CarolinaGirl's Pond

[CarolinaGirl]

I have lurked here for a while and thought I'd finally show ya'll my pond. I designed and built it myself. It has two 4" bottom drains. One goes to a nexus and the water is returned thru 4 TPRs and a surface level return. the other drain goes to a DIY static K1 filter and a fluid K1 filter. The water from that system is returned to the two shallower waterfall pools (where growout's live) and a surface level return. There is a skimmer on that circuit as well. I started the pond december 2004 and had it ready for fish March 2005. I finished the landscaping before the pond tour July 2005. I can show you some construction photos if you'd like....I have about a million of them!

[dick benbow]

off topic a bit, but noticed the stream in the yard....do you have flooding problems with all our weird weather these days?

[CarolinaGirl]

Stream? You must be seeing the water from the hose. The whole back yard was on a slope and I built a Railroad cross tie wall along the back to level the yard off. The low privacy fence is built along that RR tie wall. All the filters are behind the fence and wall. I had to bring in many dump trick loads of fill sand to back-fill the ground around the pond to level the whole yard off. No danger of flooding in this yard!

I forgot to say....the pond and filters are 9000 gallons, filled with water meters.

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by CarolinaGirl I have lurked here for a while and thought I'd finally show ya'll my pond. I designed and built it myself. It has two 4" bottom drains. One goes to a nexus and the water is returned thru 4 TPRs and a surface level return. the other drain goes to a DIY static K1 filter and a fluid K1 filter. The water from that system is returned to the two shallower waterfall pools (where growout's live) and a surface level return. There is a skimmer on that circuit as well. I started the pond december 2004 and had it ready for fish March 2005. I finished the landscaping before the pond tour July 2005. I can show you some construction photos if you'd like....I have about a million of them!

Congratulations. Please post many pics of the construction process it is always fun.

I am glad to hear that you used a water meter to fill up. There is nothing like being accurate when it comes to Koi.

Russ

[CarolinaGirl]

OK....I'll be glad to post construction pics. should I post them here or start a new thread in the construction area?

There is never an excuse to NOT use a meter when filling a pond. I bought two bronze ones off Ebay for $19 each. They measure in cubic feet, but thats easy to convert to gallons so no big deal.

After I built this pond, I decided I needed a waterlily pond so I put that in the back yard as well. I put a 4" drain in that one too, only it was for cleaning purposes. Glad I did.....because I am converting it into a longfin pond now and the drain will get hooked up to a filter.

[Russell Peters]

I would continue to post here and Jim can decide if it should move or not.

[dubtaco]

Hi CG,

I have always liked your pond, it has that watergarden look that many wish to achieve...but it is a real koi pond (bottom drains, filters, etc.)!

[keokoi]

Cindy, you have come a long way with your pond and the koi hobby... Looks very good..

Joe

[CarolinaGirl]

OK....here goes!!

During the summer of 2004 we were planning to move to our new land and I was going to put in a pond for my koi (It was going to be another watergarden.....I didn't know anything then ). We had a backhoe at the house, so I had them rough-dig the hole for me.

I went to the Charlotte koi show in November 2004 and for the first time in my life, I saw **REAL** koi. Up to that point, I didn't even know koi got big. When I came home, I started pouring over every internet board and koi pond book I could find and came up with a workable plan.

The walls are dry-stacked block. Because of the nature of my soil (sand/clay mix), I decided not to put in a footer. I probably should have, but didn't. The earth is very stable and the first course of block was laid on previously undisturbed soil. I didnt have a transit so I pulled two strings across the hole and leveled them with two line-levels. I set the first four blocks directly below the strings and then worked the blocks in between to create a level base. After all courses were set, I drove re-bar down thru some of the cells and backfilled the entire wall with concrete. I mixed the concrete in an ancient Sears concrete mixer and dumped it in thru a wooden chute I made that covered 3 cells at a time. Then I covered the wall with carpet to protect the liner from the rough blocks.

[CarolinaGirl]

Chris....yep. It's a real koi pond. Two bottom drains, a Nexus and a DIY static and fluid K1 filter, skimmer, TPRs, everything.

Joe....thanks. I have come a long way since way back when you called me to console me after i screwed up and killed some fish. I was ready to quit this hobby that day. Your call helped me a lot. I still have a long way to go though.