Newbie koi pond build

[specialone0812]

hello all,
after keeping fishes in aquarium for a while, I have decided to move on to a little larger water column by building me a pond in the backyard. I plan to build it somewhere around 4000 gallon in-ground liner pond with water fall. Below is my design. I would appreciate your tips and advices since this is my first in-ground pond.Thanks.

MODEL 2 REV 2.jpg

[Austy16414]

No tips or advice, but that sure does look sweet!! You gonna be keeping trophs and petros out there when it's warm?

[specialone0812]

Trophs and petros sound good, but I am going with koi for easy care and maintenance. All my koi has been outside over this winter fine and i am happy that i can keep the pond running all year long with fish.

[Austy16414]

I got excited and totally missed the clearly stated "koi" in the title lol should still be awesome

[ptran]

Looking good Toni. Put some Moba in there. Actually, rock and gravel at the waterfall is a bio filter by itself.
Where is the overflow?

[specialone0812]

P,
If you mean overflow in case of rain, there is a hole in the skimmer that will drain rain water out.
using gravel in water fall will grow a ton of algae and will look dirty. I will have K1 bio media in the bio-filter.

[Parklandbob]

The edge of the pond needs to have a vertical drop of at least 18 inches. Not sloping. Otherwise raccoons and other critters will try to get into the pond. AND around here, our insurance companies charge a higher premium if the pond is more than 40 inches deep ( child drowning risk). Bob in IL

[ptran]

P,
If you mean overflow in case of rain, there is a hole in the skimmer that will drain rain water out.
using gravel in water fall will grow a ton of algae and will look dirty. I will have K1 bio media in the bio-filter.

Skimmer goes back to pump which will be back to the pond, right?

I think you still need an overflow to storm drain in case of rain. Also make sure your yard grading is sloping away from the pond.

[specialone0812]

Water from pond to bottom drain,to settlement filter,to pump,to gravel/sand filter,to water fall, back to pond.
the edge of the pond will prevent run off water.

[specialone0812]

There is just one pump to run the whole system, the rest are just gravity flows to save money on electricity.

[platipus]

Check the Lone Star Koi Club here in Houston. Lot's of good people and info. Contact them and ask to attend a meeting. I have a 3000 gallon cement/polyurea build in our patio. Could have saved myself a few build headaches if I had talked to them first.

[specialone0812]

Oh, thanks. do they have a Web page?

[Roshan8768]

GL with the buiild! There's a place called Nelson's water garden in katy that has some nice plants and hardscape material. The people are super friendly and know everything there is to know about building and maintaining a pond in Houston. Give them a shout if you are ever on this side of town.

[specialone0812]

I have been there several times. i got some good ideas from them and people there are very helpful. bought some small koi there and growing them for my pond.

[platipus]

They do have a website. I should say we do because I am a member as well. I'm not sure what the hotlink rules here, but if you do a search for Lone Star Koi Club Houston, it should be one of the first if not the very first site that comes up in the results.

Next meeting is Feb 15. If you go to the About Us>Officers section, there is contact info. Email the Membership director or President stating you would like to test-drive a meeting and you should get a response within a day or two.

Meetings are very casual and usually entail social time (which is when you would want to talk to other members about your pond plan), potluck food and then wrapped up with club business.

Good luck!