A Koi Pond is Born!
Follow Along from Conception
to Completion as The Pond Doc Builds a State-of-the-Art, Low-Maintenance Doc's
Dream System Koi Pond in His Own Back Yard.
Pond Construction Stage
Installing the Equipment
Beginning Date: August 10, 2006
Although building a formal style pond is not our normal "thing", choosing and installing the equipment is where we shine! It doesn't matter what style the pond is -- for ease of maintenance, clarity of the water, healthiness of the pond itself, the equipment holds all the answers! In addition to that, you can choose all the right components and still have a mess if the equipment is installed incorrectly. The Doc is known for his uncanny ability to choose and install the right equipment for the desired effect.
We have some used equipment that is in excellent condition at the store. Using some of them will help us with the cost of our project. We'll be also using new equipment that we manufacture ourselves and sell. Also, the Doc will use "experimental" pieces as well because we are continually searching for ways of providing better product. It all depends on what will give us the desired results.
This page was last updated 09/26/2006
Click on the Thumbnails for Full-Size Pictures
| August 10, 2006 - Building the Pad | ||
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We will have a several large filters and external pumps that will need to be on flat, secure ground. Our plans are to place a cement pad on the lowest terrace below the pond terrace level and behind the fence so it remains out of sight. By placing the pumps lower than the water level of the pond we can benefit from using gravity to fill the priming pot. This does away with the need for self-priming pumps and will allow the pump to work at its best. As our contractor cuts out the side of the hill beside the pond he hauls dirt down to build a pad for the equipment. | |
| August 16, 2006 | ||
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There was not enough dirt to make the pad big enough for the equipment so more dirt was brought in. Cement blocks were used to create the outline of the pad and soil filled to the top. | |
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Our pad did not need the strength of the cement floor of the pond but we wanted a nice, permanent and flat area on which to sit all our pond equipment. Boards were nailed up and a form made on top of the soil. Cement was poured 4" thick, smoothed out, and allowed to dry. | |
| September 12, 2006 - Installing the Intake to Pump #1 | ||
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The first piece of equipment to be installed
is the #1 Pump. This pump will pull water from Skimmer #1 and
Drain #1 (on the right if facing the waterfall). Only the intake
lines are installed today. This pump will eventually return the
water through a UV and bead filter then back to the pond but I'm not sure
if it will be tied into the tier or the fountain and jets in the main
pond. The Doc will decide that later. A 3" Gate Valve is glued into the 3" hard PVC line from Drain #1 then immediately reduced to 2", which is the port opening size of the pump. This 3" Gate Valve allows us to cut off some or all of the flow from the bottom drain which is perfect in winter when we only want to pull water off the top through the skimmer. The line is then connected to a 2" tee before the pump to join up with the line from Skimmer #1. The line from the skimmer is 1 1/2" and a 1 1/2" Gate Valve is installed just before the tee so that we can control how much water is coming from the skimmer or turn it "off" altogether. Then a reducer is used to bring the 1 1/2" PVC to 2" so that it can tie into the tee. A 2" Union (or Quick Disconnect) is installed and screwed onto the intake port on the pump. This allows us the ability to remove the pump whenever necessary by simply unscrewing the union. The pump that we installed was a Jacuzzi product that we had on the shelf. It will give us over 4000 gph (gallons per hour) on LOW and over 7000 on HIGH. It will run on low during normal running and filtering then when we want to do a good backwashing of the filter we will switch it to high. |
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The Doc decides where he wants the first of several bead filters to be
placed.
This particular one is not a model we sell (yet). It's an experimental one he's "playing with". This is how he develops our line of ProBeads. |
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While working on our pond it rains quite often and the pond fills a bit. Now that the pump is in place we can drain out that water easily by opening up the drain line while keeping the skimmer line closed and removing the lid off the pump. Water drains slower if there is less water in the pond because the weight of the water is lighter so the water does not get "pushed" out as quickly. If the pond were full the water would be gushing out of the pump! | |
| September 13, 2006 - Installing the Filter, UV and Return Plumbing of System #1 | ||
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The rest of the plumbing and equipment for System #1 was installed using
2" hard PVC for the rest of the water's journey. A 2"
quick-disconnect (union) was screwed onto the outlet side of the pump.
Step #1: The line from the pump connected to the port of the
filter's 6-way valve that is marked "PUMP". Step #2: From the port
marked "RETURN" the line then goes to our UV and was installed with 2"
Unions that are specially designed to fit this model. Step #3: From
the bottom port of the UV 2" PVC was run back to the pond. It did
not matter which port on the UV we used as the inlet or outlet. In
our case, it made more sense to run the return plumbing from the bottom to
meet up with the plumbing already there that ran along the ground.
Once the water goes through the UV it is headed back to the pond -
actually the tier - to run the water sheet falling from the tier into the
pond and the spitting lion fountains. The UV we used is an Emperor brand 120 watt High Output (HO) unit. This was a perfect choice for us because it will clear up to 8000 gallons in full sun -- that's over half of our pond size -- and we'll end up with the right amount of UV strength once System #2 is installed using the exact same model. A by-pass is not necessary either since this model will work with flows between 3500 and 4500 gph. That's about what we'll be running... |
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| September 22, 2006 - Installing the Jets | ||
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Since we already had the 1 1/2" female threaded fittings installed into
the back wall of the main pond it was just a matter of screwing the jets
into the fittings.
We used three each 1 1/2" Eduction Jets. |
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| September 24, 2006 - Electric Panel Installed | ||
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We're going to need electricity to run our pumps and ultraviolet water clarifiers. The electrical box is installed into the cement retention wall at the back of the equipment pad and waterproofing caulk insures that no water will get behind it. | |
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Remember the electrical conduit that was buried into the trench on the outside wall of the pond structure along with the lines from the skimmers? Here's the end of it. An extension has been placed on it to get it over to the top of the electrical box. This conduit will keep the wires from getting wet. | |
| September 26, 2006 - The Skimmers & Drains Are Finished! | ||
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A 1 1/2" male threaded fitting is screwed into
the female threaded fitting that protrudes from the wall of the pond and
then adapted to 1 1/2" hard PVC. A short piece of PVC is used to
bring the skimmer out about half a foot or so then a hard PVC 90 degree
elbow is used to hold the skimmer vertically. Another short piece of
PVC is used to bring the skimmer up to the correct height. (You want
the floating insert to come up almost as far as it can go. That will
determine how high you need to mount the skimmer.) Then finally, the
PVC is adapted to a 1 1/2" male thread so that the skimmer body can be
screwed into place. To make the skimmers disappear into the pond,
the white plumbing has been painted black with regular latex spray paint. We always use a fish safe skimmer and not a side skimmer. Not only does our type of skimmer prevent fish from coming over and getting caught, it also adjusts to falling water levels as long as it does not fall below the lip of the body. The best thing about this skimmer is that the insert inside the skimmer body floats up and adjusts itself with the waterline of the pond. Any pond can lose an inch or so of water over a course of a few days (without having a leak). This way, as the water evaporates the insert corrects itself so the pump does not start sucking air until the waterline falls below the top of the skimmer casing. You want to install the skimmer so that the insert is fully extended at the normal waterline of the pond. |
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The pond had two 2" holes where water will be sucked down by the pumps. This is dangerous for fish since they can be sucked down into the holes along with the water and get stuck. The 3" bottom drain comes equipped with a large black dome that fits over it and allows up to an inch of water through the bottom edge. The floor of our pond was made so that the floor around the drains was raised slightly giving us approximately a half inch of space, which is great for us! The dome was filled with sand and water poured in then capped with the included cap. Once the cap was glued into place the dome became very heavy and will not easily pop off. To place the dome on the drain you simply push the 3 tabs into the holes around the drain base. | |
| Proceed to "Building the Rock Wall" |
The Project Schedule
(click on each step for pictures & details)
Though I tried to place each step in chronological order I am finding that as we progressed I often have to go back and revise what I've already completed. The color codes are as follows: BLACK is "Not Started", GREY is "In Process", PURPLE is "Completed" and RED is "Recently Revised"
Have a question about the construction of our dream pond (or any other question for that matter)? Click HERE!
To get to each section of our project so that you can see pictures and follow along with our progress, simply click on the stage in which you are interested.
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Finishing Up |
Practical Information | |||||
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