'Summer' 2023 Pond Build

I had a crazy (borderline idiotic) idea that the garden would look nice with a pond in it.
After getting the green light to start, work began on August 24th.
Due to more weather delays than I care to remember (and a trip to A&E!) it has finally been completed just over 9 weeks later on October 28th.
The items used (that I can remember):-
Swell UK deluxe pond kit - www.swelluk.co...
Swell UK surface skimmer - www.swelluk.co... (skimmer was added after the video was uploaded)
Railway sleepers were from a local builders/reclamation yard.
Gravel was repurposed from in and around the dig site.
All the pebbles around the edge were actually all found in/dug up from the pond hole!
Plants, tubs and pond plants from the local garden centre.
The koi were bought online from carpco.co.uk
A lot of manual labour..............by me!!!

[@Kugadream55]

just subscribed

[@ak47miah]

Nice one, what is the the length, width and depth Thanks

[@danspuggti]

@@ak47miah 5m long x 2m wide x averages 1m deep but there is a deeper part. It’s approximately 10,000 litres

[@ak47miah]

Excellent thank you

[@KoiPondLifestyle]

Great vid of the build. Looking forward to seeing those fish grow over time...😉👍

[@danspuggti]

Thanks Andy. Obviously the Chagoi potentially could be huge, but for me it’s the bright orange koi with black markings I want to see develop. It’s a ‘Beni Kumonryu’ which apparently have a habit of changing colour through their life!

[@GreymsView-ix8yi]

A great build Dan mate - Loved the video - I subscribed. One comment mentioned a bigger filter I make my own and they work great you could incorporate it into a waterfall.

[@danspuggti]

Cheers mate and thank you (I subscribed to you back)🙏🏻 Yes I did toy with the idea of incorporating a waterfall into the build but the weather we have had in the UK since summer has been awful so it was a case of getting it done before winter set in (not that it has…..yet!). I have been looking at bog filters etc but not decided on anything yet. All things that’ll keep my mind occupied over the winter months. Fish have been in 12 weeks now and fingers crossed the water parameters seem pretty steady at the moment. Temperature 5.5°c pH 7 Nitrates 5 ppm Phosphate 0.5 ppm Nitrites 0 ppm Ammonia 0.25 ppm I test every 4 days (these are today’s figures). The ammonia fluctuates between 0 ppm and 0.25 ppm depending on how much they’ve been fed, but I’m also very aware that the filter is still very young and maturing.

[@GreymsView-ix8yi]

Thank you Dan. I am orinsly from Nottingham but I emigrated to Newfoundland in Canada in 1990. Keeping Koi here is quite the challenge but I have found big filters are easy to build and they are way better than purchased filters and are easier to clean. Good luck with your pond.

[@danspuggti]

@@GreymsView-ix8yi I’m West of Birmingham so still in the ‘Midlands’ area. It’s the first pond I’ve had so it’s all a steep learning curve but having tank aquariums for years means that I already understand the Nitrogen Cycle etc. Everything is just bigger!

[@justinburger9221]

Sooooo you do know that the railroad ties have arsenic and other chemicals right? If it hasn’t happened already, you’re gonna lose all your fish when it rains!

[@danspuggti]

Thank you for your concerns, but considering that in the UK it’s pretty much rained 90% of the time since October I honestly think if there was going to be any issues regarding the sleepers they would have arose before now (and the water quality and the fish are absolutely fine) 👍🏻

[@kevinbentley8351]

His fish didn't look happy topping like that. The one by itself didn't look happy either

[@Koi-addict33]

Do an update mate how did ya little filter box go ?

[@danspuggti]

It’s worked fine, but then I expected it to as the pond isn’t overstocked like some that you see. I did have a slight ammonia spike when the blanket weed all died off as it overloaded the bio loading but it was only minor and then all back to normal with no ill effects 👍🏻 I’d planned to build a bog filter to help keep the nitrate and phosphate levels down (they weren’t high anyway but the blanket weed still exploded once we had some sun) but I had a fall whilst trekking and tore the MCL in my right knee so I’ve been restricted as to what I can do until it’s healed.

[@sanfordlopez]

Awesome, you might need more filtration for a pond of that size

[@danspuggti]

Thanks 🙏🏻 I’m well within the ‘koi’ filter rating (the specification said up to 11,500 litres for koi, which I take as an upper limit, and the pond is approx 9300 litres) but it’s not going to be an overstocked pond anyway. I will probably only have maybe 3-4 more fish and that will be it (I personally think the overstocked ponds are cruel). I’ll let it run for a full year and see what happens.

[@mikeeljahosafats3231]

Excellent!!

[@danspuggti]

Thank you Mikeel. It was certainly hard work made worse by the weather. I’ve got plans to install a bog filter and waterfall this spring so I will probably do a video for that too