first pond

First Pond

First pond? read this before you do ANYTHING else.

You excavate a hole, put down carpet, then a pond liner, fill the liner with water from a hose and then release some of those nice colourful fish (Koi?) Then you join a club or forum and ask is what you have done OK and what is next? (Believe us this is happening more and more) and its all wrong.

First of all you should consider where the pond is going to go, it should not be under or near a tree (The leaves will fall in, in autumn and who knows where the roots will be)

Near a manhole and you will probably find pipes in the way.

It needs to be in an area that is not too exposed to the sun, but not too close to any buildings (So you can easily walk round the perimeter, without having to carefully balance your way round.)

Once you have decided where it will go you should then mark at the area and start digging.

The depth is determined by what you want keep in the pond. If you want koi the pond must be 5 feet minimum This is to allow the koi to be able to swim up and down as well as sideways. IF your current pond is 3 feet deep koi are not for you, no matter how small they are.

If your pond is just for "Goldfish" 2-3 feet is fine, you may even want to consider a beach area (One with a gentle slope to the surrounding surface) so that any wildlife that falls in can get out, or so that after a while wildlife will learn they can walk down to get a drink.

Koi will produce a lot of "waste" this will soon accumulate in a pond it needs to be removed, the best way is to add a bottom drain during construction.

This is a typical bottom drain before it is mounted. With their being such a small gap all around this increases the speed water etc is sucked in, making it more efficient.

The bottom drain should then ideally be connected to a vortex chamber (A chamber where the water goes round in a circular motion) Then onto the other chambers

So the hole is dug a bottom drain and pipe work installed (If its a koi pond) you are going to lay carpet to protect the liner.

You should NEVER use carpet for a liner underlay, never. The main reason is that after a few years the carpet will rot, (Even nylon carpets rot and the pile collapses) when it does the carpet no longer gives any support this can stretch a liner a bit too much over a stone and puncture it. (Was that carpet still such a good idea?) Also most liners come with a very long guarantee, but the small print says you must use their underlay otherwise the guarantee is void. So that is another reason not to use carpets. If its a small pond then yes you can also use damp sand. But do read the small print (A layer of around 5cm is fine.)

So the hole now has a properly installed liner (Optional bottom drain) and now you can fill it with water then add fish?

You can add the water but not the fish, tap water has chlorine and other such things to make the water safe for humans to drink, you should leave the pool for a few weeks or add a dechlorinator.

While you are waiting you can add the filters. What filters? The filters you brought earlier when you decided what fish to have.

Take the pool as an example, and you are a fish, you eat and a while later you "dump" after a while you will not be able to see because you have been eating and "dumping" That is why you need filters to keep the water clean.

There is a whole lot more regarding filters and looking after a pond, but this page is to give you an oversight as how much more there is to a pond than just a hole with a liner. So please, before you build a pond, read more of this and other websites before you even dig a hole.

A few notes about KOI:

As well as producing a lot of waste, some koi keepers will tell you that a koi pond must be heated over winter. Its your choice if you do, but obviously it is expensive. Koi also need a lot of oxygen so you will also need a large air pump too.