Building a koi pond (with Rocks and Gravel) - UK

[@georgecromar4094]

Well done Mark

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you 🙏

[@petersvan7880]

Lovely little pond, and nice music (without screaming guitars). Thank you for showing!

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you for watching

[@chrisbeer6043]

Love it, looks amazing! I’ve just marked out a 16ft x 12ft area for my pond... if money wasn’t an option I’d have you here already! That’s exactly what I want!!

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Sounds like your going to be having fun, reach out if you need any support with finding product

[@chrisbeer6043]

@@ThePondAdvisor I’m starting the dig out tomorrow as I’m doing it in stages, would you advise getting the waterfall and skimmer box first so that can be positioned and marked out as I dig? Tia

[@sweetkoiyo]

Very well done. What a huge difference it makes in that space.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you

[@seanengland5451]

I was on the edge of my seat when you dropped that bottle lid!

[@harrygoodson9238]

oh right the lucozade, i was pretty shocked too

[@seanengland5451]

@@harrygoodson9238 Oh right the original lucozade, I was gobsmacked

[@seanengland5451]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJrHmaWqesZnocU

[@ThePondAdvisor]

@@seanengland5451 I blame the 🥊 gloves lol 😆 every professional (pond excavator) driver should pass the bottle test, perks of the job. Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed the light hearted moment ✊🏻

[@lukeworrall8518]

Brilliant video, a perfect koi pond.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you 🙏

[@KoiRun50]

Turned out fantastic. Great job.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@BFKILLER]

That's some work there forr the pond. Great video thank you. 👍

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you 🙏, yes lots of rock 🪨 and concrete, soft now with the plants.

[@Lake_District_Reptiles]

Great looking pond and a feature I’m hoping to have in my garden after house renovations are done. How much is something like this please if you don’t mind me asking?

[@ThePondAdvisor]

These pond around this size and same amount of waterfalls are around 25k

[@traceridpath6614]

Great video as always. Turned out fantastic.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you 🙏

[@jjc5840]

Amazing pond

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you, was a pleasure start to finish. Can’t wait to go back and see the pond wake up this spring.

[@jjc5840]

Ye we have recently bought a house and they where going to leave a koi pond to die so we decided to look after them and we are going to be building them a new upgrade

[@ThePondAdvisor]

@@jjc5840 sounds like a fun project, are the fish currently safe?

[@samyaparai9907]

Love this pond. 👍

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you

[@ftayor66]

I sure could use some advice on our pond... I made so may mistakes on my first hand dug pond. Now I want to redeem myself and not make the same mistakes with leveling on this new pond project. How do I correctly level a pond on a slight sloped yard and how wide should my shelves be? Thanks in advance...

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Digging into slopes, dig out the area level first like this one then build a retaining wall using stones different sizes. The shelves can be any size it depends on what you creating.

[@ftayor66]

@@ThePondAdvisor Thank you so much!! I'm going to give this one my best shot. I'm nervous but I'm going to try my best. Again thank you for getting back with me.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

@@ftayor66 my pleasure

[@krisguenther4897]

What a beautiful garden you got to work in . I am always amazed how nice the dirt in England looks. Great job.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

This feature was built for a long standing customer, they have a beautiful well kept garden (great respected part time gardener).

[@janinew233]

It looks amazing 👏

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you, I loved building this feature nice and balanced

[@chrisartis4284]

Looking sweet as Mark nicely done 👌👍

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you, it means the world

[@condeerogers5858]

Glad to see you back. Now I will sit back and watch. Had to comment first. Ozarks, USA

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Ha Ha, enjoy is amazing how far and quick these videos reach. Can’t wait to start traveling again!

[@mikef6474]

Great when it was finished , was wondering beforehand where the fish were going to swim

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Yes we dug out the main swimming area after we had set some of the waterfall rocks. Due to access we have to do this sometimes.

[@sissymizzell4884]

Is rip rap good for koi ponds? I can't seem to find a clear answer 😕

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Depends - kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHeUY3ugetOggZo

[@charlottewilson4560]

Stunning! I had no idea how it was going to come together it was worth the wait! Very clever well done

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you, glad you liked it

[@mandyc2121]

Hi Mark, I love your videos and today I will start my first small wildlife pond. Can I ask what sealant you are using to glue to rock/boulders in place. I see you using something in your other videos and would love a recommendation. Any comments really appreciated.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

waterfeature.shop/search?q=Foam

[@ThePondAdvisor]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH3Zc6GMjsxoatU

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Hope that helps

[@TurnerJrrrr]

I was wondering with a brand new pond do you basically treat it the same as a new fish tank, eg cycle it, add bacteria, all that good stuff?

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Yes 100%, when it’s new it must be cycled, you can add water treatments to help, plus hold any mature water to recycle, so if your rebuilding keep the fish pond water, then you don’t need to cycle like a new pond. Most of the time a brand new pond will cycle in 4 weeks. Pond Starter Bacteria and Multi Aqua help speed up this time.

[@TurnerJrrrr]

@@ThePondAdvisor sweet thank you, i built a pond about 2 weeks sgo and so far ive only added the dechlorinator and plants, its gonna be filtered via the plants so, they seem to be growing great which is a good sign, im gonna get some starter bacteria to help speed it up

[@ThePondAdvisor]

@@TurnerJrrrr waterfeature.shop/products/pond-starter-bacteria

[@archiemckimm5844]

What type of stone are you using? (The larger pieces for rocking the pond, the bits on the verticals of the steps?

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Aqua blue granite

[@ThePondAdvisor]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHeUY3ugetOggZo

[@kevinwhitmore4401]

G’day Mark, what type of pond vac are you using? And would you recommend it? Pond looks fantastic!👍

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Pondo Vac 5

[@kevinwhitmore4401]

@@ThePondAdvisor thanks Mark. I’m assuming you are happy with it?

[@ThePondAdvisor]

It’s the only vac we use, I have made videos when I talk about it, let me see if I can find the link

[@ThePondAdvisor]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnXVhKeDhLZ6q8k

[@kevinwhitmore4401]

@@ThePondAdvisor thanks mate 👍 I must of missed it. I was sure I watched all your vids.

[@JonBowers]

Great result as usual. I was wondering why you used a skimmer rather than an intake basin and vault, as you usually seem to use the latter on most of your builds? A skimmer would appear to take up less space but I don't think that was an issue for this one! Skimmers would also appear to be cheaper but again I got a feeling the budget here could have accommodated the difference.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Skimmers are much easier to keep clean, as they are designed for mechanical filtration, intake bays on small ponds like this are for wildlife ponds, harder to clean the intake than emptying a simple basket.

[@minecrafthatmanx3x]

Hi Mark, I have only just subscribed to you yesterday and I seem to be stuck to your channel! Ive very recently started my own company doing pond building and pond maintenance down in Dorset. Your work is fantastic but I’d love to know where you buy your materials like your underlay/liner, filtration systems and even things like the waterfall aquatic rock foam. Currently trying to fine tune the way of runny the company. Keep up the good work!

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Let’s set up a time to talk, reach out [e-mail]

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Come up and visit us!!!

[@craighopkins2668]

Hi Mark, your videos always teach me alot and give me plenty of ideas. I was wandering though, can you create a waterfall using concrete as opposed to liner/underlay etc?

[@ThePondAdvisor]

We don’t build with concrete, two types of concrete, concrete that has cracked or concrete that will crack. We build every waterfall with a water proof bag. Yes you can add concrete on to off the rubber liner. Everything goes into the water proof bag!

[@craighopkins2668]

@@ThePondAdvisor oh I don't mean you guys specifically but like can it be done well enough that it would last a couple of years?

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Great question, (yes) you can create a waterproof barrier like wet steps, or fibreglass the cement, (no) most will not last unless you over engineer the installation, what you also have to think about it’s what will you do with the failed feature. If your looking for a natural feature use a liner, so much easier and cheaper, plus quicker and you can be more creative

[@IGNlTlON]

NICE~ whats the largest pond you guys have built without a machine!

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Without a machine, 6m by 6m by 1m very sandy conditions, the machines do the hard work, building ponds day in day out can damage your body, you only get one, a machine is a great employee. Sometimes we prefer to hand dig as a machine might dig out to much, depends on the conditions.

[@EyezLikaFox̌]

How long did this take from start to finish? How many gallons is it? Ty :)

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Couple of weeks, 10000 litres (so 2245 UK gals or 2674 US gals)

[@EyezLikaFox̌]

@@ThePondAdvisor wow that was quick

[@orianafisher3960]

Gorgeous!! Just one question Mark, I see you put the underlay, than the pond liner, what is the name of the fabric you put over the liner before adding your Boulder Rocks? I'm assuming it is to protect the liner from sharp rock edges. Thanks 😊

[@liammcgirr1778]

It’s underlay but placed over the liner which is called an overlay to like you say protect it from sharp edges etc ☺️

[@orianafisher3960]

@@liammcgirr1778 thanks for your clarification 👍

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Yes you can think of it as an underlay (an under liner protection) and an overlay (an over liner protection), the top overlay needs to be aquatic safe.sometime we use white 200 - 250 gram protection, and sometime we use the white and black. If black is available I personally prefer the black overlay.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

waterfeature.shop/products/professional-grade-non-woven-underlay

[@orianafisher3960]

@@ThePondAdvisor thank you so much for the link Mark!!😃

[@KellersGrillzebo]

Awesome!!!

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thank you 🙏

[@reece2479]

How big if the pond? Hard to tell from a video.

[@ThePondAdvisor]

5m by 3m by 90cm deep with multiple waterfalls. We replaced a leaking 4.5m by 4.5m water feature to give some idea of the scale.

[@stewartmathers465]

This must be a £30k pond easily

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Not far off.

[@stewartmathers465]

@@ThePondAdvisor worth every penny

[@ThePondAdvisor]

@@stewartmathers465 it’s a beautiful feature that’s for sure

[@col4627]

Had to turn it off... that music ☹

[@ThePondAdvisor]

Thanks for the feedback