The Koi Pond Project
Pond Mark One Summer 1988 "Not a Koi Pond" Click Here
Big for a goldfish pond, but I didn't want koi, so too shallow and no real filtration.
When we moved in, back in 1987, I intended to build a decent sized pond.
I wasn't into the hassle or expense of Koi carp, so I didn't build a pond to cater for them.
Siting the pond was a challenge, as our garden slopes in all directions. An informal pond would have been my first choice, but there was nowhere I could site it where it would look natural (my background is as a geologist and in my opinion nothing looks worse than a totally unnatural looking "natural pond").
I chose to put the pond in a steeply sloping location in order to disguise the slope. The pictures tend to hide this fact (so it obviously worked!). It was NOT going to have Koi, so although it would be a reasonable size (18 ft. X 10 ft.), it would only be 30" deep and flat bottomed, sealed with a butyl liner. Below is the finished article (Yes, I know that fountain looks awful, it was Mk. 001). Featured are my wife's brother and children - quite a few years ago.
Click on picture to enlarge.
All went well for five years, until 1993. Then two problems arose. My wife bought me a small Koi carp- which of course grew very quickly. More serious was a structural problem during a very dry Summer (remember those). The large maple tree next door managed to suck any remaining moisture from the soil beneath the pond wall's foundations and the pond foundations cracked (next door's garden is 6 feet away from the edge and more importantly, 7 feet below the water level in the pond!).
What to do? Abandon the pond? Rebuild better, deeper, stronger?