For a while my husband has wanted to move the koi pond and expand it. As it became evident that tree roots were moving the old pond and shrinking it substantially, it was time to bite the bullet and get it done.
I helped with the initial part of the project. It was a big job digging the pond, but I like to think that the fish are happy in their new home.
Several items were repurposed and used for the pond. My husband found some bricks on the side of the road that were used in the project. Years ago he found some old apartment stair steps buried in the yard and they were also used.
In addition reclaimed landscape timbers and 2 x 4’s from a construction site were part of the project. A tarp that came with our tiny home bus was also repurposed. The liner is a dumpster liner that was headed for a landfill.
I helped with digging the hole and transporting the dirt with a wheelbarrow. I also helped with loading and unloading cinder blocks. I assisted in adding the dirt in the cinder block holes to help form the walls. All in all it was quite a workout for me.
My husband is all about straight lines so the pond was designed with his preference in mind. It is not circular, but more square with right angles. That did make it a bit challenging when installing the liner.
For the pond walls we used 15 cinder half blocks. The reclaimed 2 x 4’s are being used for support. The blocks were put in level with our deck and with the addition of the landscape timbers, it brought the top of the pond about four inches higher.
The lining was wrapped around them and then bricks were put on the backside of the timbers. Paving stones were placed on top of that. Since the pond is next to the deck, I won’t have to worry about getting rained on when I go to feed the fish.
We used part of our septic tank at one corner to use as a step to make it easier to get in and out of the pond for servicing. It also serves as a place for the small fish to escape the bigger fish. It is blocked off with rocks.
We have had two foot long fancy fin comets, and just added two dozen flathead minnows that are native to our part of Texas. We hope they will help with mosquito control. We set a repurposed door mat as an ingress and egress area for our resident frogs. It is simply laid over one part of the side of the pond.
The new pond was placed next to one of our rain catchers. The spout is in a convenient location to fill the pond. We used all four of our 350 gallon rain catchers to fill the pond. We estimate that the new pond is around 900 gallons. We are currently using a bio filter and have a UV sterilizer on order. We hope that the new pond will be easier to keep clean.
Overall my husband is happy with the new pond. He talked about getting a turtle for the pond, but was worried about accidentally running it over while mowing the lawn if it was wandering about. I think it would be cool to have a turtle, but I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to it.
Photos property of the Faithful Homesteader.
