These birds also nested in that unfinished pond ...



They also do not eat fish but their relatives will come once the fish are there

The image is incorrectly labeled Malachite ... it is actually a Pigmy Kingfisher.

On your question about sealers:

Quite a lot of farmers only use salt in the plaster which is often sufficient to water proof.

My suggestion is to mix Sikalite or Coprox to your plaster combined with salt. If you add black oxide to your mix, you don't even have to seal, although it looks much better if you seal and it improves the waterproofing.

In respect of the sealer, you have three options in my opinion:

1. Acrylic non toxic water proof paints. There are quite a few on the market.

2. Butimine paints. They do not last as long but quite cheap.

3. Polyurerethane paints. The are much more expensive but very good. It is almost like a plastic layer. I use Durapond from Dura.

Thanks ... we will be sealing it with Coprox.

Very nice pictures

Here are some shots of the Vegetation pond ...

I spent the night reading a lot and one thing that became obvious ... advice on really BIG ponds are scarce.

The general information on filtering and water treatment is just not right for me and I am looking for people that have big ponds.

I am beginning to doubt if I will be able to get the correct water volume flow because to circulate my water volume in an hour will mean massive pumping

Any advice will be appreciated.

Colyn,

Sorry to say, but that ponds are going to leak!!!!!!! The weight of the water alone will crack them!

Jeez ... your post really rattled me so I went back through the process and phoned a few friends ... the floors are re-enforced concrete of around 120mm and the soil in which the ponds are bedded is semi sandstone ... so the foundations is according to all information pretty stable. The walls have been backfilled and carefully compacted and every second layer is brick forced.

I am not too sure it will crack ... actually I am quite confident it wont.

Hi,
Question - did you cast the floors of the ponds in one go?

Using Coprox is a good idea. Leaks and cracks can be easily repaired.

In a large pond set-up you can get away with slower turnover rates. You will however need to make sure the cirulation within each pond is correct. i.e. each ponds inpurities will be eliminated and not re-circulated. Try to keep plants away from the koi. Koi love plants. They will chew them to bits, especially when they get bigger. Koi will pull the plants out of their containers and the soil will pollute the water making it difficult to see them. The suspended particles are difficult to get rid of.

Keep all your chambers open as much as possible to encourage water flow.

Make sure each chamber can abe cleaned easily.

Use large daimeter piping to and from the pumps to reduce frictional losses.

You can increase the effency of each chamber by getting the water to circulate within the chamber. A sort of vortex action. Place brushes or something similar against the walls to increase the surface area to trap the solids that will be spun outwards.

Do not worry about evaporation. Get waterfalls going. Even if you build a trickle tower/baki shower. You need to replace a certain amont of water each week. So if the water evaporates - no problem.

What is you water source - tap water or bore hole water.

Do you have a large garden to water?

Use barley straw to control the algae. Chemicals will become too expensive.

Perhaps it would have been a good idea to place plastic under your "streams" and just made a screed ontop. Long streams tend to crack. Even a very fine crack will lead to water loss.

You have wonderful bird life - be prepared to loose fish. The best ones are the ones to go first (I know from experience). If you cna create some balance between the bird life and you koi I think you have a wonderful pond in the making.

One other thought (for now) where does the rain water drain on the property? Will the pond get flooded?

Many more questions to come. But good luck.

Regards,
Chris

Colyn,

ek is nie hier om jou bou werk af te kraak nie, maar ek wil jou graag help om nie na die tyd jou hare uit jou kop uit te trek nie!

Quote:

The walls have been backfilled and carefully compacted and every second layer is brick forced.

Dit is goed en wel, maar op 'n enkel muur van 4 " is " brick forced" van geen waarde, en dit werk dus tien keer beter op "n dubbel muur (9") want dit bind die muur as 'n geheel.

" Backfilled" ek neem aan jy praat van die op vul van die spasie tussen die muur en die grond van die "grondvlak"
Wel, omdat dit baie warm daar by julle word in is die sandgrond geneig om uit te droog, dit veroorsaak dan krake in die onderlaag van die grond.
Jy praat van 'n storm., wat dink jy gaan gebeur as die water tussen die krake spoel?
Die krake gaan groter word en die grond gaan wegbreek en wegspoel.
Die drukking van die water ( ongeveer 990kg per 1000lt) gaan te groot vir die enkel muur wees en die dam gaan begin lek.
Onthou die grootste drukking is waar die muur op die fondasie staan.

Ek is nie 'n "engineer" nie, maar het al 'n paar damme gebou!

Ek pos 'n paar fotos hoe ek dit doen, en die dam was op 'n rots formasie gebou!
Ek glo daaraan om dit van die begin af dit reg te doen.


Let op die draad versterking.

Die gaping tussen die twee mure was later met (13mm kilp) beton gevul.

My raad aan jou is, spandeer liewer nou meer, en "smile" daarna.

Sterkte.

ps. Ons kan 'n wedenskap aangaan rakende die lekkery as jy wil!!!!

_________________
Pieter J de Villiers
http://southafricankoi.11.forumer.com
"I am KoiMad...........but garlic wise!"
FEED GARLIC, NO PARASITES!!

Pieter ... ek beskou jou insetsels verseker nie in a negatiewe lig nie ... Ek is al te lank in die tand om fyngevoelig te wees.

Die kans dat water in die krake kan begin spoel is baie swak ... voordat ek die betonwerk en steenwerk begin doen het die "rou" damme vir dae met water in gestaan na reenbuie ... glo my ... dis asof ek die damme uitgekerf het. Die grond is solid, dig en sanderig.

Die bodem las waar die mure op die vloer staan is goed versterk met draad, sterk sement mengsel en a skuins geplaasde baksteen ... ek sal later meer fotos opsit.

Dankie vir jou bydrae.

PS ... my Plan B is om te kyk wat doen die damme en as dit teveel kraak sal ek dit met staal draad uitvoer en "gunite".

We are now seriously into the finishing stages. Here are some shots of Pond #3 ... this will be mainly a vegetation filter/pond and I am banking on this pond to do the bulk of my water quality control.