The
small 800
gallon pond we originally had over the past few years just wasn't
going to do. It was more of a "water garden" feature
- pleasant but certainly not suitable for Koi keeping.
In
May2002 we decided to venture into the world of serious Koi
keeping. After several discussions, my husband and I set our
minds to having 2 ponds. One large one to be a home for Koi
only and a smaller one next to it so I could still continue
to enjoy some of the wonderful aquatic plants we've collected.
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We
would have loved to have gone very large, but budget was an issue(isn't
it always...?), so we figured 5000gallons should suit our purpose's
for the Koi only pond. We choose to stick with the 45mil EPDM
liner and opted to building our own gravity fed vortex/chamber
filter. We purchased a 3500gph(1/4hpw) pump to be plumbed to the
filter and a linear air compressor to drive the diffuser for the
4" bottom drain we planed for.
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(May'02) We tried to leave the original pond intact as long
as we could - but it will be moved shortly to complete the planned
pond. The hole is 6ft deep - and when finished will measure 21'
x 10' x 6'. There will be a narrow,shallow shelf for access in
and out of the pond - also to be considered a "safety"
feature incase someone might fall in! The hole you see behind
is where the vortex and filter chamber system will be. Lucky for
us the ground was only backfill/clay for about 2ft down, the remainder
was quite sandy making for easier digging.
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Three
stages of the filter construction: building the forms....re-enforce
with re-bar/add plumbing....pour concrete. |
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Next to install was the bottom drain, which again was a DIY
Home Depot purchased 4" pipe and gaskets.
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A
off cut of liner was used to block the drain hole for the install.
A 4" pipe runs up a 45degree angle to the vortex. Once all
the pipe work was joined the concrete was poured around the drain.
The bolts were removed from the top gasket ring after curing to
discard the liner patch - and the pond's liner was then ready to
be installed.
You
can't run a pond with out a pump! We added a Hayward self-priming
centrifugal pump(series SP-2600) - 3500gph. Intake is within the
final filter chamber and output runs to two separate lines - one
2" pipe to the waterfall(which then splits into three 1 1/2"
lines) and the other 2" pipe goes to the stream(which splits
into two 1 1/2" lines). |
The pump is also connected to a skimmer. There's also a Thomas
linear air compressor(115v) feeding the diffuser attached to the
bottom drains dome and 2 air lines in the filter chambers.
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Here
you see the final filter chamber where the pump draws. There is
a valve on the intake pipe(before the skimmer connection) allowing
shut off to the filter for maintenance. |
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2"
and 1 1/2" lines to the main water fall |
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2"
and 1 1/2" lines to the small stream opposite the waterfall |
....Finishing
Touches
With
the filter complete, the pump and plumbing installed and the pond
filled...time to add the finishing touches. We've collected rock
from all over southern and central Ontario over the past few years.
We really like the look of the "native" rock and chose
to surround the pond, and use it also for the waterfall and stream.
Creating a natural looking waterfall isn't easy...we put up and
tore down this ponds waterfall twice, but I think the results
were worth the effort. In some ways I'm still not satisfied with
the look...may do some re-designing another time.
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But
wait...we're not finished yet! Remember I mentioned two ponds...with
the Koi pond complete it was time to move onto the next stage
- the watergarden. We used the ordinal(old) pond liner for the
lower pond and an off-cut of the koi ponds liner for the top part....but
we had to dig some more first...*feel the pain, feel the burn,
gotta love it!*
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Top ponds depth approximately 15".
Plant shelf is 8" deep x 12" wide.
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Bottom
pond is 24" deep with varying depths of plant shelves, the
shallowest being 6". |
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Lots more rock to add.
Besides the plants the pond will be home to numerous
fancy guppies, a sarassa comet, shubunkin, and standard goldfish.
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Ok,
so we started this renovation of the ponds in mid - May, it's
now mid - July, and it's hot! Thankfully we have all this water
around to keep cool! The deck over the filter and pump is being
re-designed - and will probably change by next year...but here's
a photo of what looked like in August 2002.
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That's
it! Pretty much done, just some landscaping to do with perennials,
etc. Like any Ponder knows....it's never really finished....
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Visit
our Pond Photo Album to see what's changed!
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