2 replies to this topic

[Blk69]

Hello all. Found this site and thought this may be the place for me. I just bought my new house in Central Ohio and I have room for a water gardin. I actually have 6 acres and can really get into trouble if I really want to. I have more questions then time to write at this point. I am so excited about building it.

Currently I am limited to 1000 sf total of my pond (without needing a permit from the city). I will start construction hopefully next spring 2011. I am trying to gather as much data and advice as possible before hand.

I have a few general questions I need help with before I can start asking intellegent ones. All comment and greatly apprechated and welcome (even ones I don't want to hear, they are usually the ones that matter the most)

1) First my soil is hard clay and I have a high water table (2' below grade). I have a basement and my sump pumps run constantly (I have two, one in each corner of my house). With my high water table and constant water supply, I am tempted to build my pond liner free. Am I nuts thinking this is possible? I have sean a lot of posts of pond liners completely covered with stone. Could I cover my clay with stone and get the same effect?

2) Second I want a low (very low) maintance pond. Is mud (no liner) going to kill this idea? I want to enjoy VEIWING my pond, not working on my pond. My wife has other ideas on what projects I should be working on instead of maintaining the pond. She is on board now, but if I can't hang the new shelf she got at a garage sale due to me being chest high in the pond cleaning it out for the 3rd time a season things will not be good. Her priorities are not as well adjusted as mine at this point regarding the pond.

3) I want Koi. I want to hand feed them. I want them to eat all my fancy plants. I want the birds to try to eat them and me coming up with elaborate plans on scaring them off. I want them to hide when I have company over to show them off. I am going to start them small (2").

4) I am going to have a stone or concrete aprin around the pond to walk on. A big part will be hand feeding so there will be a shallow end with sand for feeding.

5) I really like to DYI bio filters I have read about. With a large water gardin pond this seams to make the most sense. How big to I have to go? Need water clear enough to see Koi, don't need to see bottom of pond.

6) Wife dose not want misquetios. How to I avoid this? Is is possible?

7) Just saw a link to a guy who swims with his Koi. Is this a good idea?

As you may have guested I am kinda pumped about building my water gardin pond. I say water gardin pond as I plan on building a 1/2 acre pond in the next year or two in addition. That one will be total wild and water clarity will be poor at best I am sure.

I am ready to talk pond building. I am open to new ideas also so any input is greatly apprechated. Warning I am a Engineer and will have at minimum 20 detailed drawing and mostlike a scaled version of the pond before construction.

[DrDave]

You have many questions butterfly. LOL
You will get a lot of help here. If you want a clear pond, use a liner. No mosquitos in moving water so circulation is key to health and no bugs.
I recommend my "Doc Filter" photos on my website for DIY. There are also many posts here on them and others. Do a search...
Welcome to the Forum

[addy1]

If you want koi, even with the high water table, you would want to make sure there is always water for them. I would do a liner. You could have a dry spell. Also, as long as you have good filtration and pumps, you will be able to see them and hand feed.