most part and mostly clay. Clay is very slimy but in the end it is a great material to shape a pond with



I have a strait shot into the pond, my strategy has been to pick and shovel the material into the bottom.. The ground is saturated so water is weeping into the pool constantly. I also have the material I remove also adds to the water weeping back in. I build a pile of loose material and then come in and scoop it out. You can see hear how wet it is

 

[Timber]

Ok now there are 2 pools to this pond at 2 different elevations. 1 is going to spill into the other 1 creating a waterfall effect. I have put stones in place to hold the upper walls of the pool and then back filled in material to shape them



I am also cutting into the bottom hear to shape the bottom of this pool. This will not have any fish in it; there will be a bog and planting area around the upper edges. I have to pull some of the material back into the hole to plum it this weekend

 

[Timber]

It has become very difficult to move around so I have to move some of this material out of the way and basically clean everything up and see were we are



You can see hear the clay and the soil. For the most part I have been keeping everything separated. I do have a dirty pile of odd rock and soil that I have separated and now I will make a clay pile and a soil pile



I put up T post and wire to keep this entire area closed off mostly because of the dogs. As soon as the ground is covered in snow the pool will be undetectable. It is no mans land hear now

I put up T post and wire to keep this entire area closed off mostly because of the dogs. As soon as the ground is covered in snow the pool will be undetectable. It is no mans land hear now

 

[EddieWalker]

Timber,

Thanks for the update. Please don't take this wrong, but I find it fun to see what a mess you made. It looks like a war zone. hahahahaha

I know in the spring it will all come together and look amazing, but for now, I'm reallly enjoying your updates and pictures. All that mud and muck makes for some great tractoring!!!

Thanks,
Eddie