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[Pierre]

WOW! A bee eater with full flaps selected.

It is very special to see a bee eater taking a diving bath. Next you will see the kingfishers hunting for minnows and maybe one day a fish eagle! 

May this pond brings you many treasured moments 

[Colyn]

Thanks Pierre.

[roan]

" I love it when a plan comes together "

It looks stunning. 

[Dingbat]

Today is another special day ... we started circulating the water to include Pond #2. The water flow is not too bad but I am looking at getting more. I think on hot days this will be a bit on the slow side.

As I expected, the moment we started pumping the water in Pond #2 started to foam as it ran down the cascades towards Pond #3. As time went on the foaming increased in the sump. This should clear up in a day or so if the experience with Pond #3 is anything to go on.

Another good thing for me was that today I noticed that some green algae is forming on the walls of Pond #3. I also noticed some mosquito larvae in Pond #3 and some other insects. My youngest son promptly added two small goldfish to the pond ... let's see if they survive the night. Well must say ... within 30 minutes after they were slipped into the pond we spotted them chasing down and eating some of the insects.

Here is a collection of shots taken today ...

[Dingbat]

Ok the issue with the leaking sump has been solved and the problem with the future bio-filters overflowing has been sorted out.

I have covered the bottoms of the streams with some rock and one pump is running basically full time daily now without any issues in the bio filter tanks and the connecting streams.

My biggest toothache now is the fact that I miscalculated the sump and I have measured out the expansion for it. The primary water inlet is also under construction. With the Soccer Stadium running in scheduling problems there is a chronic shortage of cement in Nelspruit and my cement arrived an hour ago. Tomorrow Pond #1's floor will be plastered and then the bulk of the wetwork should be finished.

Here are a few shots of some of the latest progress.

[Dingbat]

Today I have some shots and more stories about this project. I have encountered some really bad water losses in the stream going down to pond #3. We found the problem and it is being repaired now as I type here.

Pond #2 and #3 as well as the sump/weir has been filled to the brim and left standing for 3 days and the there is no water losses noticed. So I am happy that this part of the project is now secure.

As I said earlier the "transit" volume of water was more than I expected and my sump turned out to be too small. The sump is now in the process of being enlarged to hold another 3,000 liters of water of which only around 150 liters will not be available for "transit" capacity.

Pond #1 in finishing stages.


Indication of the pond construction and waterproof plastering.


Primary water inlet under construction.


Extended sump facility.


Pond #3 and the sump.

Today the Coprox for Pond #1 arrived so hopefully that job will get done on Monday.

On another topic. I have had offers of Koi from a few friends but I am thinking about all the risks involved in introducing fish to ponds and I am leaning towards this ...

There is an exporter near Nelspruit that is friends with my brother. He has offered me 150mm Koi at R90.00 per Koi. Is this a fair price ?

I think I will only put 30 fish per pond. I am of the opinion that by buying all the fish in one batch from one source and then let them grow here I am minimising risks of contamination.

What do you think ?

Thanks in advance.

[Captain Slow]

Lyk my die is 'n lang projek... thanks for postin

[Dingbat]

Today is one of those days where I doubt everything I have done

Here is a collection of shots that will explain better why I am in this mood ...

This shot is the stream that connects the pods. I have 4m between Pond #1 and #2 and 12m between #2 and #3

My questions are this ...

1. In what way can this be utilized to assist with the health of the water?
2. Should I place smaller stones or bigger stones?
3. The stream do run the risk of running dry if power should fail.

This is the first chamber at the end of the pond system.


This is the second chamber and the new 3rd chamber. The 3rd chamber was added because I need
more volume to store for the "transito" volume needed to get the system in balance.


Here you can see the start of a skimmer weir for pond #3. This pond is fringed by some trees
that are dropping flowers and leaves into the pond and I realised that I need a better way
to draw off surface debris. The skimmer will pour the water into two chambers and the
final chamber will spill into chamber one posted earlier.


Another view of the weir/sump/pit setup.


Current volume is not enough to cope with runoff when pumps shutdown.


This a view of a major design oversight.

In the last shot you can see what I did to strengthen the side that was above ground. The plan was that this will host plants on the pond edge. However, by pure oversight the edge was not raised and once the pond is full this flowerbox will be filled by overflow as the outlet is on the same level.

Now I have some options with it.

1. Continue with the stonework and cut the flower box off from the pond. This is most probably the easiest and cheapest option.
2. Do the stonework to follow the outer edge and by that incorporate the flowerbox in the pond.

Option 2 will mean that I have to cast a proper base for the flower box and waterproof it. I will also need to pipe some sort of bottom drain into it so that I can draw water off to pond #2 to ensure that the water do not stagnate in the flower box. This box will not get koi in because the overflow is shallow and plants could be safe.

What will you do ?

Comments and ideas are welcome.

[Dingbat]

Some responses from members on KoiForum :

Hi Colyn, whats your aim with the ponds?

My feeling was always that if i spend like in my case R 100 000 on a pond, i would like some decent koi in it but everyone is different.

If you want show quality koi then you will roughly pay R 1000 per 15cm koi but if you just want some colourfull fish in your pond then the R 90 per koi option sounds fine.

Wayne

I agree with you Wayne ... but my realities are that I have a huge risk of predation and that makes me reluctant to place expensive fish in here.

Next point is that I will obviously have to get to grips with the realities of Koi keeping and will most probably make mistakes in the beginning. There is also the matter of the system getting into balance and maturing which I believe can take a year.

So with the above in mind I think it will be more prudent to start of with colourful rather than quality. Wink

What do you think ?

Hi Colyn

I agree, i started with gold fish and cut my teeth on them and then moved over to koi...the problem with starting with cheapish kois are that they eat and take up the same amount of space as quality koi and you struggel to sell them later as no one wants ugly koi..but i agree first put some cheap koi or gold fish in to see what happens, especially with all those birds around your pond.

Hi Colyn,

Your setup looks great, wish I had your space.

Once your wife falls in love with the cheaper ones you can never get rid of them!
But I agree your decision is the right one.
We all started that way and we all lost some koi due to ignorance.
But then any big koi is a nice koi in my opinion.

[Pierre]

Idiee: Waarom gebruik jy nie die "flowerbox" van die dam as 'n "bog garden" nie. Met ander woorde - verhoog en/of versterk die buitenste muur en laat die water oorloop in die flowerbox. Plant dan spesies plante wat daarvan hou om met hulle voete in die water te staan.

Lees die artikel as voorbeeld: http://www.plantideas.com/bog/

[Dingbat]

Well seems like the problem is now solved and I have started filling Pond #1 for the second time.

I need some advice and discussion of the following structures ...

A = Pond #3 - 45,000 liters

The primary purpose of this pond will be to act as a vegetation filter and have some goldfish and maybe some kurpers in. The fish is obviously for the insects and whatever food happens to be there but will also be the decoy to attract the predators and hopefully keep them away from the Koi.

B = Weir structure

This was done so that the bottomdrain is protected from the obvious potential of catching rotting leaves that will land in the pond from mostly the inhabitants of the pond. It was also done so that water can flow freely without floating plants choking the spillway.

C = Surface skimmer

This is where surface skimming for pond #3 happens and the gate can be closed at will. The box is divided in two C/D with C having 3 layers of concrete stone in Avocado bags. Water filters through the stone and then out into D. I am confident that all plant material will be trapped here that is drawn off by the skimmer.

D = Settlement chamber

Not much to say about this one.

E = Course filtration

All water drawn off the whole system will land here on it;s way back to the pump pit. This box also contains 3 layers of bagged concrete stone. The spill drop is fairly high so a lot of aeration takes place here.

F = Settlement Chamber

This box is connected to the pump pit in a way that the water level will not fall below the surface of the bagged stone in E.

G = Pump pit

This pit is 2 meters deep and holds around 2,500 liters of water. It was built after I realised that that E and F could not cope with the "transit" volume of water.

From the pump pit water will be pumped through two 1,000 liters tanks that will each contain 300 liters of bio - balls and from the tanks it will flow by gravity over the primary inlet into Pond #1.

I am now thinking of hanging bio brushes in F and D.

I have also found a source for oyster shells and I am planning on bagging them an place them in the bottom of F and D.

My question is this ...

How will you employ the above setup if it was your system ... what other filtration material will you use and wat plants will you add  and where.

Thanks.

Plants in here are ...

Palmiet, Papyrus and Vark ore.

[Dingbat]

Ok I am now the proud owner of three ponds full of water ... and algae and heaven knows what else.

I am now busy filling the sump up before I start the system so that we can get some calibration marks on the levels in the pump pit. I have around 5,000 liters in the final filtration chambers and sump of which around 4,000 liters are available to use in the "transit" system.

Thank you to all that responded here.

[Dingbat]

Today I will post a series of shots that shows the components in my filtration system ...

The primary crushed rock filtration pack. The bags rests on a grid laid out with bricks to lift the rock
above the level of the transfer pipes.


The initial plants in the vegetation pond.


The chambers at the end of the vegetation pond. Here I want to get rid of as much solids as possible
before the water is pumped to the bio-filters. The final chamber before the pump pit will be
filled with brushes next week.


Veggie pond level back to normal. This pond also contains some gold fish at the moment.


Final water shunt if the system should overflow for some reason. The overflow will now be constraucted
to spill into a artificial bog where we will plant iris and vark ore so that the water does not go
to waste.


Sumps with water.


Primary inlet cascade.


Preparing the nylon netting sausages for the bio-tanks.

Now I have to wait for the bio-media to kick in and mature. The water condition is good for now and it improves by the day. I am sure I will get another algae bloom but I am not too concerned about that. There are signs that the vegetation is taking well and in the next week or so I will link the bottom drains into the system. Currently I use the bottomdrains to shed water only.

Comments are more than welcome.

[Dingbat]

The 24th of July 2008 was an important day ... after almost two years the day finally dawned that I felt confident to place some Koi in my ponds. After lots of soul searching and weighing up the risks of bringing Koi in from various sources I finally decided to bite the bullet and get all my initial stock from one breeder.

On arriving at the farm I spent a long time just listening to the breeder and asking lots of questions. After telling him my story he was confident that the fish would be fine and he surprised me by offering me 16 fish for free to check the ponds.

After 3 days the fish are all eating and they look happy and healthy and very mobile, cruise on all levels of the ponds and feasting on the algae from the floor and walls ... so much that I have quite a lot of pieces floating in the ponds.

Stock pond ...


Selection ...


Arriving home ...

Well let us see what the future holds ... I think I am going to get my stock today.

[roan]

Man dit lyk goed daar by jou plek. Dit gaan darem n lekker plekkie wees om te sit en die wereld se probleme op te los oor n "sundownertjie" of 2.