Need help can anyone give me some pointers on my pond design

[poconojoe]

Concrete blocks would be way better. As you stated, you can drive rebar down through the hollow sections and then fill them with concrete.

Is it at all possible for you to build the pond bigger for those koi. They can grow very large and need lots of space. 8 ft X 5 ft is way too small for koi.

 

[poconojoe]

If you're going to dig 2 feet down, why not just dig down another foot, skip the blocks and make the pond completely under ground?

 

[Lisak1]

If you're going to dig 2 feet down, why not just dig down another foot, skip the blocks and make the pond completely under ground?

I agree with that 100%.

As for depth, deeper is always nice as you have more water volume. However, you don't NEED three feet even in cold temps. Here in the Chicago area I've seen TONS of ponds that are built 24 inches deep and the fish overwinter in them just fine.

 

[mooseo]

I would guess that the volume of the pond above grade will not do all that much for thermal protection. If you have 2' of pond above grade, supported by blocks, it will cool down much more rapidly than that same 2' of pond buried in the ground.

On the other hand, Lisak1's experience sounds pretty encouraging. I don't know where you're located, but I'm guessing it's often warmer than Chicago!

 

[sissy]

I used rebar inside mine you can see it in my pond build . It works great . I have clay soil so packed each block solid with it and then the rebar . Been lie that even after I had to rebuild the pond 2 times because a dog fell in

 

[GBBUDD]

I used block for my 5 foot retaining wall in the pond 8 " block with a footing and rebar and block had the rebar in every other bay drilled into the footing . Then the blocks were poured solid. I have a description of some tips in the build blog below.

a 4" thick block wall with nothing but mortar holding it together can be popped quite easily.

as far as could it hold bak 1 foot of water if the blocks were sitting on a footing yes they could but even then i would double it up. would i do a 2' tall no