my koipond

[Henk Hugo]

Hey guys,

I moved into my house in March this year and noticed the koipond is leaking +- 6800L a week! so the big rebuild starts. We just wanted to fiber glass the pond but as we stripped the roof lining they used to seal the pond we started seeing some things that really wasnt right... like a base thats only 3cm thick cemet...

Yes they are chopping it up with a pick.... scary isnt it?

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/n535516606_1031583_6224.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/n535516606_1031585_6776.jpg

We have some ground water issues in winter... the pond became a well point for a few weeks... water just bubbling up

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/n535516606_1031592_2824.jpg

my poor poor lawn!

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/n535516606_1031593_3074.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/n535516606_1376307_7807.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/n535516606_1376308_8054.jpg

ignore the wall - it still has to be repaired and painted

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9023.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9026.jpg

[solex69]

Awesome stuff Henk! Can't wait to see it again when there's some Koi in there :)

[Henk Hugo]

There's fish in it :D

[Slummies]

is that like a giant hob filter:cheesy::cheesy:

[Henk Hugo]

naw thats just the water feature and planter.

The system is run by a 0.75kw pump, 3 bag sand filter and two bio filters

[urbionic - Riaan Retief]

Wow, 'going green with envy - :p' all that mess fixing it seems well worth it.
Will have to pop by a have a look someday

[Henk Hugo]

yea i just got some more plants today, 2X purplem 2X blue and 2X purple and white water iris's

[solex69]

I'll come pop around some time again to check it out. You must shout when you are this side of the world again

[Henk Hugo]

Well i just got back from a great mornings flying to find my pink lilly flower.... aint she pretty?

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9780.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9781.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9789.jpg

[Singularity]

Yip, very pretty !

[Jaak]

Very nice Henk!!

[Henk Hugo]

my latest lily....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9912.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9906.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_9908.jpg

[solex69]

Tien punte vir jou Henk :)

[Henk Hugo]

you must come see it now.... i was chest deap in the pond yesterday moving them.... slip sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiding all over the place :D

[solex69]

I'll come around this weekend some time to check it out.

PS - You put on your wetsuite + flippers + snorkel? :D

Cheers
Dale

[Henk Hugo]

naw - swimming trunks and off i went... the koi FREAKED out :D

[Scaly]

shudder...:bigsmile:

[Philfarm]

Yo Henk,

So this little birdie told me you imported Ludwigia Sediodes with that last shipment, you wouldn't happen to have any floating around in your pond by any chance?

[Henk Hugo]

theres some floating around at one of the partners house - i need to get some for my pond...

[Philfarm]

That would look awesome in your pond, but when you do can you save me a piece Iv been wanting to try this plant for ages...

[solex69]

Pity Ludwigia Sediodes can't go into a tank :(

[Henk Hugo]

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2040.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2048.jpg

[butcherman]

looking great Henk

[Henk Hugo]

thanks man - i moved some lillies around so its not all that clear right now

[Gareth]

looks awesome

[Zoom]

I have a silly question...

Koi ponds are usually build into the ground, obviously because we want the depth. And Koi are generally only viewed from above the water. Oviously the movement of the water makes it difficult to focus on the fish etc.

Compare looking at your fish from the top of your tank, to looking at them through the glass.

Henk, your Koi pond appears to be raised a bit out the groud... is there anything prohibiting you from putting in a "viewing" panel in the side? I mean, would it effect the koi in any way? Or just be a nightmare to put in?

[Henk Hugo]

Koi are bred to be viewed from the top. Some guys put viewing glass in their ponds and yes it looks impresive to see a 1m long red and white carp swim past but you dont see the best of the fish then.

The reason my pond is raised is due to the previous owner being a cheapskate f**ker (still fixing his penny pinching 2 years down the line)

i had to rebuild the koi pond 3 weeks after moving in. it only had a 3cm cement (yes cement not concrete) floor. So we made it an extra 40cm deeper and redid the bottom drain etc.

I actually like the raised pond - i can sit on the side and watch the fish

[Neville]

Very nice pond Henk! So glad to see there are others here that also have ponds :-D

Q: Do your Koi not munch on the lilly leaves? I have a much smaller pond but also have some lillies in it. 3 x small Koi and 5 comets. There are forever small bits of bitten off lilly leaves floating around. Any idea how I can discourage them from doing that?

[SauRoN]

So how does that drainage system work?

Do you physically get in and pull the plug?

[Donny]

Looks very nice Henk :) :) nice show peace.

[Henk Hugo]

sorry for the late replies guys - i havent had time to cruise the forums for a while...

Nev - no they dont touch the lillies. i guess they get what they want/need from the 3 times a day feeding.

Sauron - it has a bottom drain that links into the settlement chaimber from where it runs via 0.75kw Spec Hydrostar to a 3 bag sand filter with a multiport on it, i simply put the multiport to waste or backwash

Thanks Donny - the offer still stands if you want to come check it out.

I currently have bit of a greenwater issue but i am wating for a shipment of some new products to come in that i want to test out.

[Donny]

Thanks for the offer Henk, haven't forgotten and will still take you up on it.

[Henk Hugo]

some photos of the pond this morning....
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2164.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2166.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2168.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2174.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/henkhugo/IMG_2178.jpg

[Kat]

looking good :)

[ACE007]

Looking really nice Henk!!

[Neville]

Very nice! Those lilly leaves are ginormous!

Do your Koi ever nibble at the edges of the leaves? They all seem in tact though... My fish sometimes munch on my lillies and its most irritating!

[Henk Hugo]

they grow in huge pots thats why they are so big....

my fish ignore the lilies :D

[Linxie]

WOW it looks great Henk! love your lillies ^_^

[Neville]

Yeah, been feeding a bit more and that does seem to help. Now their latest fun trick is to dig out the gravel out of my lilly pots. So bigger pots for me would mean more gravel on the bottom of my pond... :-D So every few days I try and scoop up the gravel from the bottom of the pond (fortunately a small setup) and put it back into the lilly pots. My friend says the fish are laughing at me as they have me well trained... lol!

[Henk Hugo]

what size gravel do you cap the soil with in the pots?

[Neville]

I currently have bit of a greenwater issue but i am wating for a shipment of some new products to come in that i want to test out.

Don't you run a UV light? It seems to do the trick for me. Nice green carpet growing on the walls of my pond that the Koi nibble on but the water is clear.

How did the new products work?

[Henk Hugo]

the ship is only docking on the 18th..... i did add a 55 watt uv and fixxed teh 30watt UV 10 days ago :D

[Neville]

Hey Henk, I'm using pea sized gravel/stones that are actually "recycled" from one of my fish tanks. Should probably go a bit bigger, right?

[Henk Hugo]

yea - go get some 19mm :D

[Henk Hugo]

Picking this guy op on Tuesday...

http://www.koionline.co.za/ct-24.jpg

[ACE007]

Damn that's nice!!!

Not really a koi person but that is nice colors.

[Henk Hugo]

Ace i have a really really good guy i get my fish from. He imports all his fish from japan and its only the best of the best. He is not expensive and doesnt believe in ripping you off.

[ACE007]

Just checked their website... There is some nice fish there...

[Henk Hugo]

yup yup -really good stuff - cant wait to head out there on tuesday

[speedz]

that koi looks cool, like it has racing car decals on it

[Neville]

Very nice Henk! Unusual colouring...wow.

Where do you go for Koi equipment etc. in CTN, btw?

[Henk Hugo]

either direct from the suppliers or from Nishiki Koi Farm

[Khalid]

very nice - i like the red steps
hopefully the colors will be more distinguished as it ages

[Henk Hugo]

the colour will stand out much more as he grows. I am looking at removing 4 sub standard fish to make space for him