Building house around indoor pond - thoughts?

[pedzola]

I'm probably at least a couple of years away from home ownership, but I was considering purchasing a piece of land soon (to build on later).

So I was thinking about what kind of house I would build. When I enter my house, what do I want to see? Fish, of course.

Picture this:
You walk in the front door into a large foyer with a 2-story ceiling, with lots of natural light from windows... in the middle is a round koi pond maybe 8-10ft in diameter and 2-3 feet deep, with the sides portruding high enough from the floor so that is comfortable to sit at the edge of the water. The pond would probably be concrete covered w/natural looking rock, or maybe slate or whatever tile the floor is made from(?).

This would be the central focus of the house, with the rest of the rooms sort of built around. A very open floor plan, so that if you're at the pond you can look up to the second floor walkway, or to the great room, or kitchen on the first floor.

I can't find any floor plans with this sort of large foyer as an entranceway. The thing is, I don't want a huge house... maybe you have to have a huge house to get something like that... or maybe I just gotta have it architected on my own.

In any case... would that work? The house (or at least that part of the house) would obviously need to be built on concrete slab instead of having a basement below it. Would I be able to remotely position pumps and filters? Is pond equipment very noisy?

Any ideas whether this is a particularly good or bad idea? Anyone w/pond experience? ^__^

Thanks!

[joephys]

I would love to do something like that.

I don't see why it couldn't be done. If you do the layout right you could have a basement. You could also make the pond 12 feed deep and have the walls go down to the basement floor and put windows in that so you can see the pond from below the surface.

as far as pumps go. I would set the pump so that is about 2 inches below the surface of the pond so that you don't have to prime it and place it under the floor boards (assuming you don't have a basement). I am sure how ever you set up the pump you can put it in some sort of box that can sound insulated.

[pedzola]

You could also make the pond 12 feet deep...

I want a small koi pond not a public aquarium. lol

I was just wondering about the placement of equipment if the pond is sitting on a concrete slab... or sunk into the concrete base that this piece of the house would be sitting on...

I dunno... I guess I gotta read up more on what the appropriate filtration system would consist of, and then find out what kind of space requirement that would need... and go from there. Do you think it would be a possibility to run lines under the floor and put the actual filter and equipment in a closet or something several feet away from the pond?

.__.

[pbecot01]

Yes, you could place the pumps elsewhere. Pretty much all large saltwater setups have all the pumps and such in a remote sump.

[joephys]

The best way to do a pond is to have a bottom drain and run the plumbing up the side of the pond to a sump to allow large clumps of waste to settle there instead of having to clean filter pads all the time. Here is a rough sketch of a filter system.

[/IMG]simplepond.jpg[IMG]

Notices how everything is below the water line, It makes it more efficient by letting gravity do the work (the gray lines are pipes).

[frloplady]

One of the koi judges in the US built a house specifically around their 18k koi pond. It's basic design is as a swimming pool so if they ever move it could be converted over fairly easily. All filtration is in a separate room from the fish. Quite a set up. There was just a dvd tour in the latest issue of koi fixx www.koifixx.com DVD magazine, excellent product, excellent production.
Finally found a pic..I hope it comes through...
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44414&stc=1

the picture didn't show up..guess it wasn't in a jpg. I don't know if you can see it without being a member of that forum

[pedzola]

joephys thanks for the diagram. This would obviously require a lot of thought around how/where to set up the equipment.

frloplady - that sounds pretty amazing! An 18k gallon koi pond indoors? I don't know if I would ever have the $$ for something that big... lol.

I'm anxious to see the picture anyway... you need to register for that koi message board in order to see it. I'm waiting for my confirmation email now. =)

If anyone else has pictures of indoor ponds I would love to see them.

[pedzola]

Unfortunately, even after registering I cannot see the picture. Some forums have a minimum post count for you to see attachments... maybe this is the case. Oh well. :(

[pedzola]

My membership had to be validated or something by the mods at koiphen before I was a "real" member.

I can see the picture now, VERY NICE!!

I'm thinking that would probably be a pretty pricey endeavor though! It looks big!

[msouth468]

Be prepared for high humidity in the house. Plus you need to keep ahead of large bodies of water inside a closed area. High matanince is key, above normal is needed. Even if you keep the water clean and stay on top of the filters. You may still get a, how do you say "rank", odor from the water.

[anonapersona]

I suggest making a large courtyard or atrium OUTSIDE that has windows in all directions. My house is wrapped around a large courtyard and I can see the pond from most windows (but for the pesky fireplace in the way of the best view!)

Fish inside the house are best seen in a large aquarium, like 110 gallon Oceanic or larger.

[pedzola]

Ah... Humidity... didn't think about that. Good point! Evaporation from a large indoor body of water would need to be a consideration. I wouldn't want to need to replace my roof every 5 years due to the pond.

A courtyard sounds very nice... However, I'm in CT where the yearly temperature can swing from -20 in the winter to 110 degrees in the summer. I'm afraid koi would be fairly miserable (or dead) trying to endure either extreme.

If I had an outdoor pond I would need to bring the fish inside for the winter anyway, and probably have some kind of cover/shade for those ultra-hot summer days.

Like I said before, this house is only in my imagination for now - it is at least a couple years before I start to build my future home, but I want to consider everything (cause its' fun to think about for now). ;)


Can anybody think of creative ways to protect my home from the humidity that an indoor pond might produce? Run dehumidifier(s) all summer? Coat the walls in plastic wrap? (lol) Leave all the windows open when it is hot enough to produce damaging evaporation?

Keep the house at a constant 65 degrees winter or summer?

Ideas?

[frloplady]

If I had an outdoor pond I would need to bring the fish inside for the winter anyway, and probably have some kind of cover/shade for those ultra-hot summer days.


Or build it with a way to put a greenhouse cover over the pond in winter. Shade isn't necessarily difficult and a deep pond would be of benefit in both the summer and winter. Deeper ponds don't get as hot and deeper ponds don't get as cold!

[anonapersona]

Many years ago there were a lot of homes in my neighborhood built with glassed in atriums in the center. The roof was open, often with coarse covers over to minimize direct sun. Needs a hose bib and drain to remove water, and you need to be careful about how the roof slants so you don't catch a lot of rain water from other rooflines.

These had a single door, tall glass, up to 12' or more, and the entire area was rather small, maybe 10'x10' or so. Ideal for a small Japanese looking garden with small, slightly elevated pond.

If the roof is like a greenhouse, with glass and adjustable vents, the area will take in a lot of heat from sunlight as well as house heat through the glass walls. Sort of like an insulated sun porch, but in the center of the house instead of on the back.

Due to the moisture, windows are sometimes steamy, defeating some of the view. There may be non-fogging glass now-a-days. Also, you need to be wary of termites, as moisture and mulch tends to draw termites.

[joephys]

Koi would be fine in an outdoor pond if it six feet deep or more. The bottom of the pond will be between 36-40 degrees. 40 degree water is the most dense water, and will remain at the bottom of the pond, while the colder water will rise toward the surface. The heat will be trapped down there.

I think japan has much worse winters than just about anywhere in the US, and they keep all sorts of koi in ponds there.

[xauz]

Bah! You guys are giving me bad ideas if I ever win the lottery!

[pedzola]

Winning the lotto also came to mind... thinking that a large pond (indoor or outdoor) might add more significantly to the cost of a house than I had previously thought.

Maybe a nice large aquarium on the order of a couple hundred gallons w/some tropical fish would be better...

I guess I've always had an interest in Koi... they are very cool fish, it's too bad that you need at least 1000 gallons to keep them.

[DansMarineTank]

somewhere to keep you loose change?