I have literally had every different plant in there over the years you can purchase from your local koi shop. My Ponds are sleepers and I screw decking timber to top over liner. This decking sticks out into pond about 5-10 mm. What I do Is simply screw the plants pots to the side of this decking so top of plant pot is in line with top of pond. The pot hangs down. The koi can't get to soil to dig out. The roots grow through and the tend not to eat them. Plants do very well like this. With plants like lilies and water Hawthorn which I have in pots on bottom it is harder. They fo like rooting around and dig them out. I put bigger pebbles in top of pots. This tends to stop that but makes it more difficult for plants to grow through pebbles they do though. My koi are max 45 cm. Bigger Fish may cause more trouble. I have a layer of gravel in bottom of pond. Canadian pond weed roots into that and koi don't seem to dig it up.

@ 🙏🏾 Thanks a lot for the reply. Screwing the plants in is a great idea I haven’t seen anyone else do. Keep up the good work, and the videos, they are really helpful 👍🏾

Glad I could help mate.

It was a pump with s filter sponge inside. It stops larger particles but not smaller. Had to be squeezed out once a week as flow rate went down. If you build s bog filter just make sure you install a bottom flush valve that you can open once a week. Helps a lot eith build up off sediment.

@ great thanks mate.

Thanks 👍

Glad it was helpful!

Glad you enjoyed it.

Thankyou

Try to clean it with pond water if your not. Water direct from tap will kill beneficial bacteria that colonise all the surfaces. But not bad idea having it around pump.

@@alexisthisreal5488 I have well water and it is fine for use straight in the pond.

@@jonisolis9645 that's great 👍

I'm glad you liked it. It's nice being able to create and experiment in this way.

@@alexisthisreal5488 Totally agree. Love pottering around the garden trying to create new environments for wildlife. I'll be following any new ideas you might have :)

Thanks mate. Yes water Hawthorn.

Cheers mate

Thanks mate

Yes that would definitely save on heating bill. Think I may do something like this from months Dec to end of Feb.

I think I'm going to increase size of outflow to handle 900 litres an hour. I want a little more movement in water to make sure waste doesn't sit on bottom. It's all a bit of an experiment. What I like about ponds really. Being able to tinker about and play with things over time to help improve environment for fish.

Thankyou. Glad you liked it.

Yes 50 °f . They can be quite delicate and do not like temps below that. Even then they have to be climatized slowly. Stock spring when temps up so ad winter rolls in they get used to decrease in temp. Don't put a fish in in say Sept Oct when nights are cold and fish may have been kept in 23 °c .

I'm not sure what weather is like where you are. I'm from UK near London so winter can be cold.

What are winters like there?

The plant is called water Hawthorn. I really like them to. As for the sand it is a first for me to. I always used pea gravel or pebbles. The fish stand out much better with sand. As for cleaning its been about 4 weeks I think maybe more since I finished it. I haven't cleaned it yet. I did notice when I put fish in I could see poo on bottom but it seems to gradually move toward pumps ad fish move around and stir things up. Doesn't seem to be a build up anywhere. May change I'll have to keep an eye on it.

@alexisthisreal5488 thanks for that, does the water hawthorn die back during this time of year or do the leaves remain through winter? I hope the sand works out well, does look nicer. Wondering what a mix of sand and some gravel/pebbles might look like...?

@@alexisthisreal5488 If the sand is a thin layer it should work great.

Thanks

Main container is around 280 litres. I'm sure you can pick them up in a lot of pond supply shops. Filter container is around 100 litres.

Thankyou

Thanks for watching

Thanks mate. I like the sand bottom too.

Cheers mate

Cheers mate

My fish don't seem to eat them on either pond. They dig around in pots. I try to put some bigger stones in pots but not restricted lilies growing.

@@alexisthisreal5488 amazing thanks for the reply. The ones you screw into the side. Do the pots not split and fall into the pond? Are they not too heavy with the stones in?

Minus 6 at times. Heated though.

I do have a little bit of mechanical filtration in pump. This was a bit of experiment to be honest to see how much the filter could handle. I'm gonna build a larger one in next few weeks with bottom drain out of rubbish bin. Thanks for advice.

Water lilly, water Hawthorn, orange peel plant, water forget me not, canadian pondweed.

@@alexisthisreal5488 What are the plants above the waterline? thanks.

Nice. What size pond you doing it for?

@@alexisthisreal5488 1000L and 230L

Sorry I can't recall which one. It was on cheaper end. 4x4 and I think I paid about £60 pound for it. Could have been pvc liner. Butyl liners are better and I found easier to work with. Depends on your budget though mate.

@alexisthisreal5488 thanks for getting back to me. Watched a lot of your videos last night. All were really good and easy to understand for someone like myself who is new to it so thank you and keep them coming

Gonna be putting goldfish in there. Got another 2 ponds not had issues with birds touch wood. Got 2 cats that are always in garden. They leave the fish alone. But are quite fond of birds 😊

@@alexisthisreal5488 Water snakes visit and eat some of my goldfish.

👍

👍

@@ChrisWall-hy2bx Incised Treated UC4 Sleeper Green 100 x 200mm x 2.4m Travis Perkins

@@alexisthisreal5488 thanks

Yes I'm going to build a larger one with flush valve at bottom in next few weeks.

@@alexisthisreal5488 please make an update video when it's ready!

I will mate

@@alexisthisreal5488 👍🏼🙌🏼

@@antonymorris4180 my voice mate 🤣

Thanks for watching.

No separation. Larger rocks at bottom. Then small as you go up. I have a longer video showing me do it.

Hope it goes well. See your a fisherman. Same here.

Hope it goes smoothly mate.

Thanks mate.

I flush it once a week. By opening valve. I have filters like this I have not got gravel out of and cleaned for years. Just flush it. The plants in top flourish. I test water coming directly out of filter. Clean. Obviously you size it to pond. If numbers of large koi it is not sufficient by itself even in larger size. But can work well as an addition to existing system. I was skeptical at first but after watching numerous videos tried using one to run along with existing filters. I have one that has been running on pond with 8 koi. Plants in it had crazy growth. Still filtering.

Yes I have a 2 year old. Much safer.

Thanks