Rebuilding my pond!

Lil background, Built this 7' long x3.5 wide x2.5' deep pond 5-6 years ago as a naive college student. During a winter 2 years ago, something burrowed down and put a softball sized hole on the side of the liner. Unlucky for me the pump was set high and burned out with the lack of water. Everything died as I usually don't check up on my pond during the winter.

I still don't know what it was, anybody have a guess? I live on Long Island, NY.

Well it's spring and I got bit by the the koi bug again! So here we go.


How the pond looked with stones removed.



There was about a foot of dirt and muck I had to shovel out after draining the water. It must of gotten in through the hole in the liner.

After taking out the liner, I enlarged the pond to 7.5' long x 5.5' in an oval shape and smoothed everything out. It was the maximum size my mom would let me do. >.>* I'm building a HUGEEEE koi pond when I have my own house.

Filling the pond

Filled! yay


Using retaining blocks, its a bit unorthodox but, I like the look and the weight. The sides and back will be regular flagstone/fieldstone. Will probably add another tier on the small waterfall.

Here is the diy filter. I'll be using bioballs as the filter media. Leaving space at the top of the top bucket for some mechanical filtration media. Simple and cheap but works well for small ponds.


Inside the top


Inside the bottom

pbeemer said:

nice. i like the retaining block wall, but aren't they be a little tippy to sit on without the berm they're designed to be holding? (obviously not for someone just sitting on them, but if you lean out over the pond?)

did you put down a barrier to whatever it was that burrowed in the last time?

is the filter going to hide behind the waterfall or be off to one side?

Click to expand...

Well the blocks weren't really meant to really be sat on, since I think 2 isn't really high enough to comfortably sit. Bit if someone did want to, I set them pretty far back from the edge of the pond, like 3 inches from the edge so they are stable. I did this because looking from the front, the 2nd layer of blocks hides most of the edge that can be seen. You almost can't see it since the 2nd layer jots out forward compared to the first layer.

No barrier was put down, I dug into the tunnel and basically took it out while I was expanding the pond. I was just gonna chance it. :O *crosses fingers*

Its actually going behind a spruce bush. If you see the 10 gallon aquarium in 1 of the pictures, it will be to the right of that. It's definitely out of sight.

A week into the project and 3 pounds lighter and its done. Everything is plumbed and running with no leaks. Made a small viewing area with the extra stones I had. Love the sound of the waterfall. Measures 7.5' long x 5.5' wide x 3' deep = 926 gallons.


READY FOR KOI! WOOOOO Can't wait Contemplating putting a red Japanese maple where the bamboo is right now (red pot)

I know its not optimal but itll be fine, the pond before this which was much smaller had koi and they grew to 14" . Whatever size they get to in this one is fine with me, they dont have to get giant. And the pond looks smaller in the pics than it actually is. I think 7.5' by 5.5' feet is fine for a few koi.