New and designing stage

[Cnking]

Hi guys really liking is forum, I'm Chris and I'm 26, me and my wife are currently looking at houses to buy and when we move I'm going to be building a koi pond...my first.

I've done a lot of research and have decided to use railway sleepers to build my pond, I have rough dimensions 2.2 m in length 1.8m wide and 1.5 deep what do you think is this to small do the dimensions add up I guess it's personal preference...? Would be about 1,230 gallons..

Upon building the first layer of sleepers, then dig down of course e sleepers won't be in the hole but at the top around it, do they need to be on a concrete footing ? And if they do or don't the walls of the mud in the hole you have just dug do they need to be secured somehow or will the water be enough to stop the mud from caving in over time ?

Lots of questions hello I'm Chris

 

[sissy]

welcome but koi do get big and pond may not be big enough for them and they are big waste producer and the destroy plants and are fussy about water quality .I just wish some one had told me 9 years later and I have koi over 2 ft long . :cheerful:

 

[Cnking]

Wow eh look great, what sort of weight are they when fully grown? What sort of water volume would you suggest for these bad boys I'd happily build a bigger one

 

[HTH]

Agreed if you really want koi go to 3 or 5K if you have the room.

 

[Cnking]

3 or 5,000 gallons jeez that's a step up, will have to see if ill have the room it could be smaller if you only had say 2 with mixed fish ?
What sort of dimensions are people's ponds to contain 5k gallons?
Something like
5m length
4m wide
2 m deep ? That's huge haha

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome!

Goldfish are nice, too, especially Shubunkins. You can keep more goldfish per gallon than you can koi, but you always have to be careful not to overstock.

Just to give you an idea, here is a link that shows approx. safe numbers of fish.
http://www.your-garden-ponds-center.com/fish-load-calculator.html

 

[Cnking]

Mm that's a helpful calculator cheers, I think pond carrying 3k gallons is very big and I'd be punching above my weight building anything bigger I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it good to know though, I could maybe find a nice balance of fish ,

The main question stands, about the construction thanks !

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!