Express Yourself with a Novel Koi Pond Design
Koi pond design requires aesthetic, construction, and water treatment designs that work together to give the desired result. The pond size needs to meet the owner’s requirements for the number of koi to be kept in the pond, as well as the overall budget available for the pond.
Aesthetic considerations for koi pond design should take your home and surroundings into account. There are many different types of construction that you can consider for example Japanese style ponds. Other Koi Ponds are made of poured concrete, sprayed gunite, natural boulders, man-made boulders, natural clay, or liners. There are also a variety of pre-formed ponds available made from plastic or fiberglass
Your water treatment system is also very important in koi pond design. You can choose from a water pump that is submergible or external, mechanical filters, settling tanks, sand filters, glass bead filters, fiber mats, or bio-tube filters.
The lighting system is also important in koi pond design and you can choose from submergible lighting or external lighting depending on the effect you want to create. You may also need to invest in a good heating system if you live in areas where the water freezes.
Koi pond design is about more than just the technical components that keep your fish healthy. If keeping koi is something you enjoy why not go one step further? You can really express your creativity around your ornamental fish pond. A creative pond design is a perfect way to create a beautiful ‘fish escape’ and add a little something special to your home.
There are many ways to make your koi pond different and exciting. Probably the most common addition to a koi pond design is a waterfall or fountain. This will give your pond a tropical and exotic feel as well as provide additional oxygen for your fish.
One innovative idea is to add bridges over narrower parts of the pond so that they can watch their Koi close up. These are just a few examples of you might accent your koi pond design.
Embellishing your koi pond is also a great way to incorporate your other hobbies with keeping koi. For example, you can try adding sculptures to the area surrounding the pond or plant flowers nearby to help bring out the color of the fish. Coming up with the perfect koi pond design is a limitless opportunity that can take months or even years to complete.
Instead of having a simple pond why not create your own masterpiece to enjoy and add to over time? Experimenting with your koi pond design is fun and makes a great addition to an already great hobby.
Koi Filters and Water Quality
Koi filters provide the very clean water that your koi fish needs to stay grow and healthy as big as possible. All fish, including koi, need good quality water in a clean pond to avoid disease and poor health. So how do you keep your pond water clean? Clean water starts with a good quality water filtration system.
Novice koi keepers may have heard that swimming pool pumps and filters will work just fine on a koi pond. While these filters may work well to keep your pond clean they are extremely expensive to run for the 24 hours a day that your koi pond will require. Pump filtration might not even be the best option for you. So what type of koi filters should you use in your pond?
Koi filters should vary in operation and design according to the unique characteristics of your pond. For example, for smaller ponds with few fish a small pump-style filter may work and be efficient. However, as your pond gets larger and the fish grow in number, pump filters won’t be able to keep up.
The main concern for the health of your pond is removing biological waste before it decomposes and releases ammonia. Excessive ammonia can cause a whole host of illnesses in your koi. Keeping ammonia levels in check is the hardest to achieve with pump-style koi filters. This is because these filters are designed to suck in water from a small area in your pond.
Due to this, the filters aren’t able to handle much of the waste at the bottom of your pond. As the pond gets larger, this task might become virtually impossible. So what are the alternative solutions for koi filters?
Recommended koi filter for bigger ponds with large numbers of fish is the gravity-fed filter which takes in dirty water by pumping out clean water. This allows for a natural gravitational cycle in the pond water and picks up most solid wastes that have settled to the bottom.
Although gravity-fed koi filters are more expensive and a little more complicated to install, once you see the difference in the water quality of your pond, it’ll all seem worthwhile. There are a variety of filters on the market each one aimed at a different fish-keeping situation. Obviously, no two Koi Ponds are alike so it is difficult for me to tell you which one is ideal for you.
My advice is to read as much as you can about the different filtration systems available so that you can decide which koi filters are most suited to the size of your pond, the number of fish you have (or plan to add at a later stage), and other mitigating factors. Never ever use a filtration system based on price. This could spell disaster for your fish if it cannot cope with the demands of your pond. It is better to invest more time and money in choosing the right solution for your pond than having to treat your fish for illnesses or even worse bury your fish in the garden and start all over from scratch.
See more: What Are Butterfly Koi?