Hi from the UK

[VanDiesil]

Hi, I am a relative newbie when it comes to domestic pond construction, but I have kept and bred tropical fish in the past (mainly Discus, but also rarer Corydoras catfish and other Cichlids). Always wanted my own pond and to construct one, and on moving into this property 12 months ago, a brick raised pond with a pre-formed "liner" was inherited from the landlord. This pond was in need of some TLC which I gave it and now the fish are flourishing as well as the plants in there (it is only a small pond).

Last weekend, I started our new pond by digging it out by hand (approximately 12 cubic metres of soil removed!) and fitting the liner, and came to a standstill (see my post in the other forum regarding pond construction). This new pond will be home to the 2 Koi that are in the old pond currently along with 7 Mirror Carp (although a carp breeder friend of mine has offered me more fish free of charge when I want them!).

I am savvy when it comes to water quality, nutrition, growth, etc as I am an angler myself and research a lot in to Cyprinid behaviour and nutrition through my angling. I have managed several angling lakes in the past successfully, so hoping that the new domestic pond will be a success when I have finished (if you are ever finished with a pond!!!).

Hope to make some friends here and also try to help where I can as well as receive any help I may require.

Hope to speak to you soon.

 

[sissy]

welcome and I knew nothing when I started almost 10 years ago but so far been lucky I have not lost one fish so if I can do it any one can :cheerful:

 

[slakker]

Hi there... I'm new to ponds, just build mine this year. I notice ponds are almost common place in the uk! Is this true?

 

[VanDiesil]

I would say that ponds are situated in 1 in 10 properties on average.

 

[Dave 54]

Leicester .. I have freinds that live just outside of you in Hallerton (not sure on the spelling?
Sadly weve not seen each other since my bike accident many moonms ago .
As a UK koi Keeper I would suggest you dig the pond betwen 4-5ft in depth (our winters) for your koi to survive outdoors like that in the harshest of wintermonths.
We also cover the pond and filter area with Policardonate to keep some warmth in as contrary to popular belief koi are more a Japanese fish who have slightly differing winters to that of our own.
You can check on the BKKS website if they have a club in your area:-

http://bkks.org.uk/

These are well attended by other like minded koi people and are very useful to be a member of Val and I are founding fathers to a club in Plymouth with over 50 families.
You can get it either new or to save money second hand sometimes given you for free.
If you can for ease of cleaning your pond add a 4" bottom drain to your pond we have it and would recomend it to eveyone who keeps koi when they are ready to build their first koi pond.
Maintenance is a must when keeping koi,I recomend regular water changes and if you have a four chambered filtration unit a cleaning regiem that allows for the vortex to be cleaned as often as you can ( we do ours weekly as with partial 3-40% water changes every week.
The fact that you've been a fish keeper for many years should put you in good stead with koi and you'll find that alott of the health issues your tropicals get are the same as in koi.
Remember to test your water weekly be aware that when testing a pond your ph levels will be different in the evening than the moring so testing it twice should give you an idea of whats going on in the pond with it Kh and Gh are a must also.
The same goes for QTing your new fish , have a dedicated QT unit is a must and it be able to QT koi for periods up to a month.
You'll also need a U/VC-C for the pond changing the bulb every year every year without fail .
Also get this bit of kit it will dechlorinate both ponds and negate the use of dechlorinating liquids :-

http://www.vyair.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=68

we have this model and it does a humongus amount of dechlorination before the need to change the filters again PS at the price they are now you have yourself a bargain.
I hope this goes to help you if you need anymore details either PM me or post online .
That incluses stocking levels of pond etc .

rgrds

Dave

 

[VanDiesil]

Thanks for the reply Dave.

I wish I could got to 4 or 5 feet deep but I cannot dig down any more as discovered utility pipes underneath where I have dug out (looks like sometime in the past, a previous owner has lowered the level of the garden by a couple of feet - which would explain why we need steps down to the garden from the back door & that the damp course of bricks is showing 5 high from the ground level!). I would love to build it up externally, but the sheer cost of the materials is prohibitive & I am not anywhere near a basic builder LOL.

The existing pond never froze over once with this winter that we have just had, and only got cat ice around the edge! I couldn't believe it myself beings it is only 24" at deepest! Never lost any fish over winter either, and the only casualties we have had was when we had thunderstorms during the hot weather (we were away on holiday at the time ) and lost the two sturgeon & three golden orfe due to oxygen crash (that was the only thing I could think of to have lost those in one week and not lost any since).

The filtration I was going for is a two filter setup; a smaller box filter with plastic ridged hoops & foam that has been running in the existing pond for several months now, and was also going to fit one of the Clearwater Aquatics "Wet & Dry" pond filters (as they are my local store being only a few hundred yards away!). They use them in there coldwater section and the water is crystal clear & the fish look healthy.

Water changes I fully understand as had to do it several times with the small pond over the spring due to an outbreak of filamentous algae which finally got under control by using copious amounts of fine filter matting, barley straw, additional plants other than the single lilly that was present & water changes!!!! Trouble is that our domestic supply is quite high in phosphates but now the water is crystal clear (I have now probably dropped myself right in it LOL). I do still have my RO unit in the shed which requires a new cartridge so might drag this out of retirement and run some off and see how it affects the water parameters in the pond itself (use this rather than dechlorinaters, letting the water stand, etc).

I will be honest and say that the new pond will more than likely have no more Koi added to it and be home to the strain of Mirror Carp that a friend has in his stockpond from his fishery as these are the fish I like to study (would have some large tanks in the house but sadly got no room for them!). The existing raised brick pre-formed pond will be used at a QT area as well as hold the landlords goldfish that he didn't really want but his grand daughter wanted them LOL).

 

[Dave 54]

Who said anything about going down hell no build up thats where your depth would come from say dig 2ft down but build up from floor level by 3ft giving you a total depth of 5ft perfect for what your wanting and a number of other fish included....That'll gve you an idea to play with for now
The rest is up to you as you can make a nice large pond by playing both ways up and down see bellow when we went up from the ground and got 4.5 ft out of it and a real nice pond to boot

rgrds

Dave

 

[VanDiesil]

I saw those types of tubs a couple of weeks ago at a lake where I fish regularly. The owner had a couple there for putting new stock in to QT. He said they were relatively cheap as well (he paid £200 each for them with 7' diameter). When he is finished with them, I may try to obtain them off of him

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum! :wave: