Isaac's Backyard Koi Pond | Full Build | Newbie

[Eyezik]

Hello! Over the past year or 2, I have been slowly becoming an addict when it comes to fish keeping. I started with 1 fantail goldfish and now I am dreaming of bigger things. I was finally able to convince my parents that a pond in our backyard would be a good thing and would look very nice on the side of our patio. I started work around the 11th of May by removing our old, rooting hot tub in order to make room for the pond.

 

[Eyezik]

Currently, I am draining the Pond, I was told that the liner I purchased was not the best quality and I also lost a fish. Once I get it closed to being drained I will be taking out this liner. I want to maybe mess around with the design and look of the pond as there are some bumps, rocks, and problem areas I need to fix. I also want to increase the size a bit in order to hold 2 Koi.

 

[Eyezik]

Equipment:
Filter Box
Pump
Rocks x4
Current Liner

I Also have 1 Water Lily as well as 2 Water Lettuce.
If you have any recommendations for a Liner, filter, or heater please let me know. I ended up getting what I thought would work and was also in my budget.​

 

[mrsclem]

If you go with your current liner which is large enough for 600 gallons, 2 koi are going to be a problem very quickly. Rule is 1000 for 1st koi, 500 for each other. I would stick to fancy gold fish. Check out shubunkins, they have nice colors and are not as fussy as koi.

 

[Eyezik]

If you go with your current liner which is large enough for 600 gallons, 2 koi are going to be a problem very quickly. Rule is 1000 for 1st koi, 500 for each other. I would stick to fancy gold fish. Check out shubunkins, they have nice colors and are not as fussy as koi.

I will probably work on the depth and size of the pond, I want to try to go for about 1,000 gallons and maybe just 1 Koi?

 

[Eyezik]

I will probably push for something like this.

 

[Jagsfan]

You may want to recheck that calculator. That doesnt seem right. The pond im going to be building is 9x5x3 and its just over 500 gallons according to the calculator on Thepondguy.com. Also with making your pond larger, you will probably need larger filter and pump. just something to consider.

 

[Eyezik]

You may want to recheck that calculator. That doesnt seem right. The pond im going to be building is 9x5x3 and its just over 500 gallons according to the calculator on Thepondguy.com. Also with making your pond larger, you will probably need larger filter and pump. just something to consider.

Yeah, I will probably just do a full remake. I was being stupid and should have done more research before starting this project.

 

[Jagsfan]

Yeah, I will probably just do a full remake. I was being stupid and should have done more research before starting this project.

I just checked another calculator and it says my pond is just over 1000 gallons, now im confused haha. i'll have to look into this more

 

[combatwombat]

If you go bare liner, that will be the volume of your pond. If you rock it all in, it will probably reduce volume by 20-30%. A 20x15 liner will get you a bigger pond than you have planned if you use every inch of it.

 

[combatwombat]

@Jagsfan & @Eyezik: The calculators just doing basic math, which you can verify for yourself. If you dig your pond as a rectangle with walls straight down, then volume is a super simple calculation (in feet): (Length * Width * Depth) = Cubic feet. Multiply that by 7.48 to get gallons.

Same simplicity for a circular pond but using circle calculation to get area first: Radius squared times 3.14.

If you have shelves, then it's a little more complicated but you would just figure out the volume of each shelf and add them together.

If you have a free form pond with misshapen shelves... well... you just estimate the best you can and then buy a hose meter to figure out how many gallons it is when you fill it!

The calculators you find online are incapable of calculating volume for anything but the most simple shapes. That's why they all ask for "average depth" because most ponds have curved/ bowl shaped bottoms or shelves that complicate the calculation.

 

[GBBUDD]

Unfortunately the pvc they sell for ponds does not have a very good success rate . and the longevity is not so great either.