First Time Pond Builder - Will this work! And some other questions!!

[sxhall]

Hi,

I am currently in a house (rented) that has a pond and which we have two ghost koi in that we were given as a gift. We are now moving and we need to take them with us, snag we need to build a pond! The house we are going to is rented so want something that can be built without digging down, has to be raised. What I have come up with is the below using scaffolding boards. Please take a look and any help with the questions post the design would be appreciated.

Plan View

Front View

End View

Cross Section

Brown = wider boards at 150mm
Black = narrow boards at 75mm
Grey = Insulation foam
Blue = water (bet you guessed that bit!)

Internally the pond size is 2000mm x 1000mm by 622mm (deepest point) Giving me, by my calculations, just shy of 1,000 litres capacity.

Plan Overview

The sides will be made form scaffold boards laid on there sides. Each board will be split 2/3 & 1/3 along it's length. This will give the brown boards a depth of 150mm and the narrow black boards a depth of 75mm. The ends will be crossed over each other and then be screwed & glued to anchor them. I'll also screw them together intermittently along the front & back to tie it together.

Given the design I can easily add depth by adding in more lifts. Each set of wide & narrow boards adds 76mm to the height and therefore depth. Also as a plus I can 'link' to it by sliding boards in to the gaps. Have been discussing having a bench coming away from it at a right angle in a similar construction and/or a planter built at one end of the pond or bench.

The pond will be lined out with 25mm insulation foam around the sides and 100mm on the base. The inside will be stepped at one end to create a shallower depth. This will be created using insulation foam under the liner.

The water will be fed back in by a waterfall at some point but in the meantime will just fed back via a pipe and running in to the pond from that. Waterfall will be positioned on a back built up based on the design of the sides.

Questions...!

1. Will this be big enough for two ghost koi? Both are approx 10" long
2. Will it be strong enough to contain the water? Sides will have a constant thickness of 75mm with the additional wider boards acting as reinforcing ribs.
3. What type of pump & filter should I use? Been looking at all in one pumps akin to the Hozelock Easyclear 300
4. Is it Deep enough?
5. What have I forgot?

I was considering having a gravity fed filter but would rather just a pump for ease of building. This is why there is a 100mm of insulation in the bottom take the pipe as well.

Thanks for reading. All feedback appreciated, be nice!

Steven

Edited to be able to view pictures!

 

[j.w]

Steven
I have never built an above ground pond so have no info for you on that but I did right click on your img's and chose view image and could see your pictures.

 

[sxhall]

Steven
I have never built an above ground pond so have no info for you on that but I did right click on your img's and chose view image and could see your pictures.

Thanks j.w for letting me know ref the pics.

I changed them to JPEGs and could then upload them.

 

[addy1]

That looks like a neat plan, it will make a beautiful pond.

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

If you lined the sides and ends with some osb or plywood before the foam I believe it will give you more strength on the four sides. You might have to put a cross brace from side to side at the top in the center of the long walls after you install the liner and before you add the water?

 

[fishin4cars]

Wish I knew metric to U.S. Measurement better. But I agree the reinforcing the inside with ply wood and plenty of screws would greatly increase the integrity of the pond. Using the wood in that form will make it fairly strong. I would recommend anyone trying to use boards of any thickness if they are stood up on their sides. On filtration, a single pump in the bottom to a small trickle tower would make a nice small water fall and the shower will add a lot of oxygen and be a much needed filtration for two koi.

 

[fishin4cars]

Went and looked up what the size of the pond would be. Aprox. 2300 liters or 600 gallons. Kind of small for two koi although it will work probably for a while if you don't overfeed with good filtration.
Personally I don't think the filtration your looking at using is enough for those two size fish. It would help move water from the bottom and add some oxygen, But IMO, If you can design a pond of that nature and build it, you could build a DYI trickle and make it look like it was built into the design and it would be far more beneficial. Might cost a little more to build and add a good medium such as cermedia, or feather rock but not a whole lot more and would far out perform.

 

[sissy]

you must be busy Larkin I have not seen you on as much .Thing is most do overfeed because the fish make them feel guilty so you always have to factor that in .

 

[sxhall]

That looks like a neat plan, it will make a beautiful pond.

Thanks addy1. The design is important to me.

If you lined the sides and ends with some osb or plywood before the foam I believe it will give you more strength on the four sides. You might have to put a cross brace from side to side at the top in the center of the long walls after you install the liner and before you add the water?

Good point Dave on the sides. Will use some exterior grade ply on the inside of the sides as well to tie it all together more. Won't lose much in the way of volume but will gain lot's of additional strength. Can always add a top mounted cross brace if required. Plan does not show it but there will be a cross brace in the base between the two sides under the insulation foam to stop spread.

Went and looked up what the size of the pond would be. Aprox. 2300 liters or 600 gallons. Kind of small for two koi although it will work probably for a while if you don't overfeed with good filtration.
Personally I don't think the filtration your looking at using is enough for those two size fish. It would help move water from the bottom and add some oxygen, But IMO, If you can design a pond of that nature and build it, you could build a DYI trickle and make it look like it was built into the design and it would be far more beneficial. Might cost a little more to build and add a good medium such as cermedia, or feather rock but not a whole lot more and would far out perform.

Larkin, I will look in to a trickle tower or at best more filtration than what I specified, want what is best for the fish. The design will allow for the addition of a trickle tower having just Googled them.

you must be busy Larkin I have not seen you on as much .Thing is most do overfeed because the fish make them feel guilty so you always have to factor that in .

That would be my wife who feels guilty then!

 

[sxhall]

Thanks to Larkin for calculating the volume of water me earlier (2300litres/600gallons) and the advice on a trickle tower. I now have more questions...

1. Is a trickle tower in the main to aerate the water or to filter or both?
2. How big should each level be? - no doubt based on the pond size and pump!
3. How many levels? Some have three some have four!
4. Does it matter how big the gap is between the the different levels? - is there a minimum to ensure aeration?

From what I have seen on the web the below is a very crude version of what I would require?

I would have a pump running from the lowest part of the pond though to the top of the trickle tower. Here I would split the feed in to three pipes to disperse the water. The first level would contain a coarse filter medium and then move through to a fine filter medium in the lower level. Between each level I would have numerous holes able to cope with the pump throughput (suspect this part may be trial and error to get the right ratio for me!). Finally the water passes out the bottom and in my picture falls on to a nice shiny metal tray and then back in to the pond.

For ease I would have the pipework suspended from frame rather than connect it to the filter levels. This way I can easily remove them for cleaning.

This would all be hidden behind a nice façade for me with just the waterfall coming out at the bottom.

Thanks so far all advice given.

Steven

 

[sissy]

I got over the feeling guilty when the water quality got bad so now feed only 3 or 4 times a week and water quality is good and a heck of a lot less work for me .But with a new liner you really have no choice because there is nothing else to eat .Just make sure your pump is not on the bottom because something leaks you will empty the pond .Not sure which is worse dead fish or dead pump ,with the cost of pumps these days

 

[Waterbug]

Will it be strong enough to contain the water? Sides will have a constant thickness of 75mm with the additional wider boards acting as reinforcing ribs.

Yes, very much so. I've build above ground timber ponds with far less strength and they were fine.

What type of pump & filter should I use? Been looking at all in one pumps akin to the Hozelock Easyclear 300

Like what Larkin said, filters are more of an on going thing. Really hard to say. For example if your water turns green the algae will consume ammonia and the fish will probably be OK. Clear water and maybe ammonia becomes a problem without water changes. This remains true even if you add a filter, the only way to tell if the filter is good enough is to test the water. But, like Larkin said, I also think it's smart to design at least a bio filter, like a Trickle Tower, into the overall design before you build. It can save you a lot of effort later. And the other thing about fish and filters is there are degrees of water quality. The better the water and food (which are related) the faster the fish grow, the bigger they get and the better their immune system. So you lower risk with good filtering and increase fish appearance.

The filter picture you posted looked more like a Shower filter, which is even better at bio conversion than a Trickle Tower, although TT is very good. These two filters are almost the same, both based on how a stream works. Showers do require a fair amount of attention to detail, like water volume, and some people (many people imo) don't like how noisy showers are. Any bio filter you have that's above water (not submerged) is going to be very good. But the picture looks like you'd have levels of media like a shower but to work as a shower you had a lot of flow. So with the EasyClear 300 the filter would perform like a TT, so better to make it like a TT (no levels). That would give you more surface area, save you the cost of building levels and it would perform better.

I'm not a fan of pump/UV combos. Just not as flexible.

Is it Deep enough?

Yes. There was a time when many Koi keepers thought depth was really important, but that's less true today.

What have I forgot?

Nothing really. But there are options. A skimmer is nice imo. Not just for removing leaves but even dust can accumulate on the surface (due to surface tension) and make the pond look dull and dirty in certain lights. Skimmer fixes that, plus removes leaves, foam from the filter, floating scum algae (rare but happens).

You could integrate a vacuum connection to the pump for vacuuming if you like. But that small a pond is easy enough to clean with a net, siphon or shop vac.
For your climate I don't think I would use any insulation. Better to spend that money on other things.

Exterior plywood here in the US is only rated to be outside for short periods, during construction. I lined my timber pond, which was on a concrete slab, with plywood and when I torn down one of them a year or two later it had rotted thru at the base. Marine and PT plywood is rated to last longer outside and in damp conditions.

The pictures show the planks butted, but it sounded like in your description the corners might be overlapped glued and screwed which would be good. Corners are the weak point, but this is a very small pond so there isn't a lot of stress so I wouldn't worry too much.

You should consider netting the top for the first month or so as fish in new ponds sometimes jump out.

You might consider a 24/7 water change system. This is just a drip emitter like in the garden that drips into you pond 24/7. You need an overflow too. If you can use the overflow water for irrigating the garden it doesn't waste any water so little cost. These can provide excellent water and you probably wouldn't even need the UV. You may not (probably not) need a bio filter either.

Hope you can post pictures of the build.

 

[sxhall]

I got over the feeling guilty when the water quality got bad so now feed only 3 or 4 times a week and water quality is good and a heck of a lot less work for me .But with a new liner you really have no choice because there is nothing else to eat .Just make sure your pump is not on the bottom because something leaks you will empty the pond .Not sure which is worse dead fish or dead pump ,with the cost of pumps these days

Thanks Sissy.

Pump would be raised up but in my hurried diagram I just shoved it in the lowest point. We'd prefer a dead pump here for sure regardless.

 

[fishin4cars]

I think Waterbug hit most of the questions just as I would answer. I also agree, shower filter over trickle tower. Same design you have made, Personally, I would make it look like part of the pond build. Wouldn't be hard to make it very attractive and blend right into the design. I feel like in your case three trays will be enough. Size of each tray would more depend on what you actually decide to use for media, I would recommend at least watching the you tube video's of Deep Water Innovations, Zakki shower and get ideas from it. I'm very pleased with my system from Zac Penn and he does make already prebuilt units that would work great, but they are expensive. Just watching his video's will help understand a lot more about what you may want to think about if going DIY route. Most definitely raise the pump off the bottom, if you want to pull water from the bottom and keep it moving airstones would be a cheap way to move the water and still keep the pump up high enough that in case something happens there will still be enough water left in the pond for the fish to survive until what ever repair needs to be made is done. On the specifics of tray placement, and spacing I wish I could answer those questions better but honestly, I personally have not done enough research to be able to answer those questions comfortably. Possibly Waterbug can help more on that. I do recommend though that you look into one of two options, either use a pump that has a pre-filter foam, or better use the top tray for a media that can be used to prefilter the water and is easily able to be cleaned before the next two trays, this will greatly improve the overall effectiveness of the media trays and they wont get clogged nearly as fast.

 

[sxhall]

Yes, very much so. I've build above ground timber ponds with far less strength and they were fine.

Like what Larkin said, filters are more of an on going thing. Really hard to say. For example if your water turns green the algae will consume ammonia and the fish will probably be OK. Clear water and maybe ammonia becomes a problem without water changes. This remains true even if you add a filter, the only way to tell if the filter is good enough is to test the water. But, like Larkin said, I also think it's smart to design at least a bio filter, like a Trickle Tower, into the overall design before you build. It can save you a lot of effort later. And the other thing about fish and filters is there are degrees of water quality. The better the water and food (which are related) the faster the fish grow, the bigger they get and the better their immune system. So you lower risk with good filtering and increase fish appearance.

The filter picture you posted looked more like a Shower filter, which is even better at bio conversion than a Trickle Tower, although TT is very good. These two filters are almost the same, both based on how a stream works. Showers do require a fair amount of attention to detail, like water volume, and some people (many people imo) don't like how noisy showers are. Any bio filter you have that's above water (not submerged) is going to be very good. But the picture looks like you'd have levels of media like a shower but to work as a shower you had a lot of flow. So with the EasyClear 300 the filter would perform like a TT, so better to make it like a TT (no levels). That would give you more surface area, save you the cost of building levels and it would perform better.

I'm not a fan of pump/UV combos. Just not as flexible.


Yes. There was a time when many Koi keepers thought depth was really important, but that's less true today.


Nothing really. But there are options. A skimmer is nice imo. Not just for removing leaves but even dust can accumulate on the surface (due to surface tension) and make the pond look dull and dirty in certain lights. Skimmer fixes that, plus removes leaves, foam from the filter, floating scum algae (rare but happens).

You could integrate a vacuum connection to the pump for vacuuming if you like. But that small a pond is easy enough to clean with a net, siphon or shop vac.
For your climate I don't think I would use any insulation. Better to spend that money on other things.

Exterior plywood here in the US is only rated to be outside for short periods, during construction. I lined my timber pond, which was on a concrete slab, with plywood and when I torn down one of them a year or two later it had rotted thru at the base. Marine and PT plywood is rated to last longer outside and in damp conditions.

The pictures show the planks butted, but it sounded like in your description the corners might be overlapped glued and screwed which would be good. Corners are the weak point, but this is a very small pond so there isn't a lot of stress so I wouldn't worry too much.

You should consider netting the top for the first month or so as fish in new ponds sometimes jump out.

You might consider a 24/7 water change system. This is just a drip emitter like in the garden that drips into you pond 24/7. You need an overflow too. If you can use the overflow water for irrigating the garden it doesn't waste any water so little cost. These can provide excellent water and you probably wouldn't even need the UV. You may not (probably not) need a bio filter either.

Hope you can post pictures of the build.

Thanks Waterbug,

Nice pond there. I will have some catching up to do!!!

Glad to know the strength will be OK for the design, was a big concern given volume of water being held back.

I am now switching back to a gravity fed system with a bottom drain. Will the have a filter and a pump to return the water back to the pond. Considering making my own filter but not sure whether to go water pressure used to push up through the filters or gravity to pull the water down through the filters! Or do I just with the filter tower design but have it gravity fed with a pump to return the water!?

Either way it will be a separate pump and UV from here on, no combined all in ones for me.

Since swapping to a gravity fed system in I have also revised my plan to go with a constant depth and remove the stepping arrangement. This will give almost 2,000 litres (440 gallons UK) and a constant depth of 0.9m (3'). Will be able to hang any baskets in if I want plants.

On the construction marine ply will be used to reinforce the sides. The below shows how the corners will be fixed with the addition of glue on all the joints.

I'll make sure there is a net over the top too.

So at the minute I am looking at it being...

• Kept as current size of 1mx2m (3'3" x 6'6"). The depth will be 0.9m (3') across 90% of it with possibly a raised area at one end for some plants. Although I could put a bracket to suspend baskets in to the water so may just go one depth throughout
• Filtration will be gravity fed - it does seem a better way to go from advice given and what I have read. Less wear & tear on the pump, easier to maintain the pump, better waste clearance from the pond
• May not go with a trickle tower may be replaced by an air pump, depends if I have a trickle filter instead I suppose!

Now need to secure some boards, source a liner, choose a pump, get a UV sterilizer, sort out the filter oh and build it all!

Steven

PS There will be build pics when I get there!