Building a koi pond can be a very rewarding experience.
Nothing is more rewarding than relaxing by your koi pond.
It's a place where your tensions can melt away as you listen to your waterfall in the background and watch your koi sparkle like jewels in the water.
It's your own little slice of heaven.
A safe and quiet haven away from this crazy hectic world.
A properly built koi pond can last a lifetime.
It's also almost impossible to move, so careful site consideration is important.
If you do things right the first time you will have a low maintenance easy to care for koi pond that both you and your fish will enjoy.
Some of you may have more options than others depending on the space you have.
The absolute first thing to consider when building a koi pond is the location of all your utility lines.
Do they run through where you want to dig? Is there a septic tank or drain field in that spot? You definitely don't want those kinds of surprises.
Utility lines can be moved if that's your only option but it will be an expensive hassle.
You could consider an above ground pond as an option but I would think long and hard about this because of the problems if you do ever have to access them.
Hopefully you have found a site without these problems.
The next thing you need to consider is the water table and drainage at your site.
For most this may not be a problem but in some areas, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, the water can be almost at the surface during rainy season.
If this is the case you will want an above ground pond.
Otherwise the rising water table will push against your liner and cause problems.
Also consider the topography.
You don't want to be on sloping ground and have run off entering your koi pond.
Not only will it get dirty but many lawn care products are toxic to koi.
By building a partly raised pond you can avoid this.
Another option would be to build a raised earthen mound on the up hill side to deflect the water.
Consider the vegetation in the area.
Tree roots can make for difficult digging.
Deciduous trees nearby can dump tons of leaves into your pond.
A good skimmer will get most of this but you may have to empty it often when leaves are falling.
Ideally evergreen trees and shrubs should be taken advantage of when possible.
Your fish will need some shade in the summer.
Plants like lilies will need 5 to 6 hours of sunlight to grow well.
Also the more direct sunlight you have the more algae will grow.
Morning sun would be the best choice.
One thing that's important to realize when building a koi pond is that koi and goldfish are completely different.
Koi are much larger and have different requirements.
Your typical garden pond will be totally inadequate for keeping koi.
I have additional information about this on my web site.
Hopefully this article has inspired you to start to build a koi pond.
Nothing is more rewarding than relaxing by your koi pond.
It's a place where your tensions can melt away as you listen to your waterfall in the background and watch your koi sparkle like jewels in the water.
It's your own little slice of heaven.
A safe and quiet haven away from this crazy hectic world.
A properly built koi pond can last a lifetime.
It's also almost impossible to move, so careful site consideration is important.
If you do things right the first time you will have a low maintenance easy to care for koi pond that both you and your fish will enjoy.
Some of you may have more options than others depending on the space you have.
The absolute first thing to consider when building a koi pond is the location of all your utility lines.
Do they run through where you want to dig? Is there a septic tank or drain field in that spot? You definitely don't want those kinds of surprises.
Utility lines can be moved if that's your only option but it will be an expensive hassle.
You could consider an above ground pond as an option but I would think long and hard about this because of the problems if you do ever have to access them.
Hopefully you have found a site without these problems.
The next thing you need to consider is the water table and drainage at your site.
For most this may not be a problem but in some areas, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, the water can be almost at the surface during rainy season.
If this is the case you will want an above ground pond.
Otherwise the rising water table will push against your liner and cause problems.
Also consider the topography.
You don't want to be on sloping ground and have run off entering your koi pond.
Not only will it get dirty but many lawn care products are toxic to koi.
By building a partly raised pond you can avoid this.
Another option would be to build a raised earthen mound on the up hill side to deflect the water.
Consider the vegetation in the area.
Tree roots can make for difficult digging.
Deciduous trees nearby can dump tons of leaves into your pond.
A good skimmer will get most of this but you may have to empty it often when leaves are falling.
Ideally evergreen trees and shrubs should be taken advantage of when possible.
Your fish will need some shade in the summer.
Plants like lilies will need 5 to 6 hours of sunlight to grow well.
Also the more direct sunlight you have the more algae will grow.
Morning sun would be the best choice.
One thing that's important to realize when building a koi pond is that koi and goldfish are completely different.
Koi are much larger and have different requirements.
Your typical garden pond will be totally inadequate for keeping koi.
I have additional information about this on my web site.
Hopefully this article has inspired you to start to build a koi pond.