DIY Polytunnel for my Koi pond this winter!

As the temperatures drop, it's time to get my koi pond ready for winter! This year, I’m building a polytunnel to cover not just the main pond, but also the wildlife pond and filtration area. This DIY solution will help keep the water warmer and protect my koi from harsh winter conditions.

[@ThePBWay]

Absolutely brilliant job well done. Pond is awesome

[@busyb1504]

That is an absolutely brilliantly job 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. That’s going to make a huge difference. Well done 👍🏻

[@edenkoipond]

Fantastic job buddy 👍🏼

[@Crazyforkoiandgoldfish]

Nice job mate I think it will do the job 👏👏👏

[@StokeKoiAdventures]

Cracking job and idea, just subbed 😊

[@suemacdonald9623]

Looks very good, good idea, well constructed

[@jamielaffoley]

Well done looks great 👍

[@Koi.Heaven]

Looks good to be fair, neat and tidy 👍

[@ultimatefishkeeping]

The Polytunel does work. I have used it before. You have done a good job, well done, Sir. As for heating the Pond with a heater. Here is helpful information. A 1,500KW Pump running 24 7 will be roughly £44 a year, so a 500W heater will not even come anywhere near £44 a year. Remember, a thermostat will automatically switch on to heat the water to the desired temperature, and it will switch off when the water temperature has reached the desired temperature. Therfor it would not be on 24 7. 🤙🏼🙂🤙🏼❤️

[@ultimatefishkeeping]

Like 71 is now up. 🤙🏼🙂🤙🏼❤️

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@ultimatefishkeeping thanks! My energy prices are around 20p per kWh so a 1kw appliance running all day will be £5 a day. But yes, the lower im setting the thermostat the less it will be on. It’s a bit of a minefield trying to work out the best option for me at the moment 😅

[@ultimatefishkeeping]

@KoiBoyUK My pleasure, Sir. It must depend on where you are in the U.K. I have a friend in Worcester who pays around that much a year. 🤙🏼🙂🤙🏼❤️

[@chrisware8585]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on.... hope it works well after the efforts

[@leeoliver4063]

What a great idea

[@andys5482]

Nice job 👍👍

[@davidhorton6665]

Great update and probably one of the neatest winter covers I’ve seen. A lot of aquarium heaters have a guard cage around them to prevent fish from getting burnt, so should be ok in the main pond. How about using a floating pond heater - the sort designed to clear ice and attaching to an external thermostat? Aquael do several models at different wattages (think mines a 300w).

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@davidhorton6665 good idea I’ll have a look into it!

[@scrag68]

Top Job there mate looking good I hope you get the results your after, can't see why not. Structure must be strong if it didn't give way when you were pinning the top, I did have visions of you dropping through. 👍🙏

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@scrag68 so did I 😅 The fence posts I put in are designed to flex a bit also so it didn’t feel very safe 😂

[@GrahamTaylor123]

Looks very good Dean, top job 👍 not sure about the aquarium heater tho. By the time the heated water has returned to the main pond it may have lost quite a bit of the heat. I guess you need to try it and see if it’s worth it or not.

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@GrahamTaylor123 thanks Graham, yea I think it’s going to be a bit of trial and error!

[@bspecbobracer]

You can put the heater in the main pond without any issues, the water continually circulates and cools the outer case of the heater so it only gets slightly warmer than the water surrounding it

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@bspecbobracer thanks a lot!

[@orrydebeer]

You can put the sheet of polytheen to the bottom side of the wood (than you will have stagnant air in between the sheets), which will also give extra insulation.

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@orrydebeer this is a good idea! I’ll have a look in to it as I’m sure I read somewhere about double sheeting can block out too much sunlight so it won’t heat up well but I may be wrong. Thanks!

[@orrydebeer]

If you ask me, that should be enough. 1 layer lets 90% light trough, 2nd layer shiuld let 90% of light left trough, so 81% of the original.

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@orrydebeer I imagine the extra insulating benefit will vastly outweigh a slight reduction in light

[@orrydebeer]

@@KoiBoyUK I would say so. Give it a try (in the video it looked like you have a lot left), if you think it became to dark, you can always remove it.

[@PeterCousins-n3l]

Please keep a record of your water temp, that will be interesting! nice work.

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@PeterCousins-n3l thanks I plan to do a quick update in my next video! Indoor and out door thermometers showing minimum and maximum, plus a pond thermostat that’s on an app on my phone that shows temperature history :)

[@MrGarykiller31]

looks great and not intruding wat are the thermometors your using cant find them anywhere

[@KoiBoyUK]

amzn.to/3BzDVnv

[@The_Koi_Pit]

Very nice! I would spend all my time hunkered in there on the deck hanging out with the fish 😂 I’m planning on doing something similar soon and this was helpful. Would you be willing to link the kind of thermometers you’re using ?

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@The_Koi_Pit that’s my plan if it’s warm in there 😅 my link would be a UK link but it’s just sold as a digital max min greenhouse thermometer. There’s lots that are pretty much the same. Looking forward to seeing the video if you do one!

[@KoiBoyUK]

heres the uk link amzn.to/3BzDVnv

[@The_Koi_Pit]

@@KoiBoyUK thank you, Dean! I’ll check it out

[@Wally_wals_koi]

Where get polythene from buddy looks great 👍🏻

[@KoiBoyUK]

@@Wally_wals_koi I got it from first tunnels online. It cost around £120 and I have over 20sqm left over for the fence

[@Wally_wals_koi]

@@KoiBoyUK great idea might try myself

[@badnerkoiblog]

Nice work👍