Will our pond be big enough for koi?

[Mmathis]

I worry about going deeper than 4.5ft because I am only 5ft tall and if I ever need to go wading I'll need my head above water, so to speak. Of course if that's not something I'll ever need to do then we could dig deeper. We don't want to go above ground because the pond will form part of the landscaping for my brother's railway, and bricks are not to scale

LOL! I thought I had solved the problem of being a shortie [5'1"] and tackling the deeper end! Got out my SCUBA mask & snorkel, and drafted my teen-age son to "spot" me when I was "under." Well, I forgot that I am VERY POSITIVELY BUOYANT, so was never able to sink even my head down far enough to make a difference in seeing or doing anything under the water. Oh, well, it was a good thought!

Have you guys thought about doing an over-lay, like stucco, over bricks? That way you COULD build up [if that's how it ends up] and coat the bricks so they could be textured or made to fit a different "scale." Might be work, but actually sounds kinda fun! You could "trompe l'oeil" the bricks!

 

[Weirdness555]

Nah, it has to fit into the landscaping, which unfortunately requires it to look as natural as possible so building up is VERY limited. I'd like it to look something like this: http://li-koi.com/stevebor3.jpg Don't tell them that the fish aren't to scale, I've managed to sneak it past them...

 

[DOUBBLE TAP]

We're planning a ledge. How do you go about draining it? Without a bottom drain thingamy (i've been advised not to bother as we're using liner) do you just get a pump/filter of some sort and let it sit on the bottom?

I have a sump pump that I use I picked it up cheap from craigs list or you could disconect the line from whatever filter its atached to and let it drain from there

 

[Mmathis]

Godzilla fish!

 

[Dave 54]

We're planning a ledge. How do you go about draining it? Without a bottom drain thingamy (i've been advised not to bother as we're using liner) do you just get a pump/filter of some sort and let it sit on the bottom?

Koi are a very dirty fish by their very nature and they like grubbing around on the bottom , a bottom drain would acctually be your better option.
It is possible to fit a bottom drain to a pond liner so why not go the whole hog its a far better option.
However I would suggest you do some serious reading into your various options before you start its bettr to do it propperly than to find out too late that you did need that bottom drain.
At least with a bottom drain when you drain it off via youra vortex which takes out a huge porportion
of the detritus put out by our koi all the detritus on the bottom of your pond is drawn out with it.
If you allow a buildup of this without a bottom drain then you can harbour some really nasty bacteria within and it can only be drawn off by use of a pond vac.
We put a 4" bottom drain on our 1,000 imperial gallon pond and I must admit I'm rally glad we did as it makes maintenance so much easier.
Remember to add a 4" slide valve so that you can shut the flow of water off from the pond whilst you clean your vortex and filter.
It takes me approx five minutes to flush the vortex open the slide valve allow the detritus into the vortex shut the slide then re-empty the vortex before allowing the pond water this time running clear of all detritus back into the vortex.
Then its a simple matter of topping the pond up again, which suffering from Chronic arthritis in both knee joints and fybromyalgia is a godsend otherwise I wouldnt be able to keep our hobby of 26 years going and would sadly have to give it all up

See Photos of how to lay a bottom drain and 4" valve which then leads into our vortex :-

Note the thin pipe leading up from the pipe is where the hose pipe that supplies air to the bottom drain cover/bubbler/spindrifter fits in bypassing the 4" bottom drain this was in turn covered by the wooden pond syrround and is not seen





Dave

 

[Weirdness555]

I was advised that a bottom drain would possibly leak which is why I stayed away from one, I don't think a pond vac would be too much problem, how often does this need doing?

On an unrelated note my mum has fybromyalgia.

All the plumbing for the bottom drain sounds quite complicated, I will have to talk to the gardeners who will be building it and see how much they know about ponds. We were hoping that since they know a lot more about this stuff than we do we could just let them build it and then enjoy the results. I'm sure they will have done both so we'll see what they say about it.

 

[Dave 54]

The bottom drain wont leak if propperly sealed, we have a friend who has two on a liner he's got 7,000 gallons imperial.
Thats alot of water to loose if they leaked sorry about your Mums Fibromyagia I know what its like I was diagnosed as having it 4 years ago , I'm also loosing the use of my of left thumb thropugh artritis the fibro was apparently as a result of my bike crash.
Hope this changes your mind about bottom drains they are a good way to go honestly as to vaccuming the pond how much do you aim to feed your koi then you'll get your answer , the larger they go the more they pass out .

Dave

 

[Weirdness555]

I'm not totally sure we'll ever get koi...

 

[Dave 54]

I'm not totally sure we'll ever get koi...

Weirdness there are more koi clubs than goldfish clubs in the UK the british koi keepers Society have health officers throughout something the FBAS doesnt.
Your rightly placed to ask about the fitting of bottom drains some koi clubs would even help you out with that I even have a friend called Dave Stubbs lives up your neck of the woods .
Miss this chance you'll regret it I was lucky to have my first koi bought for me as a present , it captivated us we sold off our goldfish and the rest is history

Dave

 

[sissy]

well that is great Dave and an expert would be the best for that .I would never try it myself . :cheerful: My luck it would all go bad for me