My Pond's Progression

[cubs fan]

I'm new to the pond world but definitely not new to fish keeping. I've kept several large arowana's and piranha's for years and now that they're gone, I've taken an interest in Koi fish.
I started with a 330 gallon preformed pond that was powered by a Laguna pressure filter. After everything all said and done, I had spent around ~$2200.
The pond was home to a 14" Koromo, 17" Showa, and (8) 4-5" Koi. I know, the pond was overstocked!

Two weeks after it's completion it has been torn down in order to make room for something larger. It took me a day to tear everything out and another day to dig to it's current point. I still need to finish digging and make the deepest part of the pond wider. I'm hoping to finish this today. Here are some pictures of the current progress and the new toys

The skimmer and waterfall are Atlantic's Big Bahama's. The liner is 20'x25' but I know a lot of it will go to waste due to the odd shape of my pond
The pond is estimated to be about ~2000 gallons and I'm hoping the fish will lake this a lot more!
I have a question about bottom drains: do I need another pump to power my bottom drain? My skimmer just shows a knife valve feeding into the skimmer; however, I am unsure on how it will draw water from the drain. Is the gravity and suction going to be enough?
I started this build on Friday and I'm hoping it will be complete by July 4 (minus landscaping). My budget for this pond is $2000 and I've already eaten up $1500 of it. It's hard to do things on a budget while being in college, haha.

 

[Muske]

Does the bottom drain run off the skimmer? I have never used/installed one so I'm no expert. I have seen a retrofit unit that runs off the single pump housed in the skimmer, but it is used more for additional water flow/movement. Not as a serious source for debris removal. A skimmer of that size will keep the pond very clean by it's self. How big is the weir?

I would just run the skimmer, no bottom drain. It looks like a 1/2 horse, 3K gal./hr. which will give you good turn over.

Are you planning on having a small creek for the return, or turning the bio-falls/filter into a waterfall?

What part are you going wider? I would leave the bottom, or slightly larger, and make a second shelf in the 12-16" depth. That way, you can dig planting pockets for the lillies and not have to have the pots showing. All you have to do is dig a small depression, 4-6" deep, maybe a foot or so in dia. and place lily when the pond is filling. Remove them from their current pot and place into depression. Backfilling and toping off w/more gravel. Nice and clean and you will not have any pot bound issues. You will still have to divide rhizomes down the road, but the effect is a clean natural look. Just an idea....

 

[oldfish]

You said you were interested in koi.But it appears you are building a water garden.Unfortunatly putting koi in a water garden does not make it a KOI POND!If you want a koi pond dig the sides down to depth without the planting areas(10x15x4=4,000 gallons of swimming room),don't hook your bottom drain to your skimmer(it will not draw right),get advice from your local koi club(do it once,do it right).If your making a water garden your on the right path but it will only be good for baby koi or goldfish.

 

[tpeezy]

The weir door is 6". The first step of the pond is mainly for large rocks to decorate the sides and hide the liner. The second step is is for planting the water lillies. I am not going to use the pots anymore, I'm going to plant them into some soil and river rocks to prevent the Koi from digging them up. I decreased the size of the second shelf significantly since yesterday in order to make the 4' depth area wider. Today I am hoping to increase the depth of that second shelf by 11" making it at a depth of 28". I am also hoping to dig out the area for the skimmer, trench for the piping, and bottom drain trench. We will see how far I get because it looks like it's going to rain soon.
I am hoping to have water in by this weekend so I can get the Koi out of their temporary home!

 

[tpeezy]

Here's the progress I made yesterday:

Here's some of the Koi:

As you can tell, the large ones aren't too happy about being in the tub for pictures, haha.

I'm hoping the smaller Koi will put on another 2" this summer in the larger. Do you think this is possible?

 

[oldfish]

I'm hoping the smaller Koi will put on another 2" this summer in the larger. Do you think this is possible?

Yes the smaller koi should grow several inches.You will find that most of the smaller koi will double in size from year 1 to 2.

 

[mr.reef24]

pond look's great.

mr.reef24

 

[Muske]

Ditch the soil for the lilies. They will do just fine w/o any soil in/around there roots. Just various sized gravels for backfill around the plants.

 

[tpeezy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tERGu-zkV-Q

got it up and running. now i just gotta do all the small stuff

 

[scadarette]

looks like straight clay, that had to be hard digging