Construction of a larger pond

[ShawnLimy]

Hi every one.
I could use some of your expertise in building a larger pond.
I ended up building around a 1200 gallon pond last spring with just some small goldfish and shubunkins.
We inherited some good size koi, and need to construct a larger pond, around 5000 gallon.

I know i will need to get a bigger pump, filter, and liner, but what i would like to do is, install 2 bottom drains, Skimmer, and have an external pump.

I would probably build my own filter but, i could use some recommendations on a external pump.
I live in Southwestern Ontario Canada, and i would like to go around 7 ft deep.

I have no idea how to use Paint Shop, some i couldn't show the measurements.
The space i have to play with is shaped like a reversed letter L

Front: L-R 11ft across
Back: L-R 7ft
Front to Back: 21ft

 

[sissy]

Welcome and is that a chihuahua ,i have 2 of them .Don't know much about bottom drains or skimmers since I don't have any .To chicken to cut the liner Are you planning it all under ground or half and half .My pond is about half and half .The only tough part is the corners and the size of the liner you will need to go around to make the L shape .Mine is rectangular and has 2 built in filters I made my self .Also being in Canada you will need heaters because an external pump will need to be taken in out of the cold .I have laguna pumps internal .Colleen in Canada would be good for info she keeps hers running all winter with heaters.Mine is 5000 gallons

 

[j.w]

That's what I was going to suggest, to talk w/ @callingcolleen1 as she uses submersible pumps and keeps hers running all year round in Canada. She has koi and has had them for over 20yrs.

 

[sissy]

I don't know if colleen ever said how many gallons her pond is but I can tell from pics it is not real deep .She can do it any one can .i also know she has no bottom drain and I am not sure she has a skimmer .She is adding to her pond soon .

 

[ShawnLimy]

Welcome and is that a chihuahua ,i have 2 of them .Don't know much about bottom drains or skimmers since I don't have any .To chicken to cut the liner Are you planning it all under ground or half and half .My pond is about half and half .The only tough part is the corners and the size of the liner you will need to go around to make the L shape .Mine is rectangular and has 2 built in filters I made my self .Also being in Canada you will need heaters because an external pump will need to be taken in out of the cold .I have laguna pumps internal .Colleen in Canada would be good for info she keeps hers running all winter with heaters.Mine is 5000 gallons

Hi sissy, thanks for the welcome, and yes, that is a Chihuahua, and you had shown me pictures of your 2, and, don't you have a bigger dog that gets along with them? i remember talking with you last year about them.

 

[j.w]

I don't know if colleen ever said how many gallons her pond is but I can tell from pics it is not real deep .She can do it any one can .i also know she has no bottom drain and I am not sure she has a skimmer .She is adding to her pond soon .

Mine is 3&1/2' deep and I can hardly ever see the bottom. You think hers is less then 3' deep?

 

[sissy]

yep I have a pitbull named king arthur .Glad you came back to do a bigger pond .Koi do get big and make a mess of plants and they also eat trapdoor snails and you really need a good filter to clean the water .I have 2 filters and I am starting over as of last march moles or something chewed through my old liner and that is when I went a little bigger and took out the useless plant shelves and leveled off the bottom and went longer and higher .Old pond and then new one and where liner hangs over I added another row of full block on top and also a row of half height block

 

[sissy]

I look at the pics and can't tell jw .I don't know if she ever said how deep each pond was .I know i can see the bottom on mine but there are no plants to be able to tell the difference .I know it looks like at least a foot above ground

 

[j.w]

Guess we will have to ask her how deep it is @callingcolleen1

 

[CountryEscape]

Welcome! I can't imagine the size of the liner if you are going 7' deep! Maybe just in the narrower end, but 7' plus 7'+7' for both sides plus at least 1' overhang would be 23' wide on that end. The other end the liner would need to be 27' wide, and around here liners go to 20' wide. But, since you are planning on putting in bottom drains (I don't have one of them either, I'm chicken like Sissy LOL), you won't worry about gluing liners together. Good luck! I will be a massive pond, and I'm anxious to see it go up ..., or down as the case will likely be. ;-)

 

[sissy]

I know pond digger has a video on going to deep .But if you put in bottom drains with aerator it may work .That would have to be one good aerator though and may have to be run in the winter because of lack of oxygen

 

[callingcolleen1]

Hello!! Sorry I had to work yesterday on my day off and then fell asleep after work.

Well my ponds are no deeper than three feet. I have no skimmer as I don't think they would run very good in minis 40 below. I have no fancy bottom drains cause there is no need to drain my beautifully sparkling ponds ever, plus they might freeze if really cold and that would suck having to take pond apart and redo everything. I use only submersible underwater pumps with big round filters that can run all winter. All hoses are easy to reach should anything go wrong when it is minus 40 below.

There is not any point of going 7 feet down, too much would collect down there and it would be difficult to net out the bottom. This big pond guy that has a really really deep 10 foot deep pond has not had much luck wintering his fish cause his air stone bubbler thingy condensated and the line froze, and he lost lots of big koi that he had for years. He should have listened to me and left a good pump with underwater filter running WITH heater close by.

Then my ponds are about 3500 Imperial Gallons of water. My ponds are set up in three levels, and the water is pumped to top ponds and free flow down to bottom ponds. It is easy to keep tidy and very little pond waste collects in upper ponds as it gets washed down to bottom pond, but not before passing under this massive yellow flag marsh that natually floats. The long feathery roots of the massive yellow Flag water Iris naturally licks the pond bottom and eats the waste and lots of the fish winter under that plant in the middle pond.

Never rely on just one big pump, they don't seem to last long and I prefer to run several pumps and then I can create a underwater vortex where the Horn wort can then spin and outgrow what the fish can eat. Plus too if one pump dies and it is minus 40 below, at least I have two other pumps going all winter long keeping the water moving and that helps keep ice down and gases that build up under the ice away.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I think it would also view better if it was wider and longer rather than deeper. Although I am going to build a new upper level pond that will connect to other ponds and will build it 4 feet deep. Sometimes deeper not always better. Depends on how you set it up. Sometimes bigger just means it takes more energy to heat and much longer to defrost in spring.

 

[ShawnLimy]

yep I have a pitbull named king arthur .Glad you came back to do a bigger pond .Koi do get big and make a mess of plants and they also eat trapdoor snails and you really need a good filter to clean the water .I have 2 filters and I am starting over as of last march moles or something chewed through my old liner and that is when I went a little bigger and took out the useless plant shelves and leveled off the bottom and went longer and higher .Old pond and then new one and where liner hangs over I added another row of full block on top and also a row of half height block

Good job on your pond sissy, i like the bridge. I remember your pond the way it was before from pictures i had seen.
Say hi to King Arthur.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I look at the pics and can't tell jw .I don't know if she ever said how deep each pond was .I know i can see the bottom on mine but there are no plants to be able to tell the difference .I know it looks like at least a foot above ground

Yes, my ponds are partly built up, and the top pond is up one foot above ground. Top ponds defrost very quick that way too cause in dead of winter when warn Chinook winds blow in they melt faster cause they are not buried in frozen solid ground. Ground that freezes hard can act like deep freezer and keep pond frozen harder like ground.