4500 Gallon koi pond in progress (I need some help) :confused:

[taherrmann4]

Alright thanks, I am going to use them for the waterfalls. The digging starts in 2 days, only problem I stumbled accros is I was wondering how do you guys prevent the pipeline from freezing during winter? Do you remove the pump when it starts getting cold? And during winter I should just leave the airator on, right?

Denis welcome

Your winters are about the same as mine I am in Cincinnati and I usually pull my pump out (external pump) around Thanksgiving and put it in around March 1st. As Addy stated I used the rubber plumbing gaskets to easily take out. You will need to make sure that you can drain your lines, mine all go downhill and on the one where there is a low spot I have a T where I open up a valve to dain. I leave an airator going all year, in the winter it helps keep ice from completly freezing over and I also think it helps get the pond started quicker in the spring.

 

[Denis S]

After the pond, I plan on making a small garden pond with lilies..., my question is does it need a filter if its only going to be plants? Or can I just dig a small hole, add the liner, and place in the plants?

 

[fishin4cars]

It can be done that way, But you'll be happier if you do put a filter on it and then it can also be used as a QT pond for new fish. My dealer has about 1000 gallon box style pond with nothing but lily's and marginal plants, has about 6 wakin and two shubunkins in there to control mosquitos, Can't see the fish most of the time but it's full of babies. I talked him into running a airstone in each end and the water cleared up by about 50% and not quite so pea soup green now. Trying to talk him into installing a DOC filter on it but so far no luck.

 

[Denis S]

Yea but that would cost money and I only planed to dig it the size needed for plans. QT? is that a tank to hold fish for a bit to make sure its not sick or a treatment area?

 

[fishin4cars]

Yes, exactly! :lamp5:

 

[KennethO]

Sounds good. The filter for the plants isn't needed, but you'll get clearer water and ofcourse more nutrients. You wouldn't want an exquisite pond and right next to it, a hole of pea soup. I'd make a cheap 20g filter for it and that's all you'd ever need.

Now as far as the main pond there are some things I would like to bring up. Bottom drains add another avenu for a leak to start at. And once one happened, it can be hard to notice till it gets real bad. And repair requires a complete pond drain to fix.

Another thing is. Are you running a gravity fed or pump fed filter? If it is pump fed then a settlement chamber is almost useless. The pumps impellers turn any waste sucked up into a slurry. Bottom drains work best as gravity fed. Also make sure the whole pond floor slopes to the drain.

If your set on a bottom drain. I'd go with a retro drain. Works just as good and no hassles.

Don't use rocks in the pond. In time the liner will get a thin silt layer and alge which will hide it just as well as rocks.

And as a side note. Is that treated pine? And will it see sun or weather? If so, watch for warping.
Good luck.

 

[Denis S]

I might do that down the road. (small filter when I make the garden pond).
It would be gravity fed. BD-300gallon settlement chamber-pump-2, 55 gallon filters- uv light- waterfall filter.
BD doesn't seem like its very hard to install and I prefer it over retro drain because you don't see the pipes... The rocks will be only on the top 1' to 2'. for exotic look and they are very easy to clean off as well.
The tree is oak and it will be underground and covered by liner. The reason why I am even doing a wooden frame is because my back yard goes at a downward slope and I also want the pond to be parallel with the deck (here is a better design) hopefully

 

[Denis S]

3500 Gallon koi pond in progress

:fish2::nananananana::0000000057:

 

[addy1]

Very nice Denis, love your planning drawings. The rock around the top is similar to what I have done, mine doesn't go down as deep. The fry, tads all love to hide in them. So far no real issues with muck.

mine is on a slope also. We put up a dirt berm about 3-4 feet high and wide.

Have to do different planning to get a pond level on a slope........

My lotus pond has no filtration, just plants, a bubbler and a few fish, the water is not "clear" but it does not have algae either. i.e. not pea soup green. The lotus suck the nutrients out of that water the algae would need to grow.

 

[koidaddy]

Going to throw this out there reguarding your skimmer/bottom drain plumbing. I hooked mine up just like my swimming pool. Each line goes into a Jandy valve that can be adjusted to which feature you want more pull from.

 

[addy1]

Very good idea koidaddy, I use the ball valves, but that jandy has a nice three way feed.

 

[koidaddy]

Thanks addy1. I started out with ball valves for the price, @$7 for 1-1/2". The Jandy runs @$30 but was worth it.

 

[addy1]

So to understand it better, you could feed your skimmer and bottom drain piping in, then to the pump. But you would be able to select, all flow from the skimmer, all flow from the bottom or a combination of both.

 

[fishin4cars]

I would like to comment on the bottom drain. This is something I have been researching and looking into. I've talked to several people that use them. If correctly installed most people that use them will tell you that there are far more areas of concern for leaks than the bottom drain. Piping connections, filter over flows, and, pumps leaking are far bigger issues than the bottom drain. Personally I can't say as I have yet to use one but for the pro's vs Con's, I have to say that a well thought out bottom drain in a koi pond is very much a great benefit to koi health. The hard part is getting over that initial scare of cutting a hole in the liner and correctly installing the first one. :regular_waving_emot

 

[koidaddy]

So to understand it better, you could feed your skimmer and bottom drain piping in, then to the pump. But you would be able to select, all flow from the skimmer, all flow from the bottom or a combination of both.

Exactly. I keep them even mostly but have have the bottom at 75% due to not having a skimmer hooked for so long. Couldn't believe how much was there. And with no pebbles on the bottom.

I would like to comment on the bottom drain. This is something I have been researching and looking into. I've talked to several people that use them. If correctly installed most people that use them will tell you that there are far more areas of concern for leaks than the bottom drain. Piping connections, filter over flows, and, pumps leaking are far bigger issues than the bottom drain. Personally I can't say as I have yet to use one but for the pro's vs Con's, I have to say that a well thought out bottom drain in a koi pond is very much a great benefit to koi health. The hard part is getting over that initial scare of cutting a hole in the liner and correctly installing the first one. :regular_waving_emot

I will say that here in Florida where im at cutting the liner is very risky. We have sand all the way down to the water table. Which isn't that far down. Sand likes to settle and move with the moisture, everything shifts putting stress on the liner/bottom drain and you have a leak. So for me it was a no cut situation. I will stress the importance of one especially if you want to keep koi. What I did was plumb some 1 1/2" pvc to the bottom with a 8" plastic floor drain attached face down with four legs @1" off the bottom. I painted the pvc flat black and it looks ok. Function over fashion from now on.