koi pond plans in uk

hi,

i want to build a pond for koi in my garden. they wont be for showing - just
basic koi! i have plenty of space & building expertise & wont to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls. can anyone point me to a suitable
book/website/resource ? i have googled and suffered information overload. so
i thought yoiu guys here might be bale to help me weed out the quality
information!

thanks,

sky

ps. i am in uk

it is great that you know what you want the pond for. I too built the pond FOR my
koi. http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/mypond.htm
it has straight sides so predators cant easily get in
it is netted so predators cant easily get in
it has a large veggie filter filled with vertical plants that keep the water in very
good shape ... and very easy to maintain
it is heated in winter with a 500 watt heater and covered with plastic to keep the
heat in and the koi are fed almost all winter so they stay healthy
Ingrid

"SkyCatcher" wrote:
i want to build a pond for koi in my garden. they wont be for showing - just
basic koi! i have plenty of space & building expertise & wont to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls. can anyone point me to a suitable
book/website/resource ? i have googled and suffered information overload. so
i thought yoiu guys here might be bale to help me weed out the quality
information!ps. i am in uk


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
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Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
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I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

"SkyCatcher" wrote in message
...
hi,

i want to build a pond for koi in my garden. they wont be for showing -
just
basic koi! i have plenty of space & building expertise & wont to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls. can anyone point me to a suitable
book/website/resource ? i have googled and suffered information overload.
so
i thought yoiu guys here might be bale to help me weed out the quality
information!
===================
I don't what your soil conditions are but we have a heavy clay soil. When
dry it's like concrete and when wet like mustard. The berm kept sinking.
Make sure you have a good solid berm all around your pond. When it starts
to sink runoff will get into the pond and can foul the water in several
ways. Last summer we had to repair the berm using cement and rebar to keep
it in place. That was quite an undertaking. This year the yard is torn up
as we make a proper and permanent berm on the smaller 800g pond. That's
been the only thing we've had real problems with. Had we done this at the
start 11 years ago we wouldn't have had to go through this now.
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
*Note: There are several *Koi-Lo's* on rec.ponds.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

SkyCatcher wrote, On 26/04/2006 07:37:
i want to build a pond for koi in my garden. they wont be for showing - just
basic koi! i have plenty of space & building expertise & wont to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls. can anyone point me to a suitable
book/website/resource ? i have googled and suffered information overload. so
i thought yoiu guys here might be bale to help me weed out the quality
information!

The amount of conflicting information really is overwhelming.
http://www.skippysstuff.com/pondbook.htm explains the most important
points really well. It's a US site, but all the information is equally
relevant to a UK pond. Wish I knew about it when I built mine, but then
I would not have known it was good advice (if you see what I mean).

I wish that I had known someone with a kio pond when I built mine.
Actually, come to think of it I did, but I tried to be too clever and
ignored the basics that actually make the difference.
If I had paid more attention to my friends pond I would have done well
to learn these things;

- Is it big enough?
No, so I should have made mine much bigger. Currently about 800 gallons.
I should have put in less shelves and more deep water. 1500 gallons is
what I want now, not places to put plants.
- Are they using an off the shelf "high-tech" filter?
No, they had a basic sand filter with plants growing in the top. Use a
method that you can see has worked for many years. I struggled with an
OASE filter for the first three years, it needed cleaning every week in
summer. I now use a homemade filter based on the Skippy design (see link
above if interested). It was fantastic last summer.
- Do they run outside every day to test the water quality and take
notes? No, but I was stressing out at every water change. Expect to
learn from mistakes in the first year.

Have fun,
DavidM
-also UK

I made ours big enough, but we were digging in sand and when we put the epdm liner in
the sides slumped. we had to use block to get straight sides. on our newest (6 year
old) pond I just built the sides with stud walls and plywood. so much easier, so
much cheaper.
those "shelves" seriously reduces the volume of the pond. is easy enough to set
containers to hold plants.
I am still grappling with the problem of leaves getting into the first two ponds.
nature loves to fill in ponds with debris ... that is what swamps are. so using nets
to control leaves and predators needs to be built into the design.... unless somebody
doesnt mind mucking the ponds out all the time.
easy care filtration is the next. I dont want crystal clear water, so my veggie
filter is just the easiest there is in my new pond that is also netted. INgrid

DavidM wrote:
I should have made mine much bigger. Currently about 800 gallons.
I should have put in less shelves and more deep water. 1500 gallons is
what I want now, not places to put plants.
- Are they using an off the shelf "high-tech" filter?
No, they had a basic sand filter with plants growing in the top. Use a
method that you can see has worked for many years. I struggled with an
OASE filter for the first three years, it needed cleaning every week in
summer. I now use a homemade filter based on the Skippy design (see link
above if interested). It was fantastic last summer.
- Do they run outside every day to test the water quality and take
notes? No, but I was stressing out at every water change. Expect to
learn from mistakes in the first year.

Have fun,
DavidM
-also UK



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

i want to build a pond for koi in my garden. they wont be for showing - just
basic koi! i have plenty of space & building expertise & wont to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls. can anyone point me to a suitable
book/website/resource ? i have googled and suffered information overload. so
i thought yoiu guys here might be bale to help me weed out the quality
information!

www.akca.com American Koi Club Association has articles on pond
construction and everything koi. Click on Menu, Koi Health Advisor, and
then the various articles pop up. ~ jan

--------------
See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

http://www.koicymru.co.uk/ has lots of useful stuff - I must admit it
was finding this site that persuaded me to stick to a goldfish pond :-)
Peter


SkyCatcher wrote:
hi,

i want to build a pond for koi in my garden. they wont be for showing - just
basic koi! i have plenty of space & building expertise & wont to avoid
common mistakes and pitfalls. can anyone point me to a suitable
book/website/resource ? i have googled and suffered information overload. so
i thought yoiu guys here might be bale to help me weed out the quality
information!

thanks,

sky

ps. i am in uk