Building a Koi Pond – Where to build it?
How to build a Koi pond?
A koi pond is a purpose built habitat for these lovely fish and differs from any other garden water feature. To introduce koi into other types of water features is usually a disaster waiting to happen and though one can get away with it for awhile, the end result is predictable. So, instead of doing what so many do, that is dig a hole, throw in a liner, add water and a few fish, and call it a koi pond, we want to help to get it right the first time.
An ideal way to have the beauty of a water garden AND the distinct pleasure of a koi pond is to have both! – a lovely water garden tippling off into a koi pond. The plants can’t be disturbed (or eaten) by the fish because the fish can’t get to them and the fish can be viewed in all their glory, unfettered by pots and plants.
Perhaps one the most difficult but truly critical aspects of building a koi pond is where we put it. The whole point behind doing this in the first place is to be able to see it and enjoy it Ideally, the pond will sit where we can see it from the house all year ‘round. We may need to remove an old concrete patio or demolish or remodel a deck or even transplant or remove some existing plants or trees, but it will be worth it in the long run. Deciding just where it will go and what it might look like will take some imagination but that can be helped by using a rope or garden hose or even spreading lime to outline the pond’s perimeter on the ground. Then, viewing it over several days from many angles from rooms in the house as well as from the surrounding property will help in deciding the ideal spot. And finally, while we’re at it, we may decide to replace some windows with a larger expanse of glass so as to incorporate the outdoors with the indoor living space. This is an excellent way to heighten the enjoyment, particularly if the pond is close enough to the house that we can walk to that window and actually see into the pond and watch the kaleidoscope of colors as the fish swim in ever changing patterns.
Size and Depth of a Koi Pond
Once the “where” is decided, we need to determine size and depth.
An ideal pond for the average hobbyist is between 23 and 25 feet long by 12 to 13 feet wide and 3 to 4 feet deep. (The 1% or less of koi hobbyists who want to grow jumbo koi or keep fish primarily to compete in shows with, will want much deeper ponds of 6 to 8 feet). This size pond can accommodate 15 to 20 mature fish (24 to 28 inches) giving them plenty of room to exercise and, will not look overstocked and crowded. Here’s how we calculate the volume of water in this pond: Length X width X depth = cubic feet X 7.5 gallons per cubic foot = volume in gallons. So, 25 X13 X 3 X 7.5 = 7312 gallons. However, this is only an approximate figure as the pond will not normally be a perfect rectangle and the shape may be more freeform. We will only know the exact volume of pond and filtration system upon filling the feature and metering the input. And it’s extremely important to know the exact volume.
Keeping the width of the pond to less than 13 feet is so that when we have to catch a fish, for whatever reason (and there will be reasons), we need to be able to extend the net from one side to the other and any net and handle longer than about 12 feet is quite unmanageable.
Garden pond ideas and designs.