 A properly designed pond will provide a both a healthy environment for your fish, as well as a beautiful personal retreat for you.
It is important to determine ahead of time the types of material, equipment and accessories you will want to incorporate into your design. You will especially want to take into consideration they type of equipment, and filtration system your will require to be able to fully enjoy your pond, with a minimal amount of worry.
There are several types of Koi ponds such as Rubber Liner, preformed fiberglass and concrete. Each of these types offers various benefits depending upon your budget.
Liner Ponds have become increasingly popular, because unlike a preformed, or concrete pond, they can be installed in a fraction of the time, and can be made to look much more natural in shape and contour. The disadvantages are that liners can tear, yet take heart, they can easily be repaired. Another disadvantge is they have a shorter life-span than a more rigid pond.
Preformed Fiberglass ponds offer a very healthy and fish-friendly surface and a much more durable, longer-lasting pond (for the most part) than liner ponds. They do restrict you to the available shapes, so the trade-off is function for form.
Concrete Ponds are perhaps the most durable, yet they will take a bit longer to construct, and will naturally cost a bit more.
Concrete and Fiberglass
For the ultimate pond, we highly recommend concrete construction finished with fiberglass. A bit more expensive at first, but not in the long term, remember a pond built badly with poor materials can work out much more as it will have to have heaps of cash spent on it getting it right. The most expensive pond in the world is one that does not work.
At the "Bottom" of it all
Another common mistake that is almost impossible to correct after the pond is built is failure to install a bottom drain. Bottom drains are a must for a successful koi pond. To maintain proper water quality you need to get the fish waste into your chosen filtration system so it can be removed from the system. Without a bottom drain, the best filter in the world cannot do it’s job properly.
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