Thread: First Koi pond/tank setup

Hi all
I am new to the group, I kept asking Google and 9/10 it would send me to a thread on here.

My son is mad on nature and wildlife in general in particular Red Pandas and of course Koi carp.

Anyway! A shop Southwest Koi has setup near to us and we are visiting often! And I’ve finally given in to the thought of a koi pond in the garden. I don’t have much space as I still want to keep the garden practical for the family. For my first setup I want something above ground that will sit on our 3 year old patio (don’t want to dig up) so I have looked into building my own timber frame and pond liner and worry about it failing under water pressure so have explored getting a tank. I have found one that is suitable close to the size I wanted. I originally wanted 120x120x100cm but have found a 120x170x85cm tank. I will add picture below. I will make it look “pretty” by adding a timber frame around and cladding.

The advice I’m seeking is do I still need to look at adding insulation? If so any ideas?

And is this a good idea? Or am I better off building a timber one?

I also need to think about pump and filtration, the pond will say next to my garage so my plan was pipes into garage wall to keep pump indoors and all looking tidy and neat.


I will go to my local shop for advice on weekend but great to get some ideas/feedback on here too.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Here is the tank I was looking at
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166948066...mis&media=COPY

Hi and welcome,
I recently setup a quarantine tank, slightly smaller than the one you’re looking at.
I used an ibc tank and converted it, a lot of people on here have used these tanks.
I insulated and clad it, and it has a built in bottom drain. It works great and was only
£120 delivered.
It may work for you if you just want a small start up pond.

Wow never thought of using an IBC, I’ll do some looking now on some people’s IBC projects. Will be a great budget starter tank.
Thank you

Don't want to ruin anyone's dreams but shouldn't the advice be that a tank of the dimensions above will not be suitable for a koi pond, a grow on tank or quarantine tank yes, but not a permanent home for Koi.

How about starting with a few Goldfish?

Originally Posted by Brian C

Don't want to ruin anyone's dreams but shouldn't the advice be that a tank of the dimensions above will not be suitable for a koi pond, a grow on tank or quarantine tank yes, but not a permanent home for Koi.

How about starting with a few Goldfish?

Yeah I understand what you are saying. I ideally wanted to go 1 metre deep as I know that’s better but I need to work with what tank I can find. As this one is 160cm long it should be fine. I am seeking advice from koi shop. If they are happy I am happy. The plan is if we love it I will dig patio up and go deeper and slight bigger width and length, probably in a years time. We only want a few smaller Koi.

Originally Posted by Alburglar

Don't do it unless you can build something much bigger. Or Have a nice goldfish pond and enjoy it. Maybe some tamasaba. In the aquarium trade and often in the Koi trade A Koi dealer will sell you anything small to get you into the hobby in the hope you'll dig a bigger pond eventually.
Don't do it unless you plan on housing the Koi for life by eventually building a bigger pond when the Koi are at 3 years old. You'll need a bigger pond already.

...average cost of a Koi pond is very high. 2k plus for a small sleeper build would be the bottom end. Most people end up spending 5 to 20k. I did mine DIY, scrounging/skip diving and bargain hunting on the cheap and it was still 3 to 4k I think when I added all the bills up. But that's with a couple windows and a drum

Thanks for the advise, I would hope within 1-2 years I would know wether we go bigger or go home. For a permanent fixing how big do you think a minimum pond build should be so we have some idea what to consider.