The
pond walls were built with hollow cement bricks, 12mm reinforcing
steel went into the side walls and were then filled with concrete.
I did not have my own truck so all the cement and bricks were transported in
my 1.3 Ford laser (I am thinking of selling the car now).
The floor was then tapered at about 10 degrees to the bottom drain it should
have been 20 degrees.
The walls were plastered and the corners were given a radius of 75 mm I realize
now it should have been about 200mm. Another challenge arose and that was to
get the lion's head about 100kg to the back of the pond. I placed two 50 x 75
steel tubs across the pond then with help of Dano and Walter walked the lions
head to the back wall only to find out it had to be raised by 3 bricks. (Dano
and Walter gave me a Ogon for my birthday so I called it Danwal - Joined their
names together)
The fiberglass process was done as follows one coat of thinned down fiberglass
resin then one layer of fiberglass with resin. One coat of black flow coat followed.
I am most thankfully to my friend Walter who spent his Saturday helping me with
Fiberglass.
The
Flow coat was a disaster because it did not dry. The factory
later admitted that they did not add enough accelerator to
the mix. After waiting 2 weeks and it still had not dried.
I sanded what I could off and then cleaned it with acetone (I was on a high after
all that).
The next day I then recoated the pond. A week after recoating I added water and
coarse salt, and then the following morning I noticed that there was oil on the
water.
I asked around and found out that some of the salt on the market had been contaminated
with oil that occurs naturally under ground. I first over filled the pond to
get rid of the oil that I could. Then I pumped out half the water with my small
submersible. This process did seem to solve the problem. The same day the fish
were then added.
My
idea was to join the return of the UV and the Biological filter
together and have them flow into to the pond as one, luckily
I found out that this causes back pressure in the Biological
filter and has caused some of the filters to pop open.
With fish in the pond I drilled a 60mm hole above the existing inlet to make
place for my second inlet. (Walter helping again).
At this time I did not have a filtration system. Having limited space I could
not build a traditional filter system, the only way was to use a high-pressure
system.
I spent 3 days connecting
the Collins Sand p 18 filter, 16 watt Ultra-Zap UV light, Ultra-Zap
biological filter, filled with Looli Tubes and a Speck 0.25 kW
pump all using 50-mm Class 6 PVC pipes.
Tangent glue by Henkel was used highly recommendable. The tubes of glue last
and work better than the tins. I am drawing water from the bottom drain and the
skimmer from there the water goes to the sand filter.
A T piece splits the return from the sand filter to the UV and the Biological
filter. After the Biological filter I have a 50 to 16mm T piece with a ball vale
to feed water to the Lions head. The UV can just be seen behind the pipe coming
from the pump to the sand filter. UV's maximum flow rate in 60 liters per minute.
The 5-Liter Looli Tube Biological filter is situated behind the pump. Note the
gray easy access hatch in the filter.
Note: The Collins Sand filters as far as I am concerned (and most of the Koi
keepers in South Africa that I have met) is the only one to chose even thought
it is about 30% more expensive. The Collins has an easy access inspection hatch
this allows you to put your hand into the filter to break up the "crust" that
forms on the surface. Breaking the crust up really allows you to get the entire
waist out of the filter.
Back washing and opening of the filter is done on a weekly basis. If a sand filter
is chosen which has the inspection hatch with multiple screws, it is very time
consuming to loosen every week and the filter is not designed to do this.
The Collins I have chosen is a P16 and is filled with 60KG of 5 to 6mm stone
instead of silicon sand. This prevents the filter been clogged up quickly.
Once
everything was working it became quite obvious the skimmer
I had built from bricks was not working as it should.
While
the fish were still in the pond I knocked out the brick skimmer
and built in a swimming pool skimmer, again Walter was there
to help by this time I was really testing our friendship.
I dropped the water
level to below where I wanted to work.
Dried off the wall then stuck some black plastic on to the wall while I was grinding,
hammering, and building then Walter used the vacuum cleaner to catch all the
waste, and this worked very well. I did not see any thing fall in to the pond.
It is amazing how inquisitive the fish are when working on the pond I would have
thought that they would be frightened and stayed at the bottom.
During the modification time I also added the three extra 50 mm ball valves so
I can now control both the inlets and outlets, what an improvement.
All these changes and the pond was only 5 weeks old.
(Photo by Walter)
January
2001. Living so close together in a complex I had a problem with
the sound of the pump and the Venturi.
I built a protective box out of knotty pine ceiling boards to cover the pump
system (Bottom left) and to minimize the sound from the pump. As sound control
it has proved successful so far, I thought I might have to line the box with
carpet but it seems to work well enough without it.
The Venturi I bought was making way too much noise so I designed my own one.
I think it gives about ½ to ¾ the air of the bought one but is
almost silent in comparison and it cost ¼ of the original one.
Design of Venturi is a 50mm solvent joint with a 50 to 20 reducing bush and a
20 to 16 reducing bush. (I could not buy a 50 to 16 reducing bush).
The only trick is you have to remove the inside shoulder of the solvent joint.
This was done on a lathe by Walter, luckily for me he has an Engineering shop
(thanks again Walter). You could also file it out if you don't have access to
a lathe. Now glue the two bushes inside each other then glue the bush in the
middle of the joint. Drill a 16mm hole in the middle of the joint about where
the shoulder was.
Insert a 16mm pipe 260-mm long into the hole no more that 3mm into the joint;
make sure it does not obstruct the airflow to the reducing bush. Add 400 mm of
50mm PVC pipe on to the joint (the longer this pipe the more silent the Venturi
is, but must have a minimum of 300mm to work). Note this design does not work
if the Venturi is placed more than 250 mm under the water. If anybody builds
one please let me know how well it works by sending an e-mail to Stuart.
At present I have
1 Doitsu Ogon 220mm, 3 Utsurimono 100mm, 2 Yamabuki Ogon 150mm
and 100mm, 1 Platinum Ogon 80mm,which is getting some horrible
marks on it, 1 Soragoi 140mm, 1 Ochiba shigure 60mm, 4 comets
-gold fish, 1 ghost 100mm, 1 Sanke 90mm, Doitsu Karasu-goi
with red belly 130mm.
All the above fish were spawned in South Africa. I have bought fish from:
Kindai Koi in Bothasig, Q Koi farm in Robertson, Kings view Farm Stellenbosch
and The Koi Garden Constantia.
I am now looking at a Kinginrin Kindai Showa 300mm that arrived in Cape Town
in November from Japan bred by Shinoda. This is truly a living jewel.
Things still to do:
Keep
the fish alive !!!!
The
first Ball valve I installed needs to be replaced as it
I very tight.
The
flow should be changed to make the skimmer work at its
best. This involves drilling holes in the side of the pond
once again, but by now I am getting use to it.
The
diagram on Venturies explains it well. (Again I wish I
had found A guide to modern Koi pond building -
Venturi showing the relationship of the skimmer and Venturi
before I built the pond.
A
light in the pump box.
Get
the garden sorted out.
A
small compressor to feed the air stone in the bottom drain.
This website started with a
booklet which I made up originally for the help of those members of the BKKS
- South Wales Section who were intending to start building a koi pond, and as the website has expanded more information and articles from other people have been included. This
is for general guidance only, and we do not take any responsibility for problems
that might occur by following these ideas. It is important
that you check out everything in your area, and check on local laws and rules
that may apply.
The
pond walls were built with hollow cement bricks, 12mm reinforcing
steel went into the side walls and were then filled with concrete. 
The
Flow coat was a disaster because it did not dry. The factory
later admitted that they did not add enough accelerator to
the mix. After waiting 2 weeks and it still had not dried. 
I spent 3 days connecting
the Collins Sand p 18 filter, 16 watt Ultra-Zap UV light, Ultra-Zap
biological filter, filled with Looli Tubes and a Speck 0.25 kW
pump all using 50-mm Class 6 PVC pipes. 
January
2001. Living so close together in a complex I had a problem with
the sound of the pump and the Venturi. 
