Photos of expansion project

[DrCase]

It's Coming along great
When the plantings fill in it will be just right

 

[Carpe_Diem]

Very nice! Love the deck work here as well.

 

[D&RW]

Thanks everybody. Wife and I are looking at lots of plants. Landscaper offered to buy some at his wholesale and we'll definitely start with some of them. Then we're going to probably mostly pick em out slowly as we go. We'll start with some of them from him and then get them as we can. I'll take photos for sure.

 

[stroppy]

good D.... look forward to seeing them

 

[D&RW]

this time of year, Blue Herons cruising the neighborhood daily. fish have been in a garage, safe, no threats so spend their time cruising up by the surface. you can see them in the pics. so, here are some pics of the current protection system. cheap and easy to assemble-dissemble.

1) 1 in. conduit. rigid, light, cheap
2) 1X2 wood frames with plastic netting stapled. cheap, light, easy build
3) holders to keep conduit from rolling. you could use any scraps
4) height allows plants to grow

 

[cudamank]

i just view your project from start to finish, wow. You are truly devoted builder and caretaker of your koi! Looks wonderful.

 

[poodles-ponds and gardens]

I haven't decided whether to cut off the front post or put a lamp on it. cut off it'd look clean and i'm leaning that way.

You might reconsider leaving it and putting a light on it, unless you have other lighting in the area. It would be nice for enjoying your deck/pond after dark!

 

[poodles-ponds and gardens]

...as for netting cover you could try using black pex pipe or pvc, painted black and attach bird or deer netting with zip ties. It could be made in sections that could be removed easily. It would be less noticeable. After all that work, you want to be able to see that gorgeous pond and fish not the net. I know my pond is considerably smaller, but I've attached a pix of my net cover to give you an idea. You can look on the forum for others I've seen that members have made for winter covers. Same framing ideas just cover with net instead of plastic. I'm picturing half circle sections on each end and rectangular sections in the middle. Mine fits within the inside edge of the pond and has black pipe insulation on the bottom frame to allow it to float.

 

[D&RW]

...as for netting cover you could try using black pex pipe or pvc, painted black and attach bird or deer netting with zip ties. It could be made in sections that could be removed easily. It would be less noticeable. After all that work, you want to be able to see that gorgeous pond and fish not the net.

Neat idea. I am searching for something that is less obtrusive and yet much easier to place and remove.

What would be easiest, I think, would be a retractable arrangement like an RV awning, but with some kind of netting or screen. I wrote one company asking and they responded they didn't think their products could be put to my use. I'm guessing they'd be expensive too.

I could opt to do nothing and let a fish or two get taken. It'd mean that afterwards they'd hide all the time AND I lose one of my finny friends.
I just can't do that to them.

So, I'll give your system some thought. The ONLY problem I see is the inherent flexibility of pvc under about 2 inches in diameter. even schedule 80 is pretty mushy.

 

[D&RW]

thank you cudamank, for the compliment. definitely a labor of love.

 

[nigil]

My neighbor used plastic electrical conduit to support his net. He has metal rods sticking from the ground and can position and move his next very quickly as needed.

 

[DoDad]

I think it would be more pleasing to the eye if you would stretch fishing line from one end to the other and cover it with netting,

 

[D&RW]

I think it would be more pleasing to the eye if you would stretch fishing line from one end to the other and cover it with netting,

Are you talking about leaving the fishing line in place all the time? Interesting idea. It'd be a challenge to secure them on the waterfall side side. I'd rather whatever I put out doesn't impact the growth of the plants over there. the arrowheads stick up as do lilly blooms.

my wife had the idea of buying hula-hoops. tying foam pool floats to them and let em float around. I'm thinking with the skimmer turned down low for summer, they'd still tend to congregate at that end. Plus, seems like it'd take a lot of them and there'd be the job of taking em out and putting them in.

i think once the lillies are leafed out it'll be less of an issue. that whole wall/house side will be more or less covered in leaves. the other side isn't really very accessible to anything other than a green heron or an osprey. i doubt an osprey would fool with such a small body of water, but we've had a green heron sample our fish with the original small pond that was back there.

 

[koikeepr]

i did the hoola-hoop idea on the plants last summer. I just got a piece of thin PVC pipe and spray painted it black. It worked perfectly fine in keeping all the plants corralled, but the koi kept eating all the roots.

This year I'm gonna try koiguy's idea for protecting the roots by rigging up a screen/netting underneath. Look at the DIY section for his plan.

 

[DoDad]

Tie a piece of fishing line from stake to stake and tie knots where the lines intersect.