Koi Pond Design Fundamentals Part 2

[lucienRed]

out of the the ponds I've seen on youtube this one is the one i like the most, when i build my pond it will be like this one with some of( Aquascape - The Unique Outdoor Living Space of Designer Brian Helfrich.m4v ) integrated into it. it a shame we moved to Green Bay WI. but hopefully the snow will give us a uniqe looking pond.

[ThePondDigger]

@lucienRed Thanks for the feedback. Ya Brian's pond is super amazing. You can still have an amazing pond with hard winters so go for it!

[skygun113]

what is the song called that is played twice??

[TehKoiBoi]

I have a question.. With rocky sides like that could koi hurt themselves spawning?

[ThePondDigger]

@TehKoiBoi There is absolutely a chance of injury during spawning. Koi can be very brutal to each other during a mating frenzy.........

[Alirt8]

Hi pond digger! (i love your videos!) I was wondering your opinion. Should i put sand, pea gravel, or nothing on the bottom of my koi pond? I plan on putting rocks on the edges, and so far i plan on putting nothing on the bottom but i just wanted your opinion.

[MAD2be1]

wow awesome pond

[AznxXxDreamz]

The pond is beautiful! Awesome job! I want a koi fish pond in my back yard one day. What is minimum height required for a koi pond?

[ThePondDigger]

@AznxXxDreamz I would recommend a 3' minimum depth for a dedicated koi pond.

[Arteolike]

I got another question, is the liner for this pond a continuous piece, or a few glued pieces?

[ThePondDigger]

@Arteolike There is a seam in this pond under the bridge. Three pieces of liner total including the piece of liner for the waterfall.

[Arteolike]

@ThePondDigger May you please do a liner seaming video? There are no good video's on You-Tube.

[oliviabodycomb]

what fish is could for a 200 liter pond heated NOT FUCKING GOLDFISH  they eat there own shit its gros man

[oliviabodycomb]

@oliviabodycomb  ANSWER MEEEE

[oliviabodycomb]

with Melbourne fucked up weather cos of global warming going to get some plastic and make a cover for at night for my pond then make a small window thats cler so when i go away the pond still gets light to but i do already have a pond light to any one know what sort of out door power points that have 4 power points on it ? PLEAs E

[Lerchcon]

what is the name of the mortar you used to cement them together? Quickcrete? is there anything specail to mix with it to keep the alkalynity from comming out, or other chemicals, How long before fish can be put in?

[oliviabodycomb]

i have a 150-270 liter pond and i made rock desings and went in the bush and found beatriful crystal rocks and then i made a lattle tunnel and caves and platforms i got a silver screen water fall and 3 filters and im going to make my pond a tropical pond by adding heaters

[ThePondDigger]

@oliviabodycomb I can appreciate a heated pond! There are so many cool fish that you can raise in a heated pond! Send us a video!

[oliviabodycomb]

@ThePondDigger i will im just going to buy another heater then i can save up for my fish im only getting the best ones no matter how much they cost going to habe guppies and bettas maybe if they dont kill everything and some zebra danios and maybe 2 mollies im just bored of the same goldfish

[oliviabodycomb]

@oliviabodycomb going to buy another heater soon and set it up wich fish are beter a betta pond or 1 male betta with females and guppies or no bettas and just zebra danios molllied platys Any ideas?

[HospitalWaste]

what do you do on the bottom of the pond on the liner? why is it brown?

[ThePondDigger]

@HospitalWaste The bottom of the pond is left as blank liner. The brown color is from our mortar work in the pond walls. The is pond is 4' deep at the bottom. The bottom of a pond starts to disappear visually after 36". Your focus becomes the fish and not the bottom of the pond. Once a fine layer of algae and biofilm coats the liner it is visually inconsequential.

[Roninlord25a]

beautiful pond AND DESIGN. what was the cost of that?

[ThePondDigger]

@Roninlord25a The construction of the pond was approximately 35 to 40 thousand for this pond.

[Lodoss3800]

A good hobby

[ThePondDigger]

@Lodoss3800 I would agree!

[tGFiLTeRFresH]

@ThePondDigger First off that is an absolutely beautiful pond. My question is looking at the design aspect did you put down the pond liner first , then mortar the rocks in the pond liner? And why did you not do the pond out of concrete? Just curious because im from Canada and if we did that: winter/ feeze thaw cycle would destroy the pond in two winters max. Honest questions and some curiosity.

[ThePondDigger]

@tGFiLTeRFresH Thanks for the compliment. The cost of building the pond out of concrete is approximately triple here in California. In Southern California here we have extremely mild winters and do not have to worry about the freeze thaw heave that the colder climates experience.

[Asianleful]

Could you guys watch my videos and like evaluate and put any comments on them? Criticism is accepted for improvements on the pond, thanks!

[WoosterLAXMom]

I have a decent sized pond in my back yard, but as my koi have grown, spawned lots of new fish and well, my tendency to pick up new koi when I come across one that is gorgeous, I am planning on expanding my pond, using a lot of what I have learned from your videos.

While I am not able to spend a ton of money, I do plan on doing in as right as I can. A friend's grandpa has several hundred acres of wooded land sitting idle and I am going to ask to go rock hunting.

[DAMIRFIELDS]

i love all of your u tube shows

[ThePondDigger]

@DAMIRFIELDS THANKS!

[Hajakram]

hi great vidos just wondering when you morter the rocks how do you protect the koi from the alcaline . do you seal all the morter , and also the expanding foam is it fish friendley is it a special foam ,

[ThePondDigger]

@Hajakram The expanding foam is fish friendly. When we use mortar, we rinse everything in acid to pull the lime out of the cement. Smaller ponds we would fill with water and pour 1 gallon of vinegar per 500 gallons. Let is run for a day and then drain and rinse. Larger ponds we spray with acid from a spray bottle, let sit for a few minutes and then rinse. Repeat two or three times. Rinse thoroughly and you're good to go.

[Arteolike]

@ThePondDigger If you make your own mortar with sand and cement, can you NOT add lime and not use any acid? Will it be safe?

[ViolinistFTW]

Wonderful videos! I not once got bored.. in fact I was disappointed when they ended. :[

[mrparts]

thanks for this video!.

When I built my pond, I didn't think of the separate planter area so the koi can't destroy the plants.

[kennycody135]

Do u think I would have to use morter if my pon is going to be 3 or 4 feet high?

[ThePondDigger]

@kennycody135 YES.

[newsk8ter117]

Hey how much would a pond half that size cost?

[ThePondDigger]

@newsk8ter117 Approximately 20K

[cutixiu]

Excellent tutorial. I have a few questions i wwant to ask you. what kind of bottom drain are you using? do i need to run a drain line and a airline for this type of bottom drain? where does the backflush line go to? Thanks

[ThePondDigger]

@cutixiu We used the KoiToilet bottom drain. The backflush line goes to his hillside and waters his trees.

[MrPetlover45]

just wondering did you use liner in that pond and if you didnt what did you use to make the walls?

[ThePondDigger]

Yes we used liner in this pond. It was 45 mil EPDM rubber. We then stacked the verticals with granite rock and used mortar to secure everything because the pond walls are three to four foot deep.

[101spades]

Your the man, love your vids

[ThePondDigger]

Thanks!

[ThePondDigger]

Thanks!

[fullyford]

i am think of 2.5 feet in the waterfall end and stepping it down to aroung 4 feet. the ground is frozen solid up here in canada right now. so i am just trying to design something right now...getting rid of the preformed pond that i have now and going bigger

[ThePondDigger]

Big Ponds RULE! Hope we can help when your ground thaws out! Shoot your questions at us, we'd love to be involved in your pond upgrade.

[fullyford]

first off you do amazing work, very nice. i am planning on making a bigger pond in the sping..but am wondering do you have to line the sides with rocks or is a more decorative thing

[ThePondDigger]

Thanks for the compliment. The rock work in this pond was important because of the depth of the pond. The video in this pond is 4 feet deep and the walls are almost vertical. We needed the rock and mortar work to provide support to the walls. How deep do you plan on going? If you excavate the pond walls a little differently you can go without the stone in the pond.

[gumper5242]

I live in the great white north , Canada so I guess I'm out of luck for the free t-shirt. I plan on having half of my pond 2'deep and the other half 5' deep. I will have an aerator running so the top doesn't freeze right over. Do you think I need to go that deep for the Koi ? Also , koi should be able to live through tough Canadian winters if the water doesn't freeze right over , eh?

[ThePondDigger]

Well, shipping out of American can get a bit spendy. I'll gladly ship you free some water treatment and fish food samples if you pay for the shipping to the Great White North.

5' deep is a great depth for a koi pond but not absolutely necessary. If your winters are harsh like that of Michigan and Minnesota, I can tell you there are many ponds that do fine and there are many that are not fine over winter. It's a detailed topic and subjective to many variables.

The Pond Digger

[Arteolike]

Well, i am no expert like ThePondDigger but why not get a quality pool heater, i got one in my pond! You can still feed your fish in winter and take a swim with them too! They grow really really fast too! You should get one!

[gumper5242]

The Pond Digger ROCKS !

Great pond and video !

Did you still put liner in behind the Rock walls ? I am building a pond next year and I don't plan on having a bottom drain , I hope that is OK.

I also like free Pond Digger stuff ! LOL..

[ThePondDigger]

The Pond Digger Rocks is our Motto on our next T Shirt. My daughter inspired the idea! Glad you agree! Yes we have rubber liner (45mil) behind all of the rock work you see in this Koi Pond Design video. There are thousands of ponds installed across American without bottom drains. Your pond will have pros and cons but I have no doubt it will be amazing and a major focal point in your life. If you're in the contiguous United States I will gladly send you out some free samples!

The Pond Digger

[N0zProductions]

I love to see the ponds when there finished :D

[ThePondDigger]

We do have at least one video in our library that is completed ponds. More to come in the future. Our main focus is to teach pond design construction and tips and tricks along the way.

The Pond Digger

[N0zProductions]

You teaching me alot :D ima make my new pond next year :D

[ThePondDigger]

Rock On, that's what we like to hear!

The Pond Digger

[mprestridge]

Awesome work once again. Keep it up.

[ThePondDigger]

Thanks for the feedback. Great to know our viewers are happy with our videos.

The Pond Digger

[Arteolike]

Awesome! But one thing, can you do a video on everything to know about bottom drains, like how to install it to the liner, how to add the plumbing, how to install the filters how to attach it to the pump. I just don't get how the bottom drain filters work, i mean how does the pump intake exactly the same amount of the water flowing in? Please help me, i want to install one but i just don't know all there is to know. Oh and i want to have gravel in the pond is it possible to have both in one?

[Arteolike]

One more thing... how does the pipe to the jets go through the liner with a water tight seal.

[ThePondDigger]

We used fittings similar to that of a bulkhead that you might be familiar with to punch our current jets through the pond liner.

The Pond Digger

[ThePondDigger]

We do have plans to shoot a video presentation to help everyone understand bottom drains for koi ponds. I can't give you any time line we have established for this video but know we are in the planning stage for it.

We are currently editing 4 new videos as I type this reply. Stay tuned but PATIENT. We are aiming for quality videos before quantity. Thanks for your passion.

The Pond Digger

[Arteolike]

Alright then! You are Basically the Best pond builder/ Video making people EVER! Man do you really get down to the details! If only i had a $10,000 Stashed away, if only... Oh well but for the moment my pond will do. PATIENTLY WAITING. Expecting something great, wait i don't have too, cause i know it will be informative and great! Hope to see all the following videos.

Thanks, Arteom

[ThePondDigger]

Okay Flattery will get you everywhere. Send me your mailing address via a message and I'll send you out some Free Pond Digger stuff!

Thanks again for the great feedback.

The Pond Digger

[chromedoggz]

nice pond!!do bottom drain needs a water pump?

[ThePondDigger]

Yes your bottom drains will be powered by a water pump. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this but ultimately the drain is ran by the suction from a pump. We are planning a bottom drain presentation in the near future.

The Pond Digger

[shawndabo]

Great videos. Please keep making them!!

[ThePondDigger]

As long as we continue to educate and inspire we will continue to shoot video! Thanks for the feedback on our Koi Pond Design video.

The Pond Digger

[azn115454]

B E A U T I F U L  ---> once grass grows or something lol

[ThePondDigger]

The landscape should look amazing next spring. We will be sure to get some glamor video footage of this koi pond when the time is right.

The Pond Digger