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  1. #1

    Italian koi pond

    Hi, I have a pond which I inherited and I would like to improve with your suggestions.
    Today the situation is as follow:
    The pond was built in 2006 in concrete. It is a pond of irregular shape (13m longest dimension, 7m largest dimension, 0,85m deep equal to about 50,000 liters).
    It is fed by an underground spring that came from the hill above the garden. The water flow is around 2.000 liters/hour.
    There are no drains nor skimmers nor pumps nor filters.
    It is populated by 21 koi ranging from 16 to 46 cm with an estimated total weight of about 16 kg.
    The garden has a slope of around 1,2m from the side of the pond to the end of my property.
    Currently there are 10cm of debris on the bottom which I want to avoid in the future.
    Another problem is that the spring is 10 degrees Celsius all the time and the pond temperature ranges from 6/8 degrees in winter (which is good to me) to only 20 degrees maximum in summer (I need to raise it 5 degrees).

    I have no maintenanince and no electricity consumption since everything works by gravity.
    However I feel the pond is not good for the koi.
    Does anyone in the forum have a similar situation?



  2. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    Sounds interesting. The first thing which should be done immediately is to remove the debris on the bottom as that is where diseases will live and breed
    Is there any way you could divert some of the 2000 lph so maybe only getting about 100 lph. Your water would get warmer and be more stable
    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

  3. #3
    Andy1671 thanks for the reply.
    I have a restructuring project that I will post later on which I am not sure will start.
    I am looking for a way to clean the pond without emptying it. I have a pondovac but it is not good for such a hughe work.
    Some people said that maybe in the mud at the bottom of my pond it coukd happen some biological filtration.
    At the moment I cannot divert the water but if in fact there is not biological filtration could it be a problem to have only a 10% water change daily instead of 100%?

    my parameteres are as follows:
    KH 13,5 dKH
    PH 7,5
    NO2 < 0,01 ppm
    NH4 < 0,05 ppm
    NO3 between 10 e 20 ppm
    O2 8/10 mg/L

  4. #4
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    The only reason i thought to divert the water is with a slower flow the water may get a little warmer
    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

  5. #5
    that's a good idea and I am planning to adopt it.
    I just need to find out how much biological filtration if any I need to add.

  6. #6
    Here a couple of photographs of the pond and the koi:





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  8. #7
    Here my restructuring plan for your comments.

    The aim is:
    - have higher temperature (bigger pond with same water flow from the spring, a bypass to regulate the water flow, eventually recirculate water)
    - have more water
    - have a separate quarantine/breeding area
    - have a disaster recovery plan if the spring became polluted or stops
    - increase biological filtration (even if not needed at the moment)
    - gravity system with no use of electricity in normal condition (as it is now)


    Plan with the main elements

    1) The first element in red on the right is a Vortex (optional). The water runs 1m below the ground and after a rainfall is quite dirt. Eventually I could bypass the pond during the rains or let the drains of the pond to clean the dirt.
    The Vortex would be 2m underground with a pipe from the bottom to the surface to be connected to a pump when needed for cleaning.
    2) Main Pond in blue. I want to bring the height to about 1,5m (just under 100,000 liters). Slightly leaning towards 3 bottom drains. I am planning a border of about 40 cm deep around the pond for the plants and the lapillus to have some biological filtration.
    3) On the left in red you can see the quarantine/breeding tank of 6x5m and 1,5 m deep with 2 phyto area where water come in and come out.
    I am thinking of 6 tanks in 2x3 arrangement with a central pipe for water distribution and the relative valves in order to choose what to fill and what to exclude.
    Each tank will have a bottom drain. At the head and at the end of this zone there would be the phyto area (5mx1m each and 0,5m deep).
    4) Area Filters in red near the pond. More details under the last image. Dimensions about 5x4m.


    Flow chart

    From the perspective view you can see the levels (deliberately exaggerated). The system works by gravity.
    You can see the bypass lines at the top in blue, the skimmer lines in burgundy and the bottom drain lines in black. The green lines are for the upward recirculation by pump to be used only if needed.
    The bottom drains of the two ponds go straight into the filter area while the skimmer of the main pond can go either in the filter area or in the quarantine pond. In fact it would be a surface stream.
    My aim is to operate the bottom drain only occasionally for a few minutes to flow away the dirt as you do in human wc and not to leave them always open as in traditional ponds.


    Filter area and tea house

    I was thinking of having pipes from drains and skimmers into a Vortex with a diameter of about 1 m (green) at the level of the pond (minus the centimeters necessary for gravity flow) with same height of the pond.
    The basement area must be accessible: entrance from the tea house and lifting floor (in fact it is the porch of the tea house).
    The black part is a slide that runs in front of the 3 parts of the filter area and drains the water either into the sewers or to the neighbor as it happens now (I need to guarantee to my neighbor clean water from the spring).
    From the top of the Vortex the water goes to a 2x1m (orange) pool deep like the pond containing the garden irrigation pump (to date it is in the main pond). There is here a discharge towards the slide too.
    From the top of the garden pump area the water goes to a trikle tower/bakki shower (in fact it is the biological emergency) and from the bottom of this section the water goes into a well with the recirculation pump to be used only if needed (I hope never).

    I'd use a trickle tower instead of a bakki shower because I do not think I have enough flow for the bakki shower. (Probably the biological filter is undersized but is coupled to the phyto area and I would use it only for one of the quarantine tanks. If I had a major structural problem I would have to take serious filters to stay in this area.

    What are your thoughts? Any critics or suggestion for me?
    Many thanks in advance.

  9. #8
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    very nice pond and koi.
    5000 Gallon Fibreglassed Pond With 54" x 27" Infinity Window
    BD300 Drum Filter
    Artesian 0.5hp - Aquadyne 4.4c Beadfilter - PS4 Protein Shower
    Badu Eco Touch - EP20 UV Sterilizer - ASHP - Venturi
    Hi Blo 60 - Medo 45 - Spindrifter Bottom Drain
    Wide Mouthed Skimmer

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  11. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    like it. love the wild look. and the brick work. nice fish

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