How to build and maintain a proper Koi Pond

A koi pond is a purpose built habitat "Living Jewels" and as such, differs from any other garden water feature. Instead of doing what so many do, that is dig a hole, throw in a liner, add water and a few fish, and calls it a koi pond. You can't put more than about 20 full sizes Koi in a 2,000 gallon pond, and to do that requires a lot of filtration and aeration.

Koi pond’s requirements

Means you can't stand up in it without taking out a lot of the water, but it will make it a little more difficult to clean out your pond. Locate the pond out of direct sunlight all day long. If you have the money a gas pond heater for cold climates is recommended. Very few ponds have a protein skimmer, but they are very useful to reduce the organics causing the foam under your waterfall, etc.  Proper filtration system is must for survival of koi. The returns through the sides of the pond from the filtration system will produce a bit of a current and keep particulate suspended and headed for the bottom drains or skimmer.

Koi pond with a liner

It is easy to manage but liner must be eco-friendly, because koi are extra sensitive. The only difference between a liner pond and any other is what's used to contain the water. All other technical aspects are the same.

Maintenance of koi ponds with their types

It is very important to save you pond from leaking. Large leaks in ponds are very easy to identify but most pond leaks are small and can be quite deceiving at first. A small leak in a pond can be a very hard and expensive problem to solve if you do not know how best to tackle it.

Different types of pond

1) Concrete or rendered brick
these types of pond are usually sealed with some kind of resin or pond paint. You first need to check for cracks as this is the most likely reason your pond has leaked. To fix this you will need to cement the crack and re-seal or use a product called pond liner repair just fix it. If it seems to peel away or is non-existent you will need to re paint it as it has become porous or patchy.

2) Fiberglass /GRP            
A pre-formed GRP pond is the toughest of all the pond linings but can still suffer from water loss. Before you do this you may want to try covering the area with just fix it Pond liner repair kits or use a liner repair patch, they are not full proof but I have had some good results employing these methods.

3) Molded plastic

Molded plastic ponds can be fixed with pond liner repair patches. They suffer with the same problems a GRP ponds does but are far less common.

These are the most common types of lining. Pond liner repair is useful for all type of pond with surety of koi survival.

Repair a Fish Pond without Draining the Water Out

Start with the first test to try and locate a pond leak. If the waterfall is the only means of oxygen to the pond, you will want to put a temporary pump in the pond to provide oxygen for the fish and plants. So now with the waterfall off, you can let the pond go for a few days and see how much water the pond loses per day versus with the waterfall running. Some pond contractors will use two pond liner repair patch liners in a pond build and this can lead to water loss at the seam location.

Pond liner repair a perfect solution 

With a pond liner repair pond some of the more common areas that a pond will leak are around the bolts that connect the rubber liner to the skimmer, plants pushing over the liner causing water loss, a tree root puncturing through the liner or possibly the liner is just really old and it is just cracking causing leaks.

The pond leak is found

Once the pond leak is found, it is just a matter of prepping the area and patching the hole similar to the epdm pond liner repair you would patch a hole in a bicycle tire. The products needed pond liner repair kits; to make this repair can be found at your local pond supply store.

If you have a concrete pond

If you have a concrete pond the most common reason for water loss is due to cracks in the concrete. In some cases new concrete must be poured or a liquid pond liner repair can be installed over the existing concrete pond.


For under water repair you have to follow these:

• Scratch the area around the hole with medium-grit sandpaper. The scratches create tiny grooves for the epoxy to fill, helping the patch to bond securely to the pond liner.

• Cut a piece of pond liner repair patch to about 2 inches larger on all sides than the size of the hole in the liner.

• Scratch the patch and clean the surface again.

• Cut a piece of wax paper included with the Pond Liner Repair Kit at least 2 inches larger in diameter than the liner patch.

• Spread the Pond Liner Repair on the liner patch in an even layer about 1/16-inch thick. Push the patch onto the hole immediately after applying the Pond Liner Repair, using the wax paper as a barrier between your hands and the patch. 

Peel back the wax paper when the Pond Liner Repair cures to complete the patch job. Use of fish pond liner will make your fish safe and pond will be secured from leaking. With all this you can easily patch the liner under the water without draining the water out and repair will be reliable and long lasting too.   









 

What to Consider for garden pond child safety issue?

Looks at the way you can protect your children from a pond without having to fill it in. Child safety around garden pond ponds is of high importance when making your garden pond child friendly.

Here are a few areas of consideration when developing your garden pond. 

Dangerous Plants: Toxins and Poisons
 

Plants are fun to grow; smell, or see, but some plants have toxins in them. Many plants can make you sick if you eat them, but some can cause harmful effects just by touching your skin, like poison ivy or nettles. Some dangerous plants can look like plants that are good to eat too. But it's easy to garden pond safely with a few simple rules:

Never let them eat any plant, flower, berry, seed, nut or mushroom found in or on the ground unless you are sure of what it is and that it is edible.

Adults caring for children should make sure they follow the above rule.

Teach children to always ask a grown-up before eating any plant outdoors. Be diligent about removing poison ivy and poison oak from shady garden pond areas. If someone might have been exposed to a poison, call right away for fast, expert help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To check if a plant is toxic, bring a clipping to your local nursery for identification, or call your local poison control center for a list of local poisonous plants.

If you got garden pond leaky then use pond liner repair kits or EPDM pond liner repair

If you have koi, check with your pond liner repair, it must be koi pond liner repair. It needs a perfect repair. You must use nontoxic and Eco-friendly pond liner to make atmosphere harmless for you and your children.

Drain the pond until the water level is lower than the crack

If the crack is low in the pond, you may need to temporarily remove the fish and plants. Apply pond repair to a repair patch and over the crack. Drain the pond until the water level is lower than the crack. If the crack is low in the pond, you may need to temporarily remove the fish and plants. With pond liner repair you can repair liner as well if it has any leak or damage. EPDM pond liner can work for both perfectly.