Koi pond construction

Koi ponds are easy to build, dig hole, line with carpet, liner, fill done? no,no,no and no.

There are lots of koi pond construction sites out there, and lots of videos on koi pond construction too, but this is not one of them. I am going to offer you some tips and reasons.

Pond size

The pond needs to be big enough for an "adult koi" to swim in, so as some get to be 2 feet in length it follows it must be at least 4 feet wide and 4 feet long, and 4feet deep, but wait, that does not take into consideration the koi must be able to swim then turn, so 5 x 5 x 5 it is then.

Some koi videos show the pond as being 3 feet deep with some small koi, often they are made showing the building of the pond, so the fish are small, but well looked after koi soon grow to around 18 inches then to 2 feet, so in order to exercise koi need to be able to swim up and down as well as side to side. so that is why kopi ponds should be 5 feet deep minimum.

Carpets for liner underlay

What is a carpet made of? wool and polyester or just polyester or just wool, in any case the wool will rot if its in a dark damp environment (Under the liner) even if the main material doesn't rot, the Hessian its woven through will, so what is under your liner? Most good liners stipulate you have to use a specific liner underlay if you want the very long guarantee. The specific liner underlay is NOT carpet or old newspaper.

Filtration

Koi produce their body weight in "liquid waste" everyday and almost as much "solid waste" everyday so to cope with this you need to have bigger than average filters. Most koi pond owners will build their own, often being  1/3 of the pond surface area, not one of the small box filters.

Plants

Some will put plants in their pond and say they are fine, koi are inquisitive and soon learn to taste plants or knock them over, I have yet to see a koi pond that has plants that have not been attacked by the koi (Obviously they need to be within reach of the koi)

Bottom drain

Always install a bottom drain in a koi pond, it will save you grief in the long term.

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