All summer the pond digger has been sighing and commenting that he’ll have nothing to do next summer. Basically the pond digger is an over grown kid who wants to be outside as much as possible and play with power tools during the good weather months. Since I said we could not have a third koi pond, things were looking bleak for the pond digger. After looking around the yard, I decided that the lower pond could be improved upon and voilá – we have a project.This will be lower pond version 5.
10 x 16 rectangle measured outMatt Sklar, Kenzen Koi Food, came over to help plan out the plumbing for our new pond.The shade overhang had to be unscrewed and pulled back to make room for the professional diggers.
We happened to go out of town for business and came home to Tom and Mike starting the dig. We’ve used TR Services before for work on the upper pond. These guys are super reliable and work very carefully around the landscaping and existing structures. Tom is manning the digger and Mike (who is 6-4) is in the hole ensuring the dig is level and deep enough.
11.16.2016 digging lower pond version 5checking out the final holeWe’ll need to tarp the pile of dirt and the hole to keep it warm. The concrete will be poured next week. Hopefully our scheduled snow event two days from now will not hinder the concrete work.
We’re very excited about the new pond which will be more modern looking and actually be partially above ground. Red Squirrel Falls might end up being a pondless water feature or may be totally removed. I have always loved the falls but in the summer time, it can get pretty noisy. We will be expanding the flat area to accommodate a larger table and maybe seating for 6 or more. We have all winter to decide how the landscaping will change and what type of facade will go on the pond.
Meanwhile inside the garage – which is smelling more like an aquarium – the koi are doing well. They have finally gotten over their shyness about coming up to eat around people again. The pond digger has been messing round with different ways to return water and he’s talking about putting in a no niche skimmer. The two bead filters and continuous hot water drip seem to keep the pool pretty clean.
We’ve added some lights over the pool and painted the ceiling and walls of the garage white to reflect the light.filtration set upexperimenting with some water return above the surface. We also have water returning under the surface to keep the bottom swept of debris.
It’s pretty easy to video the koi in this pool. Here’s 4 minutes of watching koi swim around and eat. Everyone looks healthy so far.
