If you are interested in building a KOI pond then you need to start with a
pond of some size. Koi grow large (30 inches or larger) and as such, they
really need a pond with some depth, minimum 3 feet and deeper is better.
Some koi ponds are 12 feet deep. Depth gives you more water volume for the
same square footage of surface and the same square footage of liner. In
tropical fish, they recommend 1 inch of fish needs 1 gallon of water, for
koi, each fish needs to have at least 200 gallons of water and 500 gallons
per fish will allow them to grow to their potential, so start with lots of
water. Since koi tend to be rather dirty fish, having volume of water for
dilution of the waste is beneficial also.

Filtration of a koi pond should include bottom drains, and the 4 inch drains
are best to sweep the poop, leaves and other bottom debris from the bottom
of the pond. The bottom drains should grabity feed to some form of
settlement basin that is easy to clean. Vortex filters collect the waste in
the bottom and with a turn of a valve, it is removed from the pond to waste.
The pond should also have a skimmer to collect as much of the waste as
possible before it sinks. Skimmers and settlement tanks are then pumped to
a filter. Besides the solids, the fish produce ammonia and the rotting of
organics creates ammonia and the filter must be large enogh to consume the
ammonia, converting it to nitrites, that are then converted to nitrates,
which is the first number on the fertilizer gbag, so good water for plants.
Filters come in all diferrent sizes and shapes, with many on this group
having veggie filters that are just boxes with lots of plants to consume the
biological waste products. There are commercial filter systems and most of
them are rated at so many gallons of pond. This rating is generally way
larger than the filter is capable of handling, so as a minimum double the
size of the filter for the pond.

Pumps should be located after the settlement to prevent pulverizing as much
of the waste as possible, since once pulverized, the solids are harder to
filter.

Next, all ponds will turn green, and one of the best ways of getting rid of
the green is the use of a properly sized UV, study the flow rate vs. kill
rate before you buy, if you buy. UV is not an absolute necessity and a
pond, once balanced will start to clear on its own. For pumps, I like the
out of pond pumps, as they are more efficient, pumping larger volumes of
water for the same watts of electricity. Since pumps need to be feeding the
filter 24/7 you want as much efficiency as possible to limit electrical
ezpenses. Cheap pumps take more total cost per year than good pumps. The
amount of flow of the pump should be sufficient to turn over the pond volume
at least every 2 hours and once per hour is even better.

Welcome to the group.

--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
Zone 7A/B Virginia
"splatt" wrote in message
...

i am very very new to koi ponds
i am looking to build a pond this summer, i am tying to get my head
round wot is needed etc and cost. at the moment i am stuck on how the
pumps plus filters wouldd be setup. have been trawling the webb for a
diagram to work out whether the oump goes before the filter or vose
versa. and how they would need to be positioned etc.? any one able to
explain in simple terms or have simple diagram would be much
apprecaited? many thanks and thank you for taking the time to read
this.




--
splatt