New bonsai garden, including koi pond!

[Deleted member 21616]

@Adair M what temperature will your water fall to in the winter? perhaps with minimal heating, you can keep freshwater rays (potamotrygon motoro or leopoldi), oscars, arowana, cats, etc.? this might sound completely absurd if georgia is not as hot as I am imagining LOL

 

[coh]

Looks like you have plenty of clay for when you take up pot-making!

Looking forward to seeing this develop. Plans look great.

 

[Adair M]

Best bet is to purchase fish that have been acclimatized to your area for a full season. Newly imported fish ( typically just after Christmas) can appear perfectly healthy until the holding tanks temperatures begin to rise in late spring early summer and viral issues begin. If he has that size of a set-up then it will be protected with chemical disinfectant baths to step through before entering the facilities and access will be tightly controlled for the areas containing newly arrived fish. Some of the new Koi diseases are very difficult to manage. You are very fortunate in that one of the best Koi Vet programs is located in Athens Georgia. I actually spent some time training there and they really were on top of the industry at the time. I am sure Chuck is aware of their program. Good luck with the Koi Pond.

Mind you I don’t know a koi from carp, but Chuck appeared to be an expert. He had multiple pools of koi segregated by quality, size, sex, color patterns... Frankly, when I asked him to point out the really good fish so I could compare with the “less good” fish, if he hadn’t pointed out the minute differences, I would never have known. A lot was the overall body shape and size of head. I’ll be honest, I just like all the pretty colors!

I’m sure I’ll learn tons about them.

Chuck has a web page: www.wetpets.com

 

[Adair M]

Best bet is to purchase fish that have been acclimatized to your area for a full season. Newly imported fish ( typically just after Christmas) can appear perfectly healthy until the holding tanks temperatures begin to rise in late spring early summer and viral issues begin. If he has that size of a set-up then it will be protected with chemical disinfectant baths to step through before entering the facilities and access will be tightly controlled for the areas containing newly arrived fish. Some of the new Koi diseases are very difficult to manage. You are very fortunate in that one of the best Koi Vet programs is located in Athens Georgia. I actually spent some time training there and they really were on top of the industry at the time. I am sure Chuck is aware of their program. Good luck with the Koi Pond.

Mind you I don’t know a koi from carp, but Chuck appeared to be an expert. He had multiple pools of koi segregated by quality, size, sex, color patterns... Frankly, when I asked him to point out the really good fish so I could compare with the “less good” fish, if he hadn’t pointed out the minute differences, I would never have known. A lot was the overall body shape and size of head. I’ll be honest, I just like all the pretty colors!

I’m sure I’ll learn tons about them.

 

[Adair M]

@Adair M what temperature will your water fall to in the winter? perhaps with minimal heating, you can keep freshwater rays (potamotrygon motoro or leopoldi), oscars, arowana, cats, etc.? this might sound completely absurd if georgia is not as hot as I am imagining LOL

No clue.

 

[Adair M]

Still digging!

 

[River's Edge]

Mind you I don’t know a koi from carp, but Chuck appeared to be an expert. He had multiple pools of koi segregated by quality, size, sex, color patterns... Frankly, when I asked him to point out the really good fish so I could compare with the “less good” fish, if he hadn’t pointed out the minute differences, I would never have known. A lot was the overall body shape and size of head. I’ll be honest, I just like all the pretty colors!

I’m sure I’ll learn tons about them.

Chuck has a web page: www.wetpets.com

I checked out his webpage and the scope of products and information reflects a good knowledge base and background. He is likely aware of my former wholesale suppliers, Pan Intercorp Inc. ( close to Seattle)
It is good practice to purchase from one reliable source rather than mix suppliers. It only takes one sick Koi to wipe out an entire pond.

 

[defra]

I know nothing about ponds and fish except the two indestructible goldfish in my aquarium
I do know I like your plans and that I'm looking forward to see the progress!

 

[Adair M]

End of day 2:



The box in the pond is the “in pond pump” box. It will feed circulation jets and a small waterfall that will be situated approximately where the plastic box is sitting on the bank in front of that pile of dirt. The plastic box off to the far right is the skimmer.



The backhoe is shown where the wetland bog filter will be. This will need to get dug out really deep. Water from the skimmer gets pumped into the bottom of this area. It goes thru a device they call a “centipede” that slows the water down, and distributes it out across the bottom of the bog pond. The bottom of the bog pond is actually covered with open plastic boxes called “aqua blocks”. These are stacked up, creating a reservoir of water underground. Then, on top of the stack of aqua blocks a layer of softball sized river rocks is laid. Then a layer of baseball sized river rocks, then finally a layer of silver dollar sized pea gravel. The water is pushed up from below thru the gravel to filter it, and it emerges at the like a spring. Plants are planted in that top layer, and absorb the nutrients created by the fish.

The water then tumbles out of the bog, over a series of waterfalls and aerates the pond.



Aquablocks. I don’t know if we will need more, or not.

 

[leatherback]

Amazing plans. Looks like a little Japanese-American oasis in the making!

But erh..

The box in the pond is the “in pond pump” box. It will feed circulation jets and a small waterfall that will be situated approximately where the plastic box is sitting on the bank in front of that pile of dirt. The plastic box off to the far right is the skimmer.

WOuld you not need to put a pond-liner in place before installing your skimmer and stuff? Would the water not drain awfully fast with out it?

 

[Adair M]

Amazing plans. Looks like a little Japanese-American oasis in the making!

But erh..


WOuld you not need to put a pond-liner in place before installing your skimmer and stuff? Would the water not drain awfully fast with out it?

Lol!!!

Actually, the skimmer is placed first before the underpayment and liner. The other components are just sitting where they are temporarily so he can have some reference points as he digs the pond.

 

[ysrgrathe]

Jealous! Looks like an awesome design.

I second the comments about filtration being key to a healthy pond. State of the art is RDF (rotary drum filter) to remove the solid waste and shower to get rid of the ammonia (basically trays of ceramic media that water is sprayed through). Koiphen.com is a great resource. Please be careful about the aquascape/bog filter, they are not well regarded (would work better if you have an RDF or sand-and-gravel filter in front if it though).

 

[Paulpash]

What plants are going in @Adair M? Japanese themed stuff like maples, bamboo & grasses? A niwaki pine or two would look cool round the pond. Good luck with the project!

 

[Adair M]

More digging has occurred:





The top picture is the bog.

The second picture shows the earth wall between the bog and the pond itself. There will be a waterfall there.

The bog will be supplemented by a UV light “filter”.

 

[Adair M]

Jealous! Looks like an awesome design.

I second the comments about filtration being key to a healthy pond. State of the art is RDF (rotary drum filter) to remove the solid waste and shower to get rid of the ammonia (basically trays of ceramic media that water is sprayed through). Koiphen.com is a great resource. Please be careful about the aquascape/bog filter, they are not well regarded (would work better if you have an RDF or sand-and-gravel filter in front if it though).

There’s lots of ways to do it. I’m planning on understocking the pond with fish.

 

[Doug J]

@Adair M what temperature will your water fall to in the winter? perhaps with minimal heating, you can keep freshwater rays (potamotrygon motoro or leopoldi), oscars, arowana, cats, etc.? this might sound completely absurd if georgia is not as hot as I am imagining LOL

You don't want to mix different species with koi for various reasons. Disease, aggression, etc. Goldfish are ok to mix. I have a couple wakin's and a comet in with mine.

Blackwater creek koi in Florida and 'Inland koi' in California are where all mine came from. I have butterfly koi, standard koi, and goldfish.

Wherever you get your koi, be sure to take precautions against KHV. (koi herpes virus). It's a killer, and can lurk unseen. Preferably get your fish from a place that does KHV testing.

 

[Adair M]

You don't want to mix different species with koi for various reasons. Disease, aggression, etc. Goldfish are ok to mix. I have a couple wakin's and a comet in with mine.

Blackwater creek koi in Florida and 'Inland koi' in California are where all mine came from. I have butterfly koi, standard koi, and goldfish.

Wherever you get your koi, be sure to take precautions against KHV. (koi herpes virus). It's a killer, and can lurk unseen. Preferably get your fish from a place that does KHV testing.

Thanks for that tidbit!

 

[Deleted member 21616]

You don't want to mix different species with koi for various reasons

i didn’t mean mix any of these with koi of course

just proposing alternatives and possibilities

an oscar pond can be just as colorful as koi, but far more interactive (and they’d doubtless put up more of a challenge against potential predators)

a ray pond can be lots of fun, and there are many fish that pair well with them. I bred potamotrygon in a tank with arowana

there are pro and cons to any set up, none are better or worse than another. i was just tossing ideas for adairs consideration

sounds like he’s going koi regardless, which is a pond that has all the charm and pleasure in the world

 

[MattE]

o man i cant wait to see this !!!! for sure following, My dream is to be able to walk out of the back of my house ant is be nothing but a garden oasis where i can drink coffee in the morning and sip my whiskey at night. A place where i can just relax do some bird watching , play with my plants feed my fish. hats off to you this if going to be EPIC!!!! The nice thing about koi ponds is Koi are cheap so if bird eat them you can always buy more. My neighbor uses a black netting over his pond we have alot of predator birds .. you actually cant really see the netting its so thin and the spaces are the size of chain link.
Best of luck with all this post lots of progress pics

 

[Cadillactaste]

Looks like an archeologist dig. Serious stuff going on. It's going to be worth the Hassel of the disturbance it causes in the process. Enjoying the progression and explaining of what each photo is.

Excited to see the final image come forth!