So not all of us restrict our fish obsessions to JUST saltwater(heh heh heh), Kelley and I have had a pond in our backyard for about 5 years and have been upgrading about every 2 years or so. This was the big one! our old pond(which you will see its skeleton) was a 300 gallon cattle stock tank, 5ft across * 2ft deep and sunk into the ground except 3 inches of lip.
We decided to go for the gusto after a waterfall pump failure and really go massive as we had kept goldfish before with a single koi and loved the koi to death. Deconstruction of current pond involved removing all edging, water, plants and equipment and letting it dry out. The stock tank was left in the and we started with 4in * 3in * 8ft landscaping timbers. Using 3/8in by 2ft rebar, a 1/2in drill bit and alot of sweat we drilled the timbers and assembled them like tinker toys to form a 2ft high box around the existing stocktank. The box is apx 7ft * 8ft in dimension. After that to be safe we used 1/2in plywood sheets to face the inside walls of the box, preventing splinters and giving the liner a nice smooth surface to conform too. After the walls were in we had to deal with the 3in gap between the ground and the lip of the stock tank, enter a 1/2 ton of packing sand later and everything was built up to a level surface for plant shelving.
Next was the fun part, maneuvering a 20ft * 20ft 40mil epdm pond liner(150lbs) into place and started filling it with water. After the pond had filled 3/4 of the way with water we used 2in * 10in boards that were treated with thompson waterseal and 3in brass screws to create a benchseat style top to hide the liner and provide a nice place to sit and admire the fish. The corner of each board is held to the adjoining one with 2 8in steel plates ensuring that while it does flex a little it is going NOWHERE!
The ponds been cycling now for about 3 weeks with 100 gallons of water from our old pond,2 survivor goldfish and 4 of my potted plants to help, we added 3 small koi a week ago and they are doing well also. The circulation is provided by a DIY filter with a Mag 5 and a bell fountain head. We figure that with the 2 feet below and the 2 feet above the pond is apx 1100 gallons in size. Now that you read through all that..... Here are the Pics!
Old stocktank and Timber wall
Me attaching the last Ply wall
The sand is in!
Liner in and filling with water
These are night shots of the finished pond, I'll get some day shots eventually
second shot
Last but not least I do want to let people know that if your or friends have Koi that need a home to let us know, with 2 goldfish and 3 little Koi it is nowhere near capacity! I am patiently(NOT!!!!) waiting till spring of '09 till I expand my plants with some lilys and other fun marginals.
We decided to go for the gusto after a waterfall pump failure and really go massive as we had kept goldfish before with a single koi and loved the koi to death. Deconstruction of current pond involved removing all edging, water, plants and equipment and letting it dry out. The stock tank was left in the and we started with 4in * 3in * 8ft landscaping timbers. Using 3/8in by 2ft rebar, a 1/2in drill bit and alot of sweat we drilled the timbers and assembled them like tinker toys to form a 2ft high box around the existing stocktank. The box is apx 7ft * 8ft in dimension. After that to be safe we used 1/2in plywood sheets to face the inside walls of the box, preventing splinters and giving the liner a nice smooth surface to conform too. After the walls were in we had to deal with the 3in gap between the ground and the lip of the stock tank, enter a 1/2 ton of packing sand later and everything was built up to a level surface for plant shelving.
Next was the fun part, maneuvering a 20ft * 20ft 40mil epdm pond liner(150lbs) into place and started filling it with water. After the pond had filled 3/4 of the way with water we used 2in * 10in boards that were treated with thompson waterseal and 3in brass screws to create a benchseat style top to hide the liner and provide a nice place to sit and admire the fish. The corner of each board is held to the adjoining one with 2 8in steel plates ensuring that while it does flex a little it is going NOWHERE!
The ponds been cycling now for about 3 weeks with 100 gallons of water from our old pond,2 survivor goldfish and 4 of my potted plants to help, we added 3 small koi a week ago and they are doing well also. The circulation is provided by a DIY filter with a Mag 5 and a bell fountain head. We figure that with the 2 feet below and the 2 feet above the pond is apx 1100 gallons in size. Now that you read through all that..... Here are the Pics!
Old stocktank and Timber wall
Me attaching the last Ply wall
The sand is in!
Liner in and filling with water
These are night shots of the finished pond, I'll get some day shots eventually
second shot
Last but not least I do want to let people know that if your or friends have Koi that need a home to let us know, with 2 goldfish and 3 little Koi it is nowhere near capacity! I am patiently(NOT!!!!) waiting till spring of '09 till I expand my plants with some lilys and other fun marginals.
