My backyard overhaul journal

[Dez]

Andestang, I just use a straight float valve from my tap through an irrigation line underground into the skimmer box for ATO.

As for start up, it's straight old tap water. I put declorinator in and that's about it.

[doch]

HOLY CRAP Dez!!!

Looks amazing... nice work!

[kien]

Originally Posted by lastlight

i could fit exactly zero koi in that. nice try though.

My son has a container pond sitting on the deck with a couple of baby koi living in it just fine :P

Originally Posted by andestang

Wow very nice Dez. Missed all this during my LOA. A few ?'s for you. When you clean out the pond in the spring how do you refill the water, just the old tap & water or brought in ? I'm on a well so I would have to consider bringing the water in. I'm just getting ready to lay the main pond liner and haven't decided on a bottom drain or not yet. What are you using or doing for water ATO ? And finally with the addition of the back pond how bad has your power bill gone up & what size pumps are you using ? If Kien reads this maybe some input from him, I was going to ask on his thread.

I have no idea what my additional power bill is. I don't think it's huge because all I have running at the moment is a pump which sucks water and gunk off the bottom of the pond and pushes it into a giant canister filter with a UV sterilizer built in. I'm more concerned about the extra cost in feeding them! High quality koi food is expensive and koi eat like there's no tomorrow

As for a bottom drain, of all the people that I know of that have ponds in our climate, no one has a bottom drain. When you read on the dedicate pond/koi forums they all highly suggest bottom drains and I too thought about installing one. However, in our climate I would personally be worried about a bottom drain freezing, cracking and leaking. If something should go wrong down there or with a bottom drain plumbing you're hosed! (no pun intended). When a bottom drain is suggested for koi ponds it is mainly to suck up koi poop and other debris because koi poop a lot! You can achieve this with a good pump that sucks up from the bottom of your pond. You can also MacGyver your semi-bottom drain. This is what I did. Essentially a giant pipe with a crap load of 2" holes drilled into it to suck up all the gunk off the bottom of the pond.

You can also buy these types of bottom drains that just sit on the bottom of your pond. Or make something similar.



Does your plan have a pond skimmer? I think those are important too and will make your life a lot easier in the long run. There are different types of pond skimmers to choose from.

[monza]

Amazing landscaping, nice job!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Now my wife wants the same. Thanks a lot buddy.

[monkE]

this has been a fascinating thread! thanks for sharing it man. Very well done and amazingly close to the original concept drawing.

congrats on successfully making the entire fish-keeping world jealous with your back yard!

[Dez]

Thanks for the kind words. We were outside until close to midnight last night enjoying a little bonfire with a couple of friends. We were realizing that it beat buying camping gear, driving hours away to set up a tent to sit by a lake and sleep in the cold. Can you tell we aren't camping people? We are "stay in Alberta in the summer people" and "Go to warm places and Disneyland in the winter" people.

[lastlight]

we just went camping and there was a fire ban... so yeah you've got something special there =)

[Dez]

This guy is by far my favourite fish. He's not flashy or bright, but he's got the best personality. He always rushes for food and will let my pet his head. He is a noisy eater. The kids named him clownie cause he's kinda got clown fish colours.

[kien]

Ahhhhhh, look at those puppy dog eyes!