POND Portfolio I

Background
This pond was constructed in 1982 after an entire Winter of pleading with my parents for permission. The pond measured 4.5 x 8 feet and was made with concrete. Initially it was built with no filtration. After realizing the inefficiency of a store bought in pond box filter, an external filter fabricated with garbage cans was installed. I rented a concrete drill to make a hole in the pond side wall and hooked the filter up to it. All in all it worked pretty well

This was a nice upgrade to my first pond the previous year, which was a large concrete planter sunk into the ground. I learned a lot in building, maintaining and upgrading this first pond. I continually worked on it throughout my teen years and when koi started appearing in the local pet stores, I purchased several in 1983 and quickly preferred keeping them over goldfish

Equipment
3" side drain | Little giant pump | 120 gallon Multi chamber filter

Background
This pond was rebuilt in 2000 with an additional volume of 1,000 gallons added by making the pond 1 foot deeper and shaving the sides. It has has 2 bottom drains, 2 air stations and 2 separate filters. The total volume was accurately measured with a water meter to be 2,800 gallons

My pond measures 25 feet in length with various widths from 3 - 15 feet and is 6 feet deep. The landscaping is really maturing nicely and the Japanese Maple I planted has grown from less than 4 feet to over 15 feet in height

Equipment
4" bottom drain | 3" bottom drain | 2 x Dolphin 3k ampmaster pumps | 205 gallon Multi chamber filter | 55 gallon trickle filter | No-niche skimmer

Background
Tony has over 50 koi ranging in size from 15 - 28 inches. The pond measures 27 x 11, is over 6 feet deep. Gallonage is about 7,000 gallons of water. Tony's pond has been upgraded every year to keep up with the expanding collection

This pond is heated in the winter, is sheltered with a greenhouse covering. A new 5 foot high waterfall was put in during the summer of 2001. In 2008 this pond was rebuilt. It was made deeper, insulated and better fittings were put into place

Equipment
4" bottom drain | 2 x 3" mid water feed | Savio skimmer | Aquadyne 4.4 BF | 240 gallon settlement chamber | 275 gallon gravity multi chamber filter | 2 x Alita 40 air compressor | 3 x Dolphin 3k ampmaster | 80 watt Ultra Aquaultraviolet U.V. |

Watch a video interview with Tony and his pond