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Ian's Pond
A brick built , fibre glass , rectangular pond, of 4000 gallons, which is up to 6 feet deep, Covered by a pergola. Two 4inch bottom drains feed a large bespoke filter sytem, gravity fed to a vortex, into a large bay of 20 plus brushes, thenthrough two large bays of jap matting and finaly through a large bay of alfafrog. Seperate skimmer filter system, two airpump systems and venturi returns
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The pond was designed and built by Ray and a few club members, it was started in April 2003 and completed in August 2003. The pond holds 6000 gallons has 2 bottom drains, and each drain has its own separate filter.
Each filter consists of Vortex, Brushes, and 3 bays of Japanese matting and UV, the pumps are Aquamax 10000, the skimmer pumps are Aquamax 5500 which return the water back via the a vegetable filter, the air pumps are 2 Hi-Blow 80s. The pond also has a reverse flow to change the circulation pattern. The pond is heated by a gas boiler. There are 20 fish in the pond
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The Pond
Alan and Linda's pond has pride of place in their back garden in front of the conservatory. It is kidney shaped, 18ft x 8ft x 6ft and holds 6,000 gallons. A pergola provides shade and protection for the koi. The pond is constructed of concrete blocks, back filled with concrete and rods, it is approximatlely half above and half below ground. The pond is rendered and fibre glassed. It was built by Alan with the help of club members and good friends Ray, Lee and Jim.
The Filters etc.
Two bottom drains feed the filteration system through 4ins pipework. The returns are by two1½ins pipes. The filter system consists of a Vortex which feeds into two 4 bay Kockney Koi filters with brushes and Jap matts. Two Aquamax 1,000 pumps return the water to the pond via two 25 watt UV systems and the vegatable filters which are situated to the side of the pond, between the pnd and filter area. Aeration is provide by two Medo air pumps, a 45 and an 80. The pond has two wide mouthed skimmer units powered by an Aquamax 1,000 pump. The pond is heated in the colder months by a gas boiler located in the boiler house next to the pond. |
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Extended from a kidney shaped 2,500 gallon pond in 1995, the current ‘L’ shaped pond holds 6,950 gallons, including filters. Constructed in concrete blocks and fibre-glassed walls the pond is 6ft deep rising to 4ft at the original end. The filters are fed by two 6 inch bottom drains, firstly passing through a purpose built fibre-glassed settlement chamber with 15 brushes, before circulating in a 4 bay square design filter. The first three of these bays comprise Japanese matting, while the forth has Alfa-grog. An ITT Marlow pump returns the water to the pond via a Lacron 24 inch sand filter, a Crystal Bio Shower filter, and a single 55watt UV light.
The pond is also fed by two shallow venturi’s and one deeper return pipe. The pond is heated by a gas boiler situated adjacent to the pond at the back of the owner’s garage. In 2008 the original gravity fed skimmer was re-designed into a pump driven mechanism which now feeds a free-standing compact sieve before returning to the pond. A Hi-blo 40 air pump adds the required air to both the pond and filters.
The system automatically tops-up through a Devon purifier into bay four. The pond is covered by a wooden Pergola (re-built in 2008).
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The Formal Raised Pond
The pond holds approximately 4000 gallons and is 15 ft long x 7ft wide x 7ft deep. It is block built with hollow blocks, backfilled and reinforced with steel rods and steel mesh. It has a shaped and contoured bottom with rounded corners and sides and is lined with Fibre glass. The pond has about 30” above ground, which allows the fish to be closer, more friendly and is safer for my young daughter. A wooden pergola covers the pond and is top covered with mesh for extra shade. The sides of the pond are capped with stained, machined hardwood to match the pergola.
The single bottom drain gravity feeds a 30” vortex to a Nexus Easy and is pumped back to the pond by an Aquamax 10,000 via a 55 watt ProClear UV.
A modified skimmer feeds an SS020 Mega pump through a WaterCo Multi Cyclone to a Fluidart Challenger 60 bead filter then back to the pond 18” below surface.
The Nexus has a 50 litre Koi Pro air pump to agitate K1 media and bio chips. A separate Seco 50 litre air pump feeds a 760mm long rubber air diffuser . The filters are housed in an 8 ft x 6ft wooden shed. The waste from all filters is piped straight to drain.
The History
The pond has been running since August 2007,with the Nexus and vortex. The Nexus initially took a long time to develop a bio mass as the vortex took most of the waste out before it reached the Easy, but regular doses of ActiveX helped substantially.
The bead filter was added in April 2008 and dosed with ActiveX resulting in it maturing a lot more quickly. Bio chips were added to the Nexus in July 2008 and are now maturing well. The chips and K1 were well soaked in permanganate before set up to assist in adhesion of bacteria.
I lost 2 fish in early days to ulcers & fin rot, probably due to the filters not being mature enough. I have had a lot less problems since adding the bead filter. I had a outbreak of Tricodina and flukes, both were treated successfully, thanks to Graham, with no losses .
The multicyclone was added in August 2008. I’m not sure if it is justified yet as the skimmer grid and pre filter on the pump take out most of the waste. The summer season feeding will test this.
The pond is covered with polycarbonate sheeting during the winter period, which keeps water about 2 degrees above outside temperature. The KOI
There are 32 fish ranging from 6” to 25”. They are fed a variety of food including: Saki Hikari, Fuji, E.A. Health and MediKoi, five times a day at 05.30, 08.00, 12.00, 16.00 and 20.00 hours through an autofeeder. In the summer months they are also hand fed wheatgerm bread and worms by my daughter. In the winter they are auto fed once a day at 10.30am with wheatgerm.
The pond is treated monthly with E.A. blanket weed inhibitor which seems to keep blanket weed away.
The cleaning regime is to flush the vortex, Nexus Easy, and cyclone and to clean the Nexus foam weekly. The Nexus base and bottom drain are flushed monthly, as well as cleaning the airstone.
Ever six months I change the UV bulb and clean the Nexus airlines.I also open the bead filter.
All water top ups are through an E.A. purifier, this process I hope to automate soon.
My next addition will be a 50 gallon veggie filter fed from a 1 ½” side drain by a 6000ltr Laguna pump through a 4 kw heater and a Dura 6 heat pump,….and, of course, a couple of fish from Japan! |
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George has been a member of Crouch Valley koi Section for 12 years. The pond was deepened in 2005. It now contains 15 000 gallons and is is 32 ft.x16 ft.x6 ft. It has an irregular ‘D’ shape with brick walls above ground and a pond liner. Most of the work was done by friends from C.V.K.S. Three bottom drains feed 2 filters which comprise of 2 sets of 3ft diameter three pod vortexes with Answers on both, the second chambers contain 200ltrs fluidised K1and thethird Jap Matting. Thay are in separate a filter house adjacent to the pond. The pipework: 4inch pipes to filters 1.5inch mid water returns with option of diverting to water splash returns. Two Aquamax 12000 on filters. Add on filters one 200ltrs barrel filled with Jap Matting one home made 4 step trickle tower with 75ltrs Crystal-Bio.
Two skimmers powered by Grunfos c/h pump to water splash return. AHiblow 40 supports the filter system and a Hiblow 80 supports air stones in pond and the filter. Water enters through Hilux purifier
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Gerry Ponds is of wooden sleeper construction, with a maximum dpth of 5 foot.3500 Gallons fed from one bottom drain to multibay filter,
Water is the taken into a large veg filter with return to pond.
many high quality and large fish !!
Unfortunetly Gerry has now moved from this House and is planning his next build so watch this space
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