Equipments Required for a koi pond

[momento]

Hi all

I'm a newbee and that wants to build a diy koi pond. I'm over swamped by the information found on google. I want to build a pond that requires the least maintenance as possible. Can someone please help me with equipments I need for the following criteria:

This pond is an above ground one. I have the design to make the tank already.. size: L 8', H 4', W 3'
1. Automatic removal of left over from bottom drain on schedule basic
2. Automatic air-pump on schedule basic
3. Automatic water-pump on schedule basic
4. Automatic water refill on schedule basic
5. Any other features to make the pond easier to maintain?


Thanks a bunch
Kevin

 

[Waterbug]

...the least maintenance as possible.

I take what people post at face value, so are you sure? Least maintenance = highest cost. I think the first step is really understanding your goals. Saves a lot of time and money.

This pond is an above ground one.

Complete above ground?

size: L 8', H 4', W 3'

Some times people say Koi pond but mean Goldfish. Do want Koi in this? Cause that's kind of small. Doable.

1. Automatic removal of left over from bottom drain on schedule basic

You want a gravity fed sieve, like a Cetus. Crap is removed 24/7. Doesn't get any better. I would stay away from all pressurized systems. There's a recent thread here on that very subject, how these can drain a pond. Plus the gravity fed are way easier to clean imo.

2. Automatic air-pump on schedule basic

Just need an air pump on a timer. If you need an air pump then generally you need to run them 24/7. Yeah there's a higher need at night, but still, you'd have to be pretty close to the edge. You can use 2 air pumps and/or one with a dual diaphragm. Or if you're using the air to move crap to the BD it should also be on 24/7. Not sure why you want "schedule basic".

3. Automatic water-pump on schedule basic

Not sure what you mean by "Automatic water-pump". "schedule basic" I assume means you want it to turn off and on at different times. Not sure why you would want to do that. There are automatic timers for doing that. It's separate from the pump.

4. Automatic water refill on schedule basic

Kerick float valve are very good. Lots of mounting configurations. For sure stay away from horse trough floats, toilet floats, evap cooler floats. They wouldn't fit your least maintenance goal. The water supply to the float should be from a sprinkler valve on a timer set to a couple of minutes per day. Float valves sometime stick, the sprinkler valve is insurance.

5. Any other features to make the pond easier to maintain?

I think a trickle system reduces a lot of complexity. That's where water from your tap is dripped into your pond skimmer/falls whatever 24/7. Excess water exits via an overflow. This is basically a 24/7 water change. Generally this eliminates the need for a UV, testing and adjusting many water parameters, may eliminate need for any bio filter, will eliminate fine particle removal filter.

Pond size to desired fish load could be looked at and adjusted to reduce maintenance.

You didn't mention TPRs for the BD, bio filtering, fines filter, UV filter, skimmer. These can reduce maintenance, but really that all depends on your goals for fish load and water clarity. Not really related directly to maintenance.

Hiring a respected Koi Pond builder would be the biggest help to reducing maintenance if maintenance really the only requirement.

 

[Dave 54]

We run 4 filters on our pond one 32" vortex two other 32" vortex syle filters and a large barrel filter.
No2 filter has an arrangement of Japanese matting a large bag of zeolite rocks and 5 brushes .
No3 dfilter has the same Japanese matting arrangement a large bag of Lithaqua plus four layers of quilt batting the japanese matting arrangement i can only describe to you as a 3D portcullis arragement to allow maximum flow of water through the matting
The barrel filter is a large industrial barrel which is our bio filter and is chocka-block with K1, Aqua one bio balls, bio balls and bio chips.
To supply the filters with air we have 3 airstones in no's 2&3 filters and 6 in the bio filter supplied by an evolution aqua 40e air pump .
Like yours our pond is above ground has a bottom drain with a spindrifter bubbler supplied by a seperate aitec 40e the pond pump is an inline pond pump which is an Oase 3500, we also have a rudimentary skimmer.
The filter housing is roofed by polycarbonate roofing sheets as is the pond during the winter.
Water changes are by a varient of the trickle method where only the water that day is trickled into the pond even during the winter months on a regular basis allowing the ambient temperature of the pond to warm the trickle as it enters the pond, done correctly in winter you will loose between .1-,2c thats all
All the filters are house in an insulated filter housing and the pond the same and is clad in decking
We also run a 36watt UV-C bouble bulbed made by Aqua pond everything runs 24/7 , 385 days a year
Seeing as this is your first attempt at a koi pond a tip would be to keep things simple filtration wise to start with then with experiance of keeping koi under your belt you can build in the features with your next pond (because there is always a next pond with koi keepers and you dont want to make your learning curve any steeper than it is.
ZenZilla is building a koi pond at the moment so check out his thread :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/new-koi-pond-change-in-plans.13884/

This may save you a few of the pitfalls that can beset you

Dave

 

[sissy]

not sure what he means by schedule basic on all his descriptions .I run my pumps 24/7 and my air pump 24/7 .That is why I look for the most energy savings ones .Koi get big really big .At the beginning a pond can be a lot of work until established .Test kit needed also and no mention of filter so that you will need koi produce a lot of waste .But at least now you came to the right place .I started with google and you tube and it can be confusing so i know your pain .

 

[momento]

thank you waterbug, dave, sissy your promptly feed back. I had a typo at the length of the pond..it is 15' long.
as for "schedule basic", I mean all water and air pumps run on a preset schedule. My wife gave me a good budget to go for good and efficient equipments. So I will go for that and let the pumps run 24/7, but I still like to put them on a controller.
I'm in the process of diagram out the pond design. Once done I will upload it for your review. Thanks again.

Kevin

 

[Waterbug]

So the pond is 15'x3' and 4' deep.

Hopefully your BD system design will be a river flow type? Drains at one end TPRs at the other.

There are many kinds of electric timers. Some are mechanical some electronic (little computers inside). Some you plug into, some are direct wire. They all can handle different loads so you just have to make sure the timer can handle the load.. You won't have any trouble finding many kinds online or in local stores that sell electrical supplies. Pool building supplies will carry many choices too of the higher amp type.

 

[sissy]

I don't have a skimmer ,no need since there are no trees with leaves near my pond .I bought laguna pumps they are really electric saving pumps .If you have fish you may need a filter and that is easy a tote a tank adapter and lava rock and plenty of you tube video's on them .You can try it with out a filter and see if the plants will keep it clean and if it doesn't then you know you may need a filter

 

[momento]

So the pond is 15'x3' and 4' deep.

Hopefully your BD system design will be a river flow type? Drains at one end TPRs at the other.

There are many kinds of electric timers. Some are mechanical some electronic (little computers inside). Some you plug into, some are direct wire. They all can handle different loads so you just have to make sure the timer can handle the load.. You won't have any trouble finding many kinds online or in local stores that sell electrical supplies. Pool building supplies will carry many choices too of the higher amp type.

Waterbug, I'm not familiar with "BD" and "TPRs" term. My initial design is to have 2 pumps at the bottom, they will bring water to the upper pond where i have rocks and plants; water will come back down from upper pond. Is that enough to keep water clean? Do I even need a skimmer in this case?

Since my pond is above ground and not on concrete slab. I will use 4x4 lumber to make the box. However, can i make it bottomless? In other words, the bottom is the soil level. I will dig down 1', and fill it with sand

Thanks and Regards
Kevin

 

[momento]

I don't have a skimmer ,no need since there are no trees with leaves near my pond .I bought laguna pumps they are really electric saving pumps .If you have fish you may need a filter and that is easy a tote a tank adapter and lava rock and plenty of you tube video's on them .You can try it with out a filter and see if the plants will keep it clean and if it doesn't then you know you may need a filter

thanks sissy, what model is your pump?

 

[Dave 54]

Waterbug, I'm not familiar with "BD" and "TPRs" term. My initial design is to have 2 pumps at the bottom, they will bring water to the upper pond where i have rocks and plants; water will come back down from upper pond. Is that enough to keep water clean? Do I even need a skimmer in this case?

Since my pond is above ground and not on concrete slab. I will use 4x4 lumber to make the box. However, can i make it bottomless? In other words, the bottom is the soil level. I will dig down 1', and fill it with sand

Thanks and Regards
Kevin

Kevin ours is supported by a timber frame like yours however we only sunk the bottom drain into the ground the rest of it sits above .

Dave

 

[Waterbug]

Waterbug, I'm not familiar with "BD" and "TPRs" term.

BD = bottom drain
TPR = tangential pond return

TPR is what pushes crap to the drain hole. How these are positioned determines whether they push from one end of a pond to the other end (called river flow), or rotate the water in a pond so crap collects at the center where the drain is located (for roundish type pond or multiple drains). The TPRs create a current in the pond. There are different patterns to create the most optimal current for different shaped pond.

Since my pond is above ground and not on concrete slab. I will use 4x4 lumber to make the box. However, can i make it bottomless? In other words, the bottom is the soil level. I will dig down 1', and fill it with sand

Yes, you can do both those things. I don't know the reason for the sand, but you can do that if you like.

My initial design is to have 2 pumps at the bottom, they will bring water to the upper pond where i have rocks and plants; water will come back down from upper pond. Is that enough to keep water clean? Do I even need a skimmer in this case?

What you describing is a Water Garden. A Koi Pond is kind of a different deal imo.

Earlier you said your main/only goal was minimum maintenance...then I heard maybe you didn't want to spend too much? This will all be very confusing to you if your goals conflict. A lease expensive pond is built one, and they can be great ponds. And you can build a lease maintenance pond, also fine ponds. And you can do something in between. That all gets really complex, design, redesgin, endless. If you spend your time figuring out what your budget is and what you want your pond to be it can save you a lot of time and money and you'll more likely to get the pond you want.

 

[Waterbug]

So here are some of the things I'd ask people wanting a pond. Forget about what you may have heard about what a pond "should" have and first say what it is you dream about.

Do you want fish?
Kind of fish? Goldfish or Koi?
How many fish?
If Koi, what is the budget for fish? Are these to be show fish?
Do you want plants?
Do you want a raised pond? Not what you think is easier, but what you want.
Do you want a natural or formal looking pond?
Do you want to see rocks in the pond or bare liner?
How much do you want to do? Are you interested in raising fish, treating fish? Or no interest in that?
What's the budget?
Then I ask for photos of the yard, basic measurements and where they want the pond.
I don't normally ask, but I do look at the yard. If it's a mess I know they need a bulletproof pond. If they have a lot of different kinds of well kept plants I know they'll want the pond to be for a gardener.

Then we create a plan which gets tweaked. Then build.

The answers to those few questions reduce the options a ton. If I sit there and just go thru every possible option we'd be there for a week and they would be overwhelmed and give up.

 

[momento]

So here are some of the things I'd ask people wanting a pond. Forget about what you may have heard about what a pond "should" have and first say what it is you dream about.

Do you want fish?
Kind of fish? Goldfish or Koi?
How many fish?

Yes, Koi, and 5 to 10 fish

If Koi, what is the budget for fish? Are these to be show fish?

$1000

Do you want plants?

A lot of plan

Do you want a raised pond? Not what you think is easier, but what you want.

Yes, I want raise pond.

Do you want a natural or formal looking pond?

I want wood looking pond

Do you want to see rocks in the pond or bare liner?

Yes. I do

How much do you want to do? Are you interested in raising fish, treating fish? Or no interest in that?

I want it so much and that's the only thing I have been thinking

What's the budget?

maximum 1.5K for the pond and 1K for the fish.

Then I ask for photos of the yard, basic measurements and where they want the pond.
I don't normally ask, but I do look at the yard. If it's a mess I know they need a bulletproof pond. If they have a lot of different kinds of well kept plants I know they'll want the pond to be for a gardener.

Then we create a plan which gets tweaked. Then build.

The answers to those few questions reduce the options a ton. If I sit there and just go thru every possible option we'd be there for a week and they would be overwhelmed and give up.

The pond will be place in the red box. I thought of going to 15', but it looks too ugly to stretch it. So, 10' is just fine.

Thank you very much, Waterbug for your great questions and time[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

 

[sissy]

my pump is the laguna max flow 2900 gph and my second 1 is the laguna 1000 gph max flo .But ordered a 2400 gph max flo as the 1000 gph is not enough .Right now the 2900 gph hit it's sweet spot of electric use at 95 watts by the watt tester .It says it can use 130 watts but seem the bigger the hose is the less watts it uses .1 1/4 inch hose it was using 103 watts and new 1 1/2 inch hose it went down to 95 watts

 

[momento]

my pump is the laguna max flow 2900 gph and my second 1 is the laguna 1000 gph max flo .But ordered a 2400 gph max flo as the 1000 gph is not enough .Right now the 2900 gph hit it's sweet spot of electric use at 95 watts by the watt tester .It says it can use 130 watts but seem the bigger the hose is the less watts it uses .1 1/4 inch hose it was using 103 watts and new 1 1/2 inch hose it went down to 95 watts

thanks sissy. do you run them 24/7?