How to build a koi water garden pond.

by: BruceContryman
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I designed and built this Koi water garden pond after visiting Japan a number of times and admired their water gardens with Koi. The design has three ponds, the top pond is filtered by water hyacinths that float on the water, the water is crystal clear. The middle pond has a waterfall from the top pond and aerates the water. The bottom pond is the largest and holds about a 2000 gallons of water.

We sit beside our water garden pond listening to soothing and relaxing water rushing down a small water fall. The dragon flies are fluttering in and around shrubs and plants, crickets are tweeting, bees are whizzing and humming birds are dancing around while the Koi swim lackadaisically around in the water garden pond.

We have about 6 water lily plants with large pink and red blossoms in the bottom water garden pond. They cover almost all the pond in the summer time but they die off back to their roots in the fall and re-grow in the spring as the days get warm and long.

We have over 40 multi colored Koi in the pond. I purchase small Koi that are 2 to 3 inches long to stock the water garden pond where they will grow over 10 inches long.

We have unwanted visitors to our water garden pond. Egrets will stop on our or the neighbors roofs then fly down and wade into our pond. If we see the egret, we will let our dog out to scare off the egret.

We have also had raccoons play in the pond and try to catch the koi. We watched a mother and 3 baby racoons try to catch our Koi.

I designed our do it yourself Koi water garden pond, with stakes and string. I installed a 3" PVC pipe from the lower pond to the top pond to pump water. I painted the block wall with an asphalt paste behind the pond to piled dirt on this wall. I constructed 4 railroad ties in an L shape, two layers high to make the front edge of the upper pond and the waterfall into the middle pond.

I constructed a 1/4 circle ridge from the ends of the ties to make the front edge of the middle pond where water would tumble over the edge into the bottom pond. I removed about 18" of dirt for the lower pond, putting the dirt into the walls of the upper ponds. I put a PVC liner that we cut and glued to fit over the ponds.

I bought and installed an above ground 1/5 horse power pump with a 2" inlet and outlet. This was the right amount of water flow over the waterfall. Some times I would have to re-priming the pump when the inlet pipe sucked air.

I found a 1/3 horse power submersible pump that could be used in a fish pond. Some pumps cannot be used in a fish pond, check the fine print. I found this out the hard way when I tried to get a replacement pump.

We've had this pond design for about 15 years. We have had good luck with this design and the raccoons and egrets like it too.

About the Author

Do you want to construct your own water garden or Koi water garden pond? Go to Bruce Contryman's web site for advice on how to design and construct a water garden pond. How to construct a water garden pond How to design a water garden water garden pond  

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