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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Your views greatly appreciated - Gathering information

    Hi All,
    My first post, i am simply gathering as much info as i can before i proceed with any orders so was hoping you could help and guide me, i understand most of what i am going to ask is personal preference however if like me you have absolutely no idea on anything then what i read from you will help me to decide ultimately.

    The pond will need to be above ground, probably be a fully cladded pre made fiberglass tank with a viewing screen, dimensions 3m x 2.4m x 1.3m around 9800 litres or 2150 gallons, what are your views on these preformed tanks ? space unfortunately does not allow something to be purposely built so wont be as pretty, if i go for this option i can maximize available space and water volume.

    Reading many articles this volume of water and space can accommodate upto 8 fish ?

    Again reading articles a bottom drain gravity fed filtration system is the preferred option so for the above set up what would you use for the pump filtration and UV, i know i need to go overkill on this but quite confusing with so many options, budget around £2k

    Many thanks Steve.



  2. #2
    I
    Hi is the budget of 2k for the whole set up? as I believe the pre formed ponds are quite expensive although to be honest I have only seen them at koi shows.

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  4. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Rokusai Rayman's Avatar
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    I agree with Craig. If £2k is your total budget I doubt you will get a tank that size alone for that money. If you have £2k for filtration etc then get a QK 15 drum and a shower. It will be more than capable of filtering your pond. I used a preformed pond on my setup but the biggest I could find was 5000 litres. It cost around £250 on fleabay. Have a look at my build thread for some idea of how it turned out.

    Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

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  6. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Hi, sorry to be clear the £2k is for the filtration side of things, to add the pond is a bespoke order around £4k..... thanks Steve.
    Last edited by smartin; 11-03-2019 at 03:15 PM.

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  8. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Hi, sorry to be clear the £2k is for the filtration side of things.... thanks Steve.

    In that case you could have great filtration for that money.
    I am assuming your pond would come with all the necessary pipework and valves as they soon eat into a budget. My pipework and valves came to a bloody fortune and I hadn't really budgeted that much for them so came as a big kick up the arris when I had to start buying them.

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  10. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Hi Craig,

    thanks for your reply, no i had not given valves and pipework much thought regarding cost, how much should i put aside for this ? thanks Steve.

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  12. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Hi Craig,

    thanks for your reply, no i had not given valves and pipework much thought regarding cost, how much should i put aside for this ? thanks Steve.
    LOADS
    I think I spent about £600 on pipe and valves. I will try and find my old list and will pm it over to you when I find it as a guide. I did find coastal koi the cheapest for all the bits though but would advise you do a complete list and order all in one go as I must have spent an additional postage where I kept forgetting things.

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  14. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    forget the 4k on a tank and build one out of sleepers,cost me about £1500 for 96 to make my 6m x 3mx x1.2m pond,window will cost you about £600 if in a frame,and get a boxweld liner or have pond fiberglassed,you could probably do the whole thing including filters for 4k,,,,andi

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  16. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andikoi View Post
    forget the 4k on a tank and build one out of sleepers,cost me about £1500 for 96 to make my 6m x 3mx x1.2m pond,window will cost you about £600 if in a frame,and get a boxweld liner or have pond fiberglassed,you could probably do the whole thing including filters for 4k,,,,andi
    thanks Andi,
    its another option for me to think about, thanks for the information, Steve.

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  18. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Built my first 7000 litre (3m x 2.4m) sleeper pond for around £1800 all in.

    £895 Nexus
    £300 1mm EPDM Box liner
    £140 Pump
    £80 Air pump
    £145 UV
    £100 ish on bits and bobs, pipes and valves.
    £180 ish on sleepers, decking and fixings

    So with your budget you have some great options, just need to prioritise accordingly.

    I personally would go Box Liner with top notch filtration versus pre-formed with average filtration. Those QK drums have fantastic reviews....but you'll need a bio chamber as well so bear that in mind.

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  20. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    Built my first 7000 litre (3m x 2.4m) sleeper pond for around £1800 all in.

    £895 Nexus
    £300 1mm EPDM Box liner
    £140 Pump
    £80 Air pump
    £145 UV
    £100 ish on bits and bobs, pipes and valves.
    £180 ish on sleepers, decking and fixings

    So with your budget you have some great options, just need to prioritise accordingly.

    I personally would go Box Liner with top notch filtration versus pre-formed with average filtration. Those QK drums have fantastic reviews....but you'll need a bio chamber as well so bear that in mind.
    Thanks RS,
    God blessed some men with hands that could perform such builds, i on the other hand was blessed with hands that as yet i have no idea what they are ultimately good at, give me a saw and a piece of wood and a line to follow and within a few cm i am already drifting away from the line, i am simply rubbish at DIY sadly and so have to pay the price..... rgds Steve.

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  22. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Thanks RS,
    God blessed some men with hands that could perform such builds, i on the other hand was blessed with hands that as yet i have no idea what they are ultimately good at, give me a saw and a piece of wood and a line to follow and within a few cm i am already drifting away from the line, i am simply rubbish at DIY sadly and so have to pay the price..... rgds Steve.
    We all have to start somewhere mate.

    Read my sleeper extension build thread.... There's around 3 instances of me having to re-cut things because I can't cut straight.

    Up until 2016 I had no idea how concrete was mixed.... Then I watched 2 idiots mix some and thought if they can do it....

    I've since built a double garage, a wall, 2 patios, the pond (twice).... Anyone can do it.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

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  24. #13
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    Agree with Rs,if you put your mind to it you can do most things and I have found a good way to learn is to watch someone do it be it live or YouTube.
    John

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  26. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    ive done my pond 5 times now,4 times on old pond just raising sides and digging deeper and fitting a window and bottom drain,first pond was 1500g out of breezeblock,ended at just shy of 4000g by time id finished,then after an end wall crack let the wall move i knocked down for my new pond,sleepers are so easy to use,especially when layed flat,as your just sitting them on top of each other,and as theyre 8ft long it goes up quick,and all you need to know what to do is drill a hole to knock rebar in and how to use a screwdriver to screw them all together,my advice on any building work is,think about what you want to do for 30 minutes going over in your head,then just do it and hope it works as it should lol also measure 3 times and cut once,this is my first pond in pic 1 and new pond 2&3,,, andi
    Attached Images Attached Images

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  28. #15
    D
    Quote Originally Posted by smartin View Post
    Thanks RS,
    God blessed some men with hands that could perform such builds, i on the other hand was blessed with hands that as yet i have no idea what they are ultimately good at, give me a saw and a piece of wood and a line to follow and within a few cm i am already drifting away from the line, i am simply rubbish at DIY sadly and so have to pay the price..... rgds Steve.
    SMartin. I was the same as you, I never touched a hammer screwdriver or was even allowed near a saw for over 20 years when I decided to build my first pond out of sleepers. I ended up putting a roof over it decking between the pond and shed and then decided it wasn’t big enough after 2 seasons so took it all down and started again.
    i still have to deck around the pond and build a proper filter shed and then decide whether to roof it out or not but to be honest I don’t feel daunted at the prospect. In fact I am quite looking forward to getting the too.s about when the weather picks up.
    it is surprising what you can do if you take your time and have an end goal in your mind of what you want to achieve.
    Last edited by -Craig-; 15-03-2019 at 01:40 PM.

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  30. #16
    In fact my first pond is my signature picture which also had a small veggie filter.

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  32. #17
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    Very sound advice Andi.
    Always remember that rule,measure three times cut once.

    Love your new pond Andi,must be great indoors.
    John

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  34. #18
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai hippo's Avatar
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    Hi Steve .

    Just a couple of points . Firstly , do what your doing now , and get as much advice as possible from people who`ve done it ,before you start . A lot of it will be conflicting - especially around filtration - but eventually you`ll build up a picture for what suits your needs .
    Check out the pond construction threads on here - some great help and advice to be had . And visit other peoples ponds , if possible - you can see how things work properly , which will help .

    One question which springs to mind is why your pond needs to be fully above ground level ? It will give you more options , if you can have part of it below ground .

    Some things I would definitely include in your plan would be an aerated bottom drain - on a gravity fed system . A skimmer is a good option , and also a trickle feed with an overflow - to keep your pond level constant .

    Also , if your a reasonable DIYer , doing most of the work yourself will save you loads . Just get the experts in for things like fibre-glassing ect .

    Good luck
    Colin

    2500 Gallon Fibreglass Pond
    Draco Solum 16 , 400l Bio Chamber

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  36. #19
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by john1 View Post
    Very sound advice Andi.
    Always remember that rule,measure three times cut once.

    Love your new pond Andi,must be great indoors.
    cheers john,it wil be when i can afford to finish it off,but just been hit with a £1500 car repair bill,so may be a while lol,,,,andi

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  38. #20
    Senior Member Rank = Hassai Steve1984's Avatar
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    I'm at the stage where I'm buying pipework, valves and fittings so far this month I've spent over £300 on them, I have previously bought some of the fittings and pipework so these are the last bits I need to finish off. to give you an idea I've bought 2 4 inch ball valves, 2 4 inch slide valves all second hand, about 8 2 inch elbows some adapters a length of pipe and some parts for the air lines. if you can find someone selling parts 2nd hand it'll work out much cheaper, but I had no idea how expensive these parts were until I needed to buy lots this month

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