large pond ?

Guy

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Due to being in the design stage of a new pond I am using 7 or 8 pond books. All of the books make the same mistake of referring to but not defining what a large pond is, 'suitable for a large pond' comes up frequently. I am guessing that someone in an urban environment has a very different idea of a what a large pond is compared to someone in the country. So what do you consider to be the minimum dimensions of a 'large' pond? I will start us off with 3x3x1m is what i have in my head
 
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My pond is 3x3x1.5m at the deep end, and I don't consider it large. It's about 1,600 gallons.

Talking Garden Ponds, I think large starts around 5000 gallons.

To add to that, I'd say under 1000 is small. 1001 to 4,999 is medium.

That's just my opinion, which means nothing.

Now a plain old pond of 10,000 gallons could be considered small by some, but in the context of "garden pond", that's quite large.
 

j.w

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After looking at a lot of other ponds here mine looks small at around 2400gals. It's 3&1/2' deep about 18ft long x 8ft wide w/ plant ledges taking away footage below.
 
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Guy,
Also remember that the US gallon is not the same as the Imperial Gallon we use in the UK.
1 gall (imperial) = 4.546 litres, whereas the US Gallon = 3.785 litres. I.e.the US gallon is smaller than the Imperial one by about 17%

So Dieselpower's 1,600 gallon pond is roughly 1,300 in UK terms.

It can get really complicated. I designed my pond using metric measurements, but the concrete blocks I used were 18" x 9" x 4"
 
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When I bought my pond kit, it was considered large on the website. It had a 30ft x 30ft liner. I really think it is a relative term depending on the person or pond. Some have told me it is a large pond but a few I have seen I would consider it a small pond to those.
 

Guy

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Interesting feedback and I do agree that it is completely subjective but this is why authors need to define what they are referring to. Imagine what dimensions would define a 'large pond' if you grew up on the shores of one of the Great lakes.
 

morewater

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I thought that it wasn't the size that mattered, but what you did with it.;)

Pond size is most often determined by lot size, and if done properly, is built in proportion.

I'd consider anything over 4000 gallons to be "large".

I've built one that's 150,000 gallons, which I consider to be "gargantuan".

My own is approximately 2600 gallons, but as it takes up nearly 1/3 of the backyard, it's large enough for me.
 
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I thought my 1000 gallon was big for me and now I wish I would have dug another 600-800 gallons! Kindna like building a shed, fills up fast and wishing it was bigger! Go as big as you can manage you won't be sorry!
 

callingcolleen1

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If you are going to have koi then you should have maybe about two to three thousand Imperial Gallons of water at least, depending on how many koi you wish to keep as well. You could start at 1000 Gallons and then add on another connecting pond later in the future. My ponds have changed so much in the last 20 years and no matter what you do , there will always be something you would do next time, like build it much bigger, most people regret not going deep enough or large enough.

I myself like the three connecting ponds, now all together about 3500 Imperial Gallons, which are bigger than US Gallons by the way. The top has the largest and biggest fish as they need freshest and most oxygen of all the fish, then it flows down to a middle pond that has a large yellow flag as a floating natural marsh, which is also not planted in any soil.
Then it flows down to the bottom pond where all the smallest fish end up. I have water gates that prevent the large fish from going down stream, only the small fish can get threw. The bottom pond is usually the dirtiest pond as all the leaf litter and stuff falls into pond, so I have the big yellow flag right at the edge of the middle pond, just before the water dumps into the bottom pond, that way it catches all the stuff and "eats it"

Way back in the early 1990's the now top pond was then the bottom pond, and I really hated the stepping stones right next to pond, cause would chips would fall in and the lime would leach out of the cement and find its way into the pond after a heavy rain.
20141120_175639.jpg


then I build up the ponds and reversed the water flow direction and this was a side shot of the then lower little bottom ponds.
20141120_175554.jpg


Originally it was just one pond, see red bench is the same... I think I changed that again the first summer...
20141120_175809.jpg


That was looking to the back, notice the small fence and red bench have not changed...
20141120_175356.jpg


Winter view. Ponds got much bigger and more build up. Then I changed them several more times till I ended up with this (see red bench and small weathered fence the same.
IMAG0020.jpg


Summer look I changed the walk way from wood chips to cobbled. Lots of the round stepping stones are still in the same place they were over 20 years ago
IMAG3782.jpg


From Poppy's View as she is walking by the now "bottom pond"
IMAG4161.jpg
 
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callingcolleen1

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See me the little orange Koi way back then I was tiny and just the size of a goldfish. The bigger all white goldfish just above me. {bottom of page}. I am the Orange one, not the smaller red goldfish in the middle. Me and My pal the white koi with orange splashes on top of page were rescued from now closed pet store
20141120_175215.jpg


Here I am again the big Orange one and my best friend "White one with orange splashes. Our caretaker feeds us only the finest dog food and that is why we are so big now!
IMAG0269.jpg
It took me a long time to dig out those old photos and put changes together. I hope it gives you different ideas to play with. :)
 
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j.w

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You made lots of nice changes through all the years and I know you aren't done yet cuz you never will be. Your koi are nice and big and healthy looking from eating all that puppy chow. They were so tiny way back when. Amazing how big those koi can grow!
 

Guy

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wow Colleen, your pond is very dynamic to say the least, thanks for posting. At the moment I am also planning three tiers, wildlife pond into bog into fish pond, the bog being a filter.
 

callingcolleen1

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yes, it is good to have the upper ponds filtered threw a bog so that the bottom pond will still be fresh and clean. Bogs are the best for photosynthesis filtration, and you should be able to find a yellow flag around the UK, cause they are natural there as well from what I have read on the Yellow Flag Water iris. Also it is one of the very few irises that are really "True" water iries and the root can be wedged into edging of pond in rocks and it grows best in no soil! The long roots will hang into the water and lick the bottom of the bog clean. My massive yellow flag was grown that way, no soil, let the roots gather leaf litter and such from the pond and make its own bog, My yellow flag grows and floats in almost three feet of water, and the fish swim under the roots for shelter and in the winter.
 

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