| One of the most inportant things to remember about koi is that they get BIG. They can easily get 36" long with proper care. So now picture a 36" koi swimming in a pond that is only 84" across. Not a very comfortable enviroment for them. And 36" deep is not really deep enough either. Koi are powerful swimmers and there is nothing more beautiful that seeing a school of koi powering themselves the length of the pond, leaving a wake behind them. Koi need a bare minumum of 300 gallons each, although 500 gallons is much better. You proposed pond is only a little over 1000 gallons. You should really consider making it at least 12' across and 48" deep which will give you around 4300 gallons. Be sure to include an aerated bottom drain and skimmer that gravity feed to a settling tank and filter. You don't need to spend lots of money on filtration....there are a lot of good filters you can make yourself. The pond is still going to be expensive though. If you really don't want (or can't afford) to build a pond this size, you may want to consider a goldfish pond/water garden instead. There are many varieties of goldfish that are just beautiful and do not need a pond nearly as fancy or expensive as koi do. |