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.
Planning Stage
Beginning Date: Winter, 2005
This page was last updated 09/26/2006
The Doc and I have settled in to our new home in Dahlonega, Georgia and we're finally beginning to implement our plans for a 15,000-gallon koi pond that is to be Smokey Jo's new home. We've decided to put the whole process online so that you can follow along with it's progress. Just bookmark this page as a favorite and come back often to see what we've done.
Winter, 2005
We are building a deep koi pond with raised walls that will house our personal collection of beautiful jumbo koi. We will utilize our knowledge of healthy construction techniques along with the best equipment available on the market to insure that our pond is as low-maintenance as possible while being aesthetically pleasing and healthy for our "children". This will be a state-of-the-art koi pond and the techniques and equipment we'll use will literally be taken from the pages of The Doc's Dream System -- A Construction Guide to Backyard Ponds. Though this will be a showcase of sorts and a larger than normal pond -- the same rules, techniques and equipment can be used on smaller ponds as well.
We know from experience that we can never have a large enough pond. We love BIG koi so we need plenty of room for them. It has to be deep to protect our koi from predators and to allow them plenty of room for exercise. We will end up with about 5 ft. depth. The size of the pond, per our plans, is 19 ft. 4 inches square. The main body of the pond will contain about 14,000 gallons. It will be a square so it's easy to figure the gallons. Width x Length x Depth x 7.5 = 14,016.62 gallons. The tier will add about 1000 gallons so we should end up with about 15,000 gallons total after all is said and done.
We really didn't have much choice of where it could go because we certainly did not want to disturb our septic tank (which is to the right of the pool) and, since we're on the side of a mountain, there is no other section of level land that is big enough to accommodate the size we need. But -- where it's going is quite perfect for us because we can enjoy it from either level of the house. The area of the pond where we plan to have our plants (with water lilies and lotus) will receive sun all day long. We don't worry about sun causing green water algae because we plan to install a UV system large enough to keep the pond sparkling clear.
In the past we've almost always built natural-looking ponds. The ones at the store, including the Oriental pond where Smokey Jo is now, are quite beautiful and do appear as if Mother Nature put them there herself. This time, however, we resisted the urge to create a natural style. Our house is stucco and has a Mediterranean feel. We just didn't think our normal natural pond would fit as well as a more formal style would. We want raised walls with stacked stone and we want it to be symmetrical in design and shape.
We knew going into it that by designing and building our pond this way our cost would be much, much more. Walls are expensive and the rock itself is not cheap. There will be added cost that natural designs do not have such as the block used on the walls, the rock used on the facing of the walls, the cost of the rock masons to install it, and the concrete floor that has to be poured. Keep in mind as you follow our progress that if you build a pond without walls you will not have those types of expenses -- just the cost of the rock that's placed around the edge.
Not only is our project going to have some major expenses involved, it will also be a challenge to us. We are not as comfortable building a formal style pond as we are a natural one. This will be a learning experience for us. It will take more time and research but it will be worth it!
~ A sketch of our project ~
We chose an exact square with a raised tier so that we can have a couple of "water sheet" type waterfalls. A higher tier built up from ground level will also allow us to have water lilies and lotus without the deer (that come every night) being able to reach and eat them. We have at our store a couple of large cement lions that will sit beautifully on the top tier and "spit" into the pond. These lions will "sit" on top of the water and be nestled within umbrella palms, reeds, water lilies and lotus plants. We do not plan to have ANY plants in the main part of the pond (because it's just not a good idea with our huge rambunctious koi) so the tier will be our water garden. We may choose to place a few fancy goldfish in it.
Because the pond is being built on a slant we will build a wall around the pond that will vary in height. The lowest part of the wall will be in the "front" of the pond. We did a sketch (above) that shows a view of the pond from the front. This wall will have two purposes. One is to level the pond. The other purpose (and this was my request) is to allow a "sitting area" around the pond so that we can comfortably sit and feed our babies by hand. I have bad knees and it's hard for me to get up and down.
A pond this size requires a lot of water flow and filtering. We have chosen to install 2 separate systems that can run independently. That means 2 re-circulation drains, 2 pumps (external of course!), 2 fish-safe skimmers, 2 bead filters and 2 UV's. 2 separate systems is a better choice than 1 monster system. If one of the pumps goes out you are not without aeration and filtration. Plus - having 2 pumping systems gives you options you wouldn't otherwise have. We will be installing 3 jets that will create movement under the water and create currents that will continually sweep debris to the bottom drains so that our filters can remove it without added maintenance labor on our part. We haven't yet decided which model pumps, UV and ProBead filters we'll use. Nor have we decided about the type and strength fountain head we'll use and exactly where we'll place it.
Our backyard has several terraced levels. There is one level area below the pond's level that makes a perfect spot to install the equipment. Because the pumps will be located below the surface level of the pond we do not need self-priming pumps. This is the most efficient way to position an external pump because it relies on gravity to feed it water and does not have to use energy to pull water up to it. It also makes the need for priming non-existent. We will need to install gate valves at the pumps to be able to "turn off" the water feeding to it. More on that later...
We've decided not to use the normal rubber liner for our pond. A friend and associate of ours, Neil Boyce of Blades & Blossoms, is having great success with a spray-on type of liner that can be colored. Although it is more expensive than using 45 mil EPDM rubber it has many advantages that we want for our pond. Our hope is that it will look more natural and will make those troublesome folds that can trap dirt and debris a thing of the past. It should give us a cleaner pond - and - it should be much more durable and not as subject to spring leaks. -- At least that's what we're hoping. EPDM rubber liners are very good to work with and we still love them but this spray-on lining is new technology and we feel that we owe it to ourselves and our customers to test the product. We'll be excited about seeing this technique in action.
The following schematic shows where all the lines will be placed.
The holes for the skimmers are placed approximately 2 feet down from the top of the wall of the pond. The holes for the #1 and #3 jets are placed approximately 14" from the floor of the pond. The middle jet is placed a little higher at 24 to 30".
The skimmers, jets and fountain are plumbed with 1 1/2" line. The bottom drains are 3" hard PVC. All lines run to the upper left-hand corner of the diagram to go to the main trench down to the area where the equipment will be installed. On the schematic below the skimmer lines are shown in GREEN and flow back to the pumps. The 3" drain lines are shown in BLUE and also feed the pumps. The fountain line is 1 1/2" hard PVC and is shown in YELLOW. It will be fed from one of the pumps. The jet lines are shown in RED and will flow from the pumps. The tier will have a separate drain that does not re-circulate. It will be placed there only so that we can drain the tier whenever we need to. The lines for the tier are in PURPLE. A 1 1/2" hose will feed water from the pumps to "power" the waterfalls. The water will fill from the bottom from this line and cascade over the two waterfalls. A tee will be placed on this inlet to direct some of the flow to the lion spitters. Valves will be installed on each line to control the flows to the lions. The lines to the lions will be much smaller in diameter but we don't yet know the exact size.
The Planning Stage of our construction project is now complete. Click HERE to proceed to the Pond Construction Stage for pictures and descriptions of how we are building our dream pond.
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 |
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