Hello from Ohio

[icewaterdon]

Hello from Central Ohio. I am in the planning stages of building my first Koi pond. I am a DIY guy all the way. At this point, I will have a header pond (approx. 5x6) filled with water celery used to filter the main pond. There will be approx. 2-3 foot water feature leading into a 12x10 pond. I am using an external pump connected to a skimmer and a bottom drain. Water will be drown from either source via Jandy Valve of some sort. I plan to have approx. 5-10 koi. No goldfish at this point. I heard that they multiply to quickly. I look forward to reading about things related to pond and DIY here on the forum.
Thanks
Don

 

[j.w]

Don
The goldfish only multiply quick if you feed them. They can exist solely on what they find in the pond. Mine lived that way for several yrs and now I feed them a bit now and then so they will be friendly and come up to me. But I don't feed too much.

 

[addy1]

Natural selection it is called jw! Survival of the fittest.

to our group

 

[koiguy1969]

WELCOME ABOARD! NOW LEAVE THE KEYBOARD ALONE AND GRAB THE SHOVEL....lol

 

[Becky]

Hello there and welcome to the forums! :wave:

 

[Sunshine]

Hi Don, Welcome to the forum.

 

[viggen]

Consider adding a vortex/settling chamber to the bottom drain, really helps seperating the large stuff from getting sucked into the pump. I used a 125 gallon tub as my settling chamber which is connected to the koi toilet.

FWIW I am in Dayton OH

 

[icewaterdon]

Thanks for all the insight. viggen, can you send a drawing, sketch or something that explains your vortex settling tank concept? And Koi, toilet?????? LOL. My plan was, using sand, to slope the bottom of the pond towards the bottom drain.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Don
:razz: :goldfish:

 

[viggen]

I am about to take the kids on their spring break trip..... Not sure I will have internet when we get there....... I will take pics when I get back home and post them.

I had a bunch of pics on my phone but lost them when the old phone died.......

Koi Toilet is the actual name of the bottom drain I have. It has a built in air diffuser which I plan on using for extra circulation.......

Pond is 10x15ft ish.... water level is 30 inches..... sides are all sloped from about 18 inches to the bottom where the bottom drain sits. I just ran the BD into the bottom of the tub then the pump sucks water from the tub & the skimmer box. I put a T on each pipe so I can adjust flow

pics sunday/monday

 

[icewaterdon]

viggen, I look forward to seeing pics of your pond. I was going to use the Tetra bottom drain and connect it in somewhat the same manner in which your sounds like it is connected. Basically it is to remove the fish poop. Here are some pics of where my pond will be located. I will try and post pics as it progresses. I think I should post them in a different forum like the contruction area.
Thanks
Don

 

[rebelangel_3733]

Welcom!