How to Build a Circular Koi Pond
Backyard water features are not only stunning landscape focal points, they often help bring your family closer to nature. Koi ponds are particularly beautiful, providing year-round interest. Although koi are ornamental versions of the common carp, their intense coloring in shades of orange, red, white, black and gold sets them apart from other fish.
Building a koi pond may be a labor-intensive project, however, the results are well worth it. A rigid, pre-formed liner is not only easier for beginners to install, it also ensures that you'll have the perfect, symmetrical pond.
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Things You'll Need
- Large, pre-formed liner, at least 3 feet deep
- Stakes
- Shovel
- Tarp/Wheelbarrow
- Sand
- Scrap lumber
- Level
- pH testing kit
- Newspaper (optional)
- Pond underlayment (optional)
Instructions
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Plants add interest to a koi pond, though hungry fish may nibble on them. Choose a spot for your koi pond. Place the pond in a location where you can enjoy it, perhaps near a deck or patio. You may also want to place it in line with a window so you can enjoy it from indoors as well. Ideally, the pond should receive at least six hours of sunlight per day for any aquatic plants, but you may sacrifice some sun exposure for a great location. In fact, shade is fine for fish-only ponds.
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Lay the preformed liner upside down on your chosen spot. Before you start digging, use stakes to mark the outline for the pond.
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Set the liner aside. Lay out a tarp and begin digging, following the outline of the stakes. Place excavated soil on the tarp or in the wheelbarrow for use elsewhere. If your liner has a shelf near the top for plants, dig to the level of the shelf, and then set the liner back in place to estimate where you'll need to dig for the second level. Mark with stakes if necessary. Finish excavating the site.
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Remove all rocks and debris from the bottom of your excavation so that they do not puncture the liner.
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Pour about 2 inches of sand into the bottom of the hole. Spread the sand around evenly to cushion the liner. You may also use wet newspaper or commercially-available pond underlayment instead of sand.
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Inset the liner so that the top edge sits about an inch below ground level. Backfill with soil if necessary. Lay a piece of scrap lumber across the top of the liner and set your level on it to make sure that the pond settles into the spot evenly. Adjust by adding or removing sand or soil.
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Position any pond skimmers, pumps and filters in their proper positions, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Make sure that the electrical outlet you're using has a ground fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, to prevent electrical shock.
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Fill the pond with water. Turn on the pumps and filters to make sure they work. Place edging around the pond to conceal the liner.
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Add a dechlorinator to the water to make it safe for your fish. Check the pH with a testing kit -- a pH of 6.8 to 8 is acceptable for koi. Let the water cycle for 24 hours.
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Add two to three small koi at first. The waste from the initial fish will help beneficial bacteria develop in the pond. You may add more koi once the pond has been established for a few weeks.
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Tips & Warnings
Resist the urge to scrub off all of the green algae that is sure to accumulate on the liner. The algae contains beneficial bacteria that contributes to the overall health of the pond. Concentrate on cleaning the bottom of the pond where the waste accumulates.
Although it may seem logical to place the pond at the lowest part of the landscape, this may create unhealthy conditions for your koi. Runoff from fertilizer and other lawn chemicals can drain into the pond.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Medioimages/Photodisc/Valueline/Getty Images Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
