The concrete base goes into the pond and filter house

Today felt like we have turned a corner with the actual pond build starting to put things in place whereas the previous work had been all about digging, and breaking up soil. Really good point to reach before the bank holiday weekend.
Both bottom drains were installed and connected to all the pipework. The steel reinforcement grid was also cut into place.

With perfect timing the concrete pump and concrete mixer truck arrived just after lunch. Pipe works was laid from the mixer truck into the pond and then six cubic metres of concrete was pumped into place.

The whole pumping process only took about an hour and a half to get the base in for the filter house and the main pond

This picture of the pond base was taken before the concrete was levelled off, worked into place and the bottom drain entrances cleared.

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Pipework arrives and starts to be installed

Early in the morning start with delivery of the 4" pipework, the 2" pressure pipe and the steel reinforcement grids arriving on site.

 

By the end of day the initial pipes are being put in place between the pond and the filter house.

 

The old concrete pond waterfall tiers (that used to feed water into the old pond) have now been broken down and placed into the bottom of the filter house floor as hardcore before concrete fill tomorrow.

 

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The dig continues

After a week of freezing weather, some snow and rain the dig has progressed each day. The full pond shape, the new filter house, the pipe runs in between and the pipe run for waste have all been dug out. We now have a significant pile of earth that will be spread out to level the garden after the pond build.

This hole will be the new pond

This is the end of the garden and the location of the new filter house

The hole for the filter house

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The dig begins

First thing in the morning Jim and I sprayed a marker outline for the new pond.

Slightly later than planned the digger arrived on site so the dig could begin in earnest. After a little struggle getting it into the garden as there was only 15mm available on either side work began.

By end of the day, one end and side had been dug out to a depth of 8ft.

 

The pile of soil begins....

 

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Pre-build koi into temp vats and empty pond

So it all starts from here. Today is the day to re-home all the koi into two vats. The temporary home for the koi will be my Bestway 10ft circular paddling pool and also a 500 gallon one from James at Park Farm Fisheries. The Bestway paddling pools are a only about £90, they are 10ft circular by about 80cm high and so much cheaper than "specific" koi vats. I would definitely recommend them.
Last night in the dark I found what i believed was my 10ft steel framed circular paddling pool and all the support framework. Amusingly (for me not the guys) when Jim, James and Steve went to setup the bestway they found that i had actually found a 4ft kids paddling pool. Thankfully 5mins later i found the right one and everything could start.

Once both vats were in place Steve setup the pipework to fill them both from the existing pond. In parallel, Jim and James set about the filtration with a retro bottom drain, 80 litre air pump and 8k pump to and eazypod.

An hour later with all that in place it was time to move which I thought would be a beast of a job. This is a picture of all the koi in the old pond (partially drained) before the move started

Thirty minutes later all the koi were in their temporary home for the next four to five weeks. That would have taken me hours! The following is a picture of the koi vats post koi move.

The finally came the job to empty the old liner pond and to punch some holes in it so if it did rain the water could drain through. No going back now!

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The new koi pond - the spec

So after many months of planning the koi pond build is agreed. The current really good but liner pump fed with retro drain will be replaced with the following,

The new pond will be

• 7-8k gallons,
• Block built with 100mm insulation and fibreglassed,
• Gravity fed,
• Two 4" spin drifter aerated bottom drains,
• Two ultra skim (3" pipe) wall skimmers.

The new filter house will need to be built from scratch and contain

• Two kinshi hi-tech sieves (dual input),
• Two roto concept gravity showers,
• TMC pro 110w UV,
• Two 80L air pumps,
• A few sequence pumps,
• Lots of pipework

Can't wait but also am ready for the four to five week build and am hopeful of dry weather!

 

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