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Thread: Koi Pond Help

  1. #1

    Koi Pond Help

    Hi all, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am building a pond with waterfall and plants. The pool will be approximately 10,000 litres. I did do a bit homework of homework about setting up a koi pond ie gravity fed best, bottom drain needed etc, however due to time/ cost constraints I decided against going all out and am now going to do as above ie pond with plants etc I just wondered if anyone could tell me ideally what I really need to try and keep some koi. I picked up a cheap easypod with uv, air and 6000l pump. I wanted to know
    1. Do I need skimmer.
    2. Do I need bottom drain.
    3. Will an in pond pump be ok or would it be better have a vari flow pump by easypod.
    4. What size pump for a decent flow down waterfall? Waterfall will be about 3 m long and about 1m higher than surface of pond.
    5. Pond will be approximately 3m x 4m with ledges and about 1.2 m in deepest part.
    6. Pond won’t be heated.
    7. seeing my mate spend about £12,000 is why I decided to go down this route😳
    Any information would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks



  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai KevT's Avatar
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    Hi Buddy

    1. Do I need skimmer. -
    Yes - can be in pond or free floating
    2. Do I need bottom drain. Yes - doesn't have to be an expensive one
    3. Will an in pond pump be ok or would it be better have a vari flow pump by easypod. - Best to convert Pod to gravity
    In pond pumps are a second best option to a bottom drain and can cause hazards to fish or a retro bottom drain

    4. What size pump for a decent flow down waterfall? Waterfall will be about 3 m long and about 1m higher than surface of pond. Pod will work best with a 5K per hour pump
    5. Pond will be approximately 3m x 4m with ledges and about 1.2 m in deepest part. Don't like ledges as herons lovethem
    6. Pond won’t be heated. - Not a problem they will be okay with a cover to keep ice and snow off the water + reduced wind chill
    7. seeing my mate spend about £12,000 is why I decided to go down this route�� Yep this pond lark can be expensive last bit of advise try and build / incorporate a shower filter in the set up

    KevT


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  4. #3
    Thank you very much Kev T. The advice is greatly appreciated…

  5. #4
    don't HAVE to have a skimmer or HAVE to have a bottom drain.....

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by CBKOI View Post
    don't HAVE to have a skimmer or HAVE to have a bottom drain.....

    No but you'll massively regret it if you don't.

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  8. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Djstiles999's Avatar
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    I’d definitely say have a BD

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  10. #7
    Is a retro fit bottom drain ok or would it need one mounted in the liner? Thanks

  11. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by MalNorwich View Post
    No but you'll massively regret it if you don't.
    Could do, however the guy is obviously trying to set up on a fairly economical budget, surprised also wasn't told it HAS to have a £2000 drum, rebarred concrete, fibreglassed and a window otherwise it's not a proper koi pond.... Koi Pond Help

    Sent from my KFMUWI using Tapatalk

  12. #9
    Unfortunately I can’t have a gravity system due to positioning of filters etc so does anyone know what type ( submersible or external) and size of pump I would need for the setup? Thanks

  13. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Djstiles999's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CBKOI View Post
    Could do, however the guy is obviously trying to set up on a fairly economical budget, surprised also wasn't told it HAS to have a £2000 drum, rebarred concrete, fibreglassed and a window otherwise it's not a proper koi pond.... Koi Pond Help

    Sent from my KFMUWI using Tapatalk
    A BD doesn’t necessarily cost a great deal, especially if you go non aerated? You can run the same filters, uv, pumps etc just in a different configuration?

  14. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Djstiles999's Avatar
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    It depends on the height you want to pump the water too as height costs flow. If you can add a couple of pounds to the purchase price get a variable flow pump, maybe 20k lph and run it on a lower setting as it’s cheaper on power and gives you flexibility to increase/decrease flow to suit?

  15. #12
    Thank you. How would you set it up. The filters will be about 3 or 4 metres away from pond and about 1m above the surface of the pond. Would a retrofit drain be ok? Like I said at the moment I’ve got easypod with uv and submersible pump.

  16. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by CBKOI View Post
    Could do, however the guy is obviously trying to set up on a fairly economical budget, surprised also wasn't told it HAS to have a £2000 drum, rebarred concrete, fibreglassed and a window otherwise it's not a proper koi pond.... Koi Pond Help

    Sent from my KFMUWI using Tapatalk

    Doesn't matter it's being done on a budget, I don't know anyone including myself in the past, who hasn't put in a bottom drain and at some point regretted it.

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  18. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Djstiles999's Avatar
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    I’ve used a retrofit drain in the past (my experience of not doing a bottom drain), will cost £100 up depending on model. They do work to a degree, if you can gently slope the bottom towards it that’ll help. If you’re not going gravity fed it’s a decent solution.

    Think you’ll need a pretty beefy pump to push water 3 foot up and 12+ foot along

  19. #15
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Hassai freddy's Avatar
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    I guess the OP could consider having a sump at the side of the pond. That way he could have a BD and still pump to the filter? It would also be an opportunity to reduce ‘head’. Just a thought...

  20. Thanks Djstiles999, MalNorwich Thanked / Liked this Post
  21. #16
    Thank you all for the advice.

  22. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by freddy View Post
    I guess the OP could consider having a sump at the side of the pond. That way he could have a BD and still pump to the filter? It would also be an opportunity to reduce ‘head’. Just a thought...

    That's what I do as my pond is ground level, filter pit with a sieve and then pump to nexus 300 and shower, bead off skimmer to ASHP, works really well.

  23. #18
    Senior Member Rank = Jussai Djstiles999's Avatar
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    Good shout with the sieve pre pump,

  24. #19
    Can you explain how I can install filter pit with a sieve. I will be using a liner for pond so don’t know if that makes a difference? Thanks

  25. #20
    filterpit.jpg

    No recent pics but a simple block built pit, 2 bottom drains come in at the far end plus the the pipe from the skimmer (not in this pic). My pond is liner build so that's not an issue. You can't really see it in the pic but there is a sump for waste and flushing bottom drains.

 

 
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