- Joined
- Sep 16, 2018
- Messages
- 63
- Reaction score
- 90
- Location
- Panhandle of Texas
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- Hardiness Zone
- 7b
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I built a 1,000 gallon koi pond back in the day before kids. We moved houses and didn’t feel safe having open water around with young ones. The kids are finally old enough, where water safety isn’t a major concern, so I’m building a pond again!
I’ve been digging as much as time allows for the last 10 days. I haven’t calculated approx. gallonage lately, but maybe around 3,500 gallons is what I’ll end up with. Just using hand tools and a wheelbarrow. Too bad summer isn’t right around the corner, because (after approx. 18 tons of excavation) I should be in plenty good of shape. The first ledge in my pics is for coping rocks/boulders. I will rock the vertical walls in the pond and gravel the horizontal surfaces. I hope to dig some plant pockets on the shallower shelves so that I can plant directly in them without using pots. I’ll use pots for my lilies that are down deeper. The area along the back fence will be my raised upflow bog filter (approx. 13’X5’) that will waterfall back into the pond. The pond will be 36” at the deepest and I plan to stock with koi. I also hope to cut some fish caves in the shelves at a couple of spots.
My liner will be here in 3 days and I have my submersible pump on order. Wow! This is a high dollar project and I’m doing all the work myself. I’m thankful I’m able to do my own work because I would never break loose enough money to pay to have this done, and I know I’ll like the final product a lot more if I do the work.
What a great forum this is. I’ve spent hours reading different topics over the last day since I discovered it. I really liked Addy’s Bog Building thread. That took a while to read, but I’m glad I did. Lots of good info! Lots of other good threads also.
Below are 3 pics from my first 10 days. Still have more digging to do. Once my liner gets here, I’ll probably extend the L (right hand side of the picture) out more as I see exactly how much the liner will allow. That porch off of my barn will eventually be covered and a swing will be on the near side to allow viewing of the pond.
Thanks everybody! I'll update this post with pics as I make progress. The liner came in a day early. It is here now! I just got off from a double shift at work (48 hours total) though and I'm smoked. I get he next 4 days off so maybe I can make some good progress.
bagsmom - yes I've seen the Pond Digger's fish cave culverts and I like that idea. I can't find any scrap pieces of culvert though and I don't want to buy a full joint of that high dollar stuff. I'm thinking about using milk crates or some other tough plastic tote.
I’ve been digging as much as time allows for the last 10 days. I haven’t calculated approx. gallonage lately, but maybe around 3,500 gallons is what I’ll end up with. Just using hand tools and a wheelbarrow. Too bad summer isn’t right around the corner, because (after approx. 18 tons of excavation) I should be in plenty good of shape. The first ledge in my pics is for coping rocks/boulders. I will rock the vertical walls in the pond and gravel the horizontal surfaces. I hope to dig some plant pockets on the shallower shelves so that I can plant directly in them without using pots. I’ll use pots for my lilies that are down deeper. The area along the back fence will be my raised upflow bog filter (approx. 13’X5’) that will waterfall back into the pond. The pond will be 36” at the deepest and I plan to stock with koi. I also hope to cut some fish caves in the shelves at a couple of spots.
My liner will be here in 3 days and I have my submersible pump on order. Wow! This is a high dollar project and I’m doing all the work myself. I’m thankful I’m able to do my own work because I would never break loose enough money to pay to have this done, and I know I’ll like the final product a lot more if I do the work.
What a great forum this is. I’ve spent hours reading different topics over the last day since I discovered it. I really liked Addy’s Bog Building thread. That took a while to read, but I’m glad I did. Lots of good info! Lots of other good threads also.
Below are 3 pics from my first 10 days. Still have more digging to do. Once my liner gets here, I’ll probably extend the L (right hand side of the picture) out more as I see exactly how much the liner will allow. That porch off of my barn will eventually be covered and a swing will be on the near side to allow viewing of the pond.
Thanks everybody! I'll update this post with pics as I make progress. The liner came in a day early. It is here now! I just got off from a double shift at work (48 hours total) though and I'm smoked. I get he next 4 days off so maybe I can make some good progress.
bagsmom - yes I've seen the Pond Digger's fish cave culverts and I like that idea. I can't find any scrap pieces of culvert though and I don't want to buy a full joint of that high dollar stuff. I'm thinking about using milk crates or some other tough plastic tote.
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