Koi Pond
Many of you out there have thought about putting in a Koi pond with a waterfall in your back yard at sometime or another. You probably thought, I don’t know that I can do the work and I sure can’t afford to pay someone to do it for me, and to this day you still don’t have one. We are going to give you the tips and tools you will need to build your own pond and enjoy it for years to come.
Today, we will discuss location and planning. Location is key to making a pond look like it belongs. Sometimes there will be a sloped spot that is a very obvious spot to put a waterfall. Other times, you are working with level ground and will need to create from scratch, the waterfall. Either way, it can be done, and done right.
Next you will need to decide how large of a basin you are wanting. This will be determined by the fish you want to stock, and what plants you are wanting to put in there. You will also need to decide what shape of basin you want. You can build it round, oval, and irregular. There is not an advantage to one over the other except for the look of your particular area of installation.
Now it is time to decide how much waterfall you are wanting. You won’t know exactly at this point, but you must try and guess a good size to start the planning process. With a waterfall, you can go up and out. Up is how far from the ground the fall starts, and the out is how far away from the basin the fall starts. Knowing that will determine how big of pump and filter you will be installing.
There are two different types of water collection material you can buy. One is the preformed heavy plastic units that the big box places sell. These are permanently shaped and just need to be sunk in a hole and your pond is ready for water. No flexibility is given when using one of these. The other option is using a heavy liner material. This option gives you complete flexibility in the shape, size and depth of your pond. It is more work during installation, but is usually the better choice in the end.
Happy Pond
