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Thread: What If?

  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    What If?

    It's been a year since I posted, but it occured to me to offer a bit of advice to anyone who visits this forum and is yet to build a pool.

    When I first got the koi bug and said to my wife that I was going to build a koi pool, she quite rightly said, "OK, fine, but what if after a few years, your interests change to something else..... you know what you're like! What will we be left with?"

    I quite grandly said, if I get fed up with it and it goes, I'll make sure it will look like we'd never had a pool."

    I then went away and had a hard think about it and formulated a plan.

    So this is what I built, 3000 galls, 5ft deep, bottom drain, 40 gall pump sump, filter room in the garage plus 300 gall quarantine tank and it's own filter.

    A week before close down.





    I didn't get fed up, but after 32 years the liner developed a serious leak and replacing it would have been very difficult, so a friend took the fish and a contractor filled it with 22 tonnes of eco-friendly hardcore and paved it over.

    So I like to think I was true to my word. We still have some water, the frog pond and a Masarrelli fountain on top of what was the pump sump. It's now a year after we'd had it filled in.






    Spot the waterfall. It was in the corner at this end of the rockery, I just extended it.




    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  3. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion anne's Avatar
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    Looking well established already DH, you would never know you had the pond there.
    The wife's Roses are very happy by the looks of things ( think you said you were going to put the roses in pots )
    a years a long time, where did it go !!. Hope you are both keeping well .

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for the kind words Ann, we're both doing fine I hope you and yours are the same too.

    We've now ten ten in pots on the new "rose patio," ten in pots on the old patio and three in borders.

    Then we've these five on the side of the drive. I call it "the alley of shame," as they are ones my wife is not very keen on, but I hadn't the heart to chuck 'em out. To be fair one had already been "promoted," to the old patio as one there didn't survive the winter.
    So it gives the others a bit of encouragement, as well as the fact that they can see the green bin from where they are, so they know that could become their fate.





    Can't say the lock-down has affected us much, my wife is still producing greetings cards and I'm using my two vinyl jukeboxes,. electric piano and tenor sax more. (not sure about the neighbours!) actually it's fine, I'm not into "loud" and anyway, poor loves they are both deaf.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    your is my favorite garden on here,
    i was starting out searching on the forum, as you were shutting down last year...

    Your garden is stunning, a real aspiration.
    i actually wanted a wisteria to run along the edge of the pergola i'm building over the pond.
    similar to the one you had.

    but i was put off when someone said that they were poisonous, which i didn't know.
    and i didn't want to risk it.
    did you have any issues with your wisteria and the pond?

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  9. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for the kind words.

    Well we had a wisteria that was on the pergola next to the pool that died, but I don't think it was the fish that killed it, the roots just rotted away.
    Anyway we bought another to replace it

    I don't think the wisteria could poison fish, any blossom that falls can be skimmed off and any that sinks will work its way to the bottom drain. I always put a net over the pool to keep the leaves out when they fell in the autumn.



    I've mentioned before that with my huge old-fashioned foam and flowcore filter and a 24/7 trickle change, I stopped bothering to check for water quality, as it hardly ever varied and was always acceptable. But then I had a purgeable pump sump, which I purged every week and twice a week in hot weather.

    I made my annual garden tour video earlier this year.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ngXTJcduQ&feature=youtu.be
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  11. #6
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Hassai davec's Avatar
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    Lovely garden that a credit to you


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by davec View Post
    Lovely garden that a credit to you

    Thanks for the kind words.

    I've posted before that anything with the word "koi" in, is more expensive than if it were described elsewhere without that word.

    Same thing seems to be with the word "garden."
    Looking for something else, I noticed the Masarrelli fountain I bought this time last year, has gone up by £175 this year.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion smartin's Avatar
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    lovely garden DR both with and without your pond..... do you miss your koi ? no nagging feeling to reverse what you did and re dig a pond?
    2200 gallons,infinity window,
    Evolve 4k combi,spindrifter,
    2x20k pumps, BD,Skimmer,
    Shower, ASHP

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  17. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley View Post
    Thanks for the kind words.

    I've posted before that anything with the word "koi" in, is more expensive than if it were described elsewhere without that word.

    Same thing seems to be with the word "garden."
    Looking for something else, I noticed the Masarrelli fountain I bought this time last year, has gone up by £175 this year.
    As said great garden. Good to see you and the family are well mate. Miss your input
    Pond and fish wise. Soon passed the year
    Mate. Take care fred

    Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion davethefish1's Avatar
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    I think i'd miss the water even if i didn't have koi and rebuilt it shallower with lotus or lillies...

    I think a raked gravel zen garden with large boulders and a cloud pruned pine tree would have been my go to instead of a patio...

    But then my missus would probably be saying it's her turn to have what she wants in the garden...

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  20. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Thanks for the interest.

    From 1976 we've had three ponds

    Firstly "a damp window box" on the crazy terrazzo patiopatio.




    Replaced by a 18" goldfish pond in 1985. I scrapped the terrazzo, built the pool with a concrete collar and used pallets of York stone to recover the concrete raft that supports the patio and cover the pool collar and paths with it.









    It wasn't difficult a year later to dig it out to five feet to make a koi pool. This is how it was in 1986, not much different from what is was in 2019




    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  22. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    It is a lovely garden, I would miss my pond but life moves on regardless, things change, I'm doing my garden ready fro retirement, whilst I can still do it lol
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

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  24. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Continued.. too many photos

    The fish went to a neighbour two doors away, who has had a pool for a few years now. We took them all round in this "pram."









    I can go round and see them any time I want, but I've only been once I'm just happy that they are being well cared for as there are a few nice ones of around 2ft ot more.

    I've enough hobbies to keep me occupied.
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  26. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Constructing a concrete collar before digging out a pool makes the job so much easier. It ends up exactly the size you want and you can get it perfectly level. It also cuts down on the amount of mess.

    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

  27. #15
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoyLittle0 View Post
    It is a lovely garden, I would miss my pond but life moves on regardless, things change, I'm doing my garden ready fro retirement, whilst I can still do it lol
    Well, you have to keep going. I've the garden, I play golf three times a week (not at the moment, unfortunately), I've my two vinyl jukeboxes, my "all singin' and dancin'" Yamaha Tyros 5 electric piano, (sorry! they call them "work stations" now) my Yamaha YTS62 tenor sax. and I'm into film noir.



    I like to play a variety of music from vintage Pop and Motown to Jazz.

    I subscribe to a world-wide Yamaha keyboard player's message board, where we post our efforts (some insist on singing along with their playing, I've more sense). I let the piano do the singing.

    My recordings range from things like this



    https://app.box.com/s/rmvo76kx22r01xhpini1x939oacpr2uw


    To this

    https://app.box.com/s/6cyq36xp9hktc2eyk869dx9412k71vz7


    I won't bore you with the more than 200 other recordings I've made

    "So much to do, so little time."
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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  29. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley View Post
    Well, you have to keep going. I've the garden, I play golf three times a week (not at the moment, unfortunately), my two vinyl jukeboxes, my Tyros 5 electric piano (sorry! they call them "work stations" now) and my Yamaha YTS62 tenor sax.and I'm into film noir. and I like to play a variety of music from vintage Pop and Motown to Jazz.

    I subscribe to a Yamaha keyboard player's message board, wherw we post our efforts (some insist on singing alonmg with their playing, I've more sense.

    My recordings range from things like this

    https://app.box.com/s/rmvo76kx22r01xhpini1x939oacpr2uw


    To this

    https://app.box.com/s/6cyq36xp9hktc2eyk869dx9412k71vz7

    Just trying to get all the back breaking work out the way so I can have a more leisurely time, planning for the future
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

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  31. #17
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoyLittle0 View Post
    Just trying to get all the back breaking work out the way so I can have a more leisurely time, planning for the future
    In my experience, there was no "leisurely time" with koi. If there were nothing to do, I'd manage to find something.

    It was a bit like what Allan Whicker said in a Whicker's World documentary about a gated self-sufficent community for retired people in Florida.

    "You get up each morning with nothing to do and go to bed each night with only half of it done."
    "The information's out there,
    You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)

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