Thought I would share some pics of a 27,000 litre pond I built for a friend. It is approximately 7 metres long x 4 mtres wide x 1.5metres deep and its deepest end. 

The pump and filtration used in this project was as follows:

1 x 16000 LPH pump which splits of to run the 2 x waterfalls

1 x 12000 LPH pump that splits off to two seperate gravity fed biological filters

2 x biological Filters that are hidden behing the large waterfall at the end. One is a straight filter and the second unit has 18W UV in the filter. The returns from the filters return to the pond on each side of the large waterfall

An airator was also put into the centre of the deepest part of the pond.  This helps to airate the water but more importantly helps to expel the nitrogen gases from the water and also helps keep the pond water clearer which in turn aids the filtration. 

This pond was hand dug and all the rock work was done by hand. 

Pic1. This is what the area looked like at the start

 

Pic2: Underlay has been put down to protect EPDM rubber liner

 

Pic 3: EPDM liner laid and started filling to help anchor liner and pull out wrinkles

Pic 4: Rock work including stepping stones placed in position

 

Pic 4: Shows rock work and rock ledge under main waterfall 

 

Pics showing end result including the aerator, waterfalls and overall look of the pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 201511 yr by Callan

So you ended up putting those photos up and more, good stuff, this is wicked hey, would look crap hot all planted in and around, any photos of how it looks recently?

Couple of questions cause I have always wanted a pond lol. How much did that cost and what does he do when it rains and floods the pond?

How much did that cost?

 

Show us yer  .... filter!

 

Would need to be a beast.

Thats great work. Looks awesome. How many koi will be going in?

That's a beautiful pond mate. Rock all by hand? Is that what did your back in? I moved a too big mudrock slab once and my back didn't like it either. 

 

Oz, there's normally an overflow to storm water just below the level where the pond would flood. Liner is about $20/m2 and the rest, how long is a piece of string. Keen to hear Callan tell us how much rock went into this. 

Thanks for the replies.

The filters are called aBio Steps is made by Matala.

 

The cost of materials all up was about $7000(That includes all the equipment and landscaping rocks.

I think from memory it was about 5m3 in river pebble and about 12m3 of mudrock.

Overflows as has already been mentioned can be fitted. It would be very unusual for Melbourne to get more than 2 inches of rain

This pond because of the depth, size and filtration system could handle quite a few Koi. Depth and filtration are the most critical things when it comes to koi. Lack of depth and the koi will never gain good size in the girth.

That is why I always recommend using sub air aeration in koi ponds.

Shelving is an important key when designing ponds because it allows provision for the rocks to sit below waterlevel and it helps give a more natural look to the pond.

Kizshrimp no I didn,t hurt my back on this pond and had a few people who helped place the rocks where I wanted. It was about 6 weeks later when installing a water feature and a person helping lift it lost his grip and it partly crushed me. 

 

Looks awesome mate....... Great work there.

You can get quite carried away with,overflows,auto top ups and circulation jets,etc But simplicity is best.

Where's the shishi odoshi

I love it, looks great. I want one now too lol

I love it, looks great. I want one now too lol

 

Some Goldfish and White Clouds, few plants, would look awesome hey!

What will be done about birds ? 

He wasn't concerned when I last spoke to him and its hard to see from the photos but there is lots of rock areas under the water for the fish to seek shelter . The depth will also help and it was still to be planted although in a koi pond anything green dosent last to long.  That is why I delibrately built in beach areas which could be planted and it also allowed an area for fry to access without being eaten by larger fish. I will put up some photos of another pond I built a while ago for another friend that highlights this a bit better. The only real way to stop birds is netting. Bird scarers don't work and I have only seen one product that was partly successful. It had a sensor and when anything broke the beam it would shoot water in the direction of whatever entered the beam area.  Sometimes its the luck of the drawer but if a heron finds a food source it will continue to come back . I had to net my own ponds for this reason.

do you build them as a hobby or as a profession ? i hope one day i will have a pond lol 

More of a hobby but I have done work at the Melbourne International Flower Show and it also is good being able to sell products and give advice to people with the advantage of having experienced things first hand. I will post a few more things I have done if people are interested.

Edited May 12, 201511 yr by Callan

Keep 'em coming mate!

Very cool dude, awesome work!

Would love to see some more setups you've done! i tend to find thats any area which lacks information on alot of aquarium forums.

 

I am guessing you wouldnt of done any small shrimp dedicated ones ?

I did try this with glass shrimp. I put in a colony of over 300 glass shrimp and used mainly java moss, val, elodea and duckweed. I even put in a base of inert sand which is something I would never do or recommend doing in a fish pond. The thing I didn,t  consider at the time was to cover it with something like shade cloth or flywire and as a result lost all the glass shrimp to dragon fly nymph.

Lesson learnt, ha.

 

If you've got more projects you've done in photos, put 'em up mate.

Thanks I will get some more on. Hopefully they will help give ideas about what is possible and may inspire a few new ponds being built...lol