"Donald" wrote in message
...
Hello all,
I have been following this group, doing research and talking to all
the
pond owners in my area. To my surprise building a pond is more than
digging
a hole, lining it and filling it with water. I have been wanting a pond
for
a long time (since the creek dried up when I was a kid). I will lay out my
plans for you and I am asking for comments and suggestions. Especially if
I
am WAY OFF TRACK on something.
snip


Donald,

I was in October of 2002 where you are now. I have gleaned a few important
tid bits off this group over the past months. Some of these may help:

1. No matter how much planning you do, you will end up with a problem you
did not think of. Don't worry when this happens. Almost all problems are
easily corrected.

2. No matter how much experience anyone here has or does not have, we can't
have all the answers, nor can we consider all of your variables. Invariably,
we will recommend something that causes you more headaches then you would
rather have, because there was some detail of your particular environment
that we could not see. That is part of the learning curve. See Rule #1.

3. Opinions are like toe nails on rec.ponds. We all have them, and they are
typically covered in our own pond muck. What works for some, doesn't work
for others. You can learn a lot here, and be forewarned of these common
terms, salt, koi, water change, top off, BZT, mulm, filter, skimmer, veggie,
bio, mechanical, lily, goldfish, tadpole, etc. You will learn to "see" these
words much like Neo could "see" the matrix.

4. Understand now, how water works. It seeks it's own level. Your pump will
be able to pump water uphill, but only so far. Your pump will not work well,
PULLING water uphill. Keep this in mind as you define your ponds, waterfalls
and filters. I didn't do this, and had headaches including a VF that had no
water in it. After much stress about #2, and too much talk about #3, I saw
rule #1, and solved my problem in a few hours.

5. You WILL have algae. It's OK. It's normal. Accept it.

6. You WILL kill some fish. Buy cheap ones at first. It hurts less.

7. Your water WILL kill some fish if not tested and appropriately treated
before addition to the pond.

8. Your Koi will need x number gallons of water to live properly. To
determine x take the number of fish in your pond, divided by the number of
gallons in your pond, cosined with the flow rate of your pump, squared by
the size of your filter area, carry the 2, multiply this by 12, and divide
that number in half. This is the magical number of fish you have in your
pond safely. Even then, see #6.

9. This is your FIRST pond, not your LAST pond.

10. Never use the term jimmy-rig when describing your pond system. It is
implied.

How these few basics help.

BV.