Creating a koi pond is the first step in the hobby for many hobbyists. Other hobbyists may already have a pond but want to make it more suitable for keeping Koi.
If you keep Koi in a "standard" pond, you will soon find out that this pond is not ideal for the Koi.
What makes a Koi pond different?
Where a standard pond is suitable for keeping smaller fish in combination with aquatic plants. There is more to watching when keeping Koi.
Keeping a few young koi in a somewhat small pond will still work. But as this koi grows, the water quality will deteriorate rapidly, as the filter gets heavier.
In addition, in a situation without Koi fish, the aquatic plants help maintain water quality. But an adult Koi is simply hungry and will see the aquatic plants as a tasty snack, which will further reduce the water quality.
Where at the average pond there is a biological balance due to the amount of fish, plants and the supply of feed. It is extremely difficult to achieve this in a Koi pond.
Laying a koi pond requires a special approach, in which you have to think and plan well in advance.
Planning the construction of a koi pond
The first difference between a "normal" and a koi pond is that a koi pond should be deeper. The first reason for this is to prevent large fluctuations in the water temperature (koi do not respond well to this). The second reason is because koi fish need a lot of space and you can keep more koi by creating a deeper pond.
Koi ponds are often made deep to keep more Koi. But the rule is that a koi pond must be at least 1.5 m deep (with shallower ponds the water heats up faster).
Because a pond of 1.5 m above the ground is not beautiful, it is almost always necessary to dig when constructing a koi pond.
Do take the groundwater level into account:
The second major difference with other ponds is that on the one hand Koi produce a considerable amount of waste and on the other depend on good water quality.
This means that a Koi pond will need a larger filter capacity. And this will also have to be bigger the bigger the pond / the more Koi swim around.
The first step to create sufficient filter capacity is to use a pump with sufficient capacity. The capacity therefore depends on the content of the pond.
You usually buy the pond pump at the same time as a filtration system. So that the pump pumps enough water to the filter and has sufficient capacity to handle the amount of water from the pump.
A comprehensive explanation of the required capacity of the pond pump and everything about the different filters that you can use for the koi pond can be found in this website.
Inspiration and more tips
While building a Koi pond, nothing is as useful as the examples and experiences of other Koi hobbyists. The best is now we have many blogs or websites like Pinterest, where you don’t only find more than 100 examples of Koi Pond's, but also the story behind these ponds told by experienced Koi hobbyists!
This way you not only gain inspiration, but you can also get lots of practical tips!
Misty Jhones