Simply Koi and More Koi

Hi All,

Well have not had the best starts to my koi keeping career, given some pretty duff advice from various areas.

I have currently, a fully block built pond fitted with a standard liner & currently running pump fed Genesis 3500.

So this is my idea;

To fit a bottom drain and fully concrete the base. I only have enough room to put about 4-5 inches of concrete down for the base, should this be enough?

I am thinking of rendering the inside & painting. but I am scared of cracking and all the other pitfalls!!!

All ideas welcolmed!!!

Can you not dig the base out a bit more as don't forget you have to also get the pipework in deeper would be better

When you render why not find out how much it is to fiberglass as its sometimes not as expensive as people think

as was said by Gazza, you will need to be a bit deeper, probably about 8inches minimum. put the drain and pipe ork in then your hadcore 3-4 inches (this depends on how solid your ground is) then 4-5 inches of concrete, if you include rebar you should be ok. this is how i did my base. my base was approximatley 3m x 2m. and 1.1m deep.

obviously if you are bigger and/or deeper then the base thickness will have to be increased. think you might get more accurate answeres if you tell us how big/ deep your going.

would thoroughly reccomend you look into fibreglass. no worries if you get small movement in build, as its litteraly a tank inside a tank.

Didn't want to really dig out too much as I didn't want to drill through foundations to put the pipework through.

Surely the pipe work has to come off the BD level, if so this would mean no matter how deep the base the actual concrete covering said pipework will only be approx 1".

The current dimensions are 10' x 6'3" x 3'4". Will also be adding an additional 2 layers of block ( these are currently 9 x 4 laid on their side).

I have looked at Fibreglassing but this is too expensive, best quote is £700. I have worked with GRP before and can say that it should be done by someone who knows what they are doing!, also should you have a problem with curing, pinholes etc, then unless it has been done by a reputable company, you have no comeback!

The ground is very hard and before the liner was fitted a 2" layer of sharp sand was laid. what with the pressure of the original pond I don't think that any scalpings should be needed, but if someone knows otherwise please let me know!

Will post some photo's of current state tomorrow.

Hi,

I have attached a couple of pictures of my pond when the base was done to give you an idea how it can be done.The fiberglass may seem expensive but take into account the liner and underlay and you in there fixing it and also the possibilities of a problem in the future its a small price to pay for piece of mind

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... 2_1270.jpg[/img]

Hi , thanks to Gazza for picture mine was pretty much the same. except mine was about the same size as yours but was built with the pond walls above ground.

as you can see the concrete is only an inch or so above the waste pipe, but it is all around it. this is what you must acheive. as i said mine was about the same as yours, i fibregalssed mine for £350. got my fibreglasser through Boddington koi- Dave did a great job. not sure where you are , but if in the midlands/ south west will do you a good job.

Ok looks as if I should be Ok. The base will not form any foundations as the current walls are built 8" footings, the bottom drain will be positioned and the required hole drilled through the first block course.

Then I plan to fill said first course, plus a bit more with the concrete. I have consultaed a builder who asked me what i was building, A BOMB SHELTER!?
Explained that there were still some doubters.

Yes we do over engineer them but its better than having them moving when they are full of water and fish

Hiya,

Can't help but agree with everything I've read here. I'd argue about £700 for glassing though. I would imagine you could get a far better price if you shopped around and were prepared to provide labour for whoever did it. Particularly given the current state of the building trade.............

Louie

Ok is this pond above ground or completely sunken, as the answer will give You different options.
I would say digging the pond out is a reasonably easy task. Then a bottom drain can be fitted Pipe work can just be tunneled under neath existing wall. By digging down on the outside of the pond with a small hole. To fit a 90% a bring Your drain run to where You want it.
I have a big pond to do like this latter this year. The plan is to drain the pond. cut a ring beam around the slab for the existing pond wall to stay on. then dig down to our new depth, fit bottom drains pour concrete. Bring up new blockwork to 225mm above the first course of old blockwork. Then again more concrete between the old and new blockwork, render and fiber glass. This will increase the volume of the pond by 6000 gallons.
If Your pond is low level the cheapest and simpelist way is to simply increase the hieght of the pond walls. By far the cheaper option. I would say, sometimes its better to delay a project in order to find funds to get the job You desire. Rather than jump in and end up with something You are not 100% happy with.
Fiber Galss 100% I would defo get another price on Your glass. I think You can get it cheaper.
Justin

Do you have to rebar the base or can you conrete with fibres added ?