Hi there,
I have recently converted a 17m (length) x 1.1m (depth) x 2m (width) swimming pool into a Koi pond at the Protea Hotel Fire&Ice!

Our pool is a rim flow pool and is fibre glassed black.

The conversion was done by Gavin from Koi Garden.

The length of the pool is a glass wall hence all guests who dine in our restaurant look straigth into our pond.

1) I would like to add a pump that blows bubbles from the ground up... is this a good or bad idea? do you know anyone in cape town who could assist?

2) I would like to add a water fall, do you know of anyone in Cape Town?

3) We do not have anything in the pond except fish, should we have something to stimulate them or are they ok?

4) If anyone is looking at relocating their large koi I am happy to do a trade exchange for accommodation vouchers in Cape Town.

Any advice offered would be greatly appreciated...

Thank you for this forum

Anton
082 905 7943
gm@fireandicehotel.com

https://s991.photobucket.com/albums/af38/antongillis/

Hi,

Did the modification include any bottom drains?

Hi Anton
Your questions;
1) The more air the better, air-stones and/or air curtains.
2) I am sure Paul will gladly assist http://koionline.co.za/
3) At the risk of being assassinated by my fellow Forum members; I dare to state that the majority of decent Koi ponds have only fish in it with possibly plants as part of the filtration system. In my opinion it is fine to have only Koi in the pond.
4) No thanks my Koi each has a name and I will not easily part with them.

Absolutely stunning Anton!!!

Hoekom wil jy borrels maak ? ... jy het groot oppervlakte vir gas uitruiling. Airstones lawaai kwaai vir die visse.

Hi there Anton well im in cape town will pop in at your place soon we can chat awsome wish i could convert my pool but think kids will think i love my koi more than them. were is fire and ice i live in blouberg new to CPT

Hi All - thank you for replying.
The PH Fire&Ice is in the cbd of Cape Town. 198 Bree Street.
Please call me 082 905 7943 when you are free for a coffee.

Here some replies:
Colyn: Dankie Mnr.
Cliff: Thank you.
Jan: Thank you.

Pieter: Unfortunately not... We did not want to risk any leaks. We installed a long black pipe with holes in it that "drains". I am looking into installing side drainage.
In hindsight... big mistake on our side.

Hi Anton

What thickness of glass did you use?

Stunning pond........

Agree, Stunning pond, as soon as my pond is finished, I will come and see for myself.

Hey Anton,

I have been thinking about this pond of yours and here's some ideas....

With this pond being viewed from the side would it not be better to rather have fancy gold fish in there as they are "made" to be viewed from the side and koi needs to be viewed from the top.

Also if you add goldfish you would be able to have some lovely water lillies in there. Yes i have lillies in my pond with my koi but i got all my fish small and they "grew up" with the lillies in the pond - hence they dont eat them.

Maybe you need to add a hardy lilly to see if they chow down on it - wont be a huge capital waste if they do - but i will be a stunning visual display if they dont.....

just my 2c

Hi Henk,
How would I anchor the lilly with the rim flow?

A

you would have to plant it in a rather big black plastic pot - i use rose and shrub mix - cap it off with some stone chips - off you go.

You would need to raise it slightly - i think 1.1 might bit a deep for the lillies - 0.5 would be great. i use crates but not to sure how that would look from the side - unless you put them between the windows.....

on my way into the city now - will pop in for that coffee a little later - will ring you

personally I would not plant plants into a pond like this. I just feel that with it being a display\show type of pond, especially with the glass viewing area that you would only want water and fish. I feel if you were to plant plants inside that it would just add that possibility of the viewing quality from the glass windows inside going abit south and a more difficult cleaning processes to follow.

Like I said, just me personally, think plants would just complicate water viewing quality.

very true cliff - i am going to go look at the pond and see if there is a way to hide the plants from the side but to still view them from above

The koi will ruin the lillies. They will eat it and start to dig in the container and uproot them soon, despite the gravel/pebbles.

The pond is too deep for lillies and the compost used will create algae blooms due to the nutrients in the compost.

In a formal pond like this, you need waterflow and air bubbles. Lillies don't like too much movement.

You will be limited with salt usage in case of health problems, and I would consider to have have salt in the water all the time to limit cleaning the windows due to algae growth.

The leaves and flowers that will decompose, will add organic matter to the pond, increasing your bio load and will not look good when the leaves and flowers die.

With fairly good quality fish, you would rather keep breeding grounds for parasites and bateria to the minimum. Pots are often a good breeding ground for nasties.

This is a formal setup, leave it formal and simple, with good quality fish, big and small, with the emphasis on the fish.

I agree with Paul
I have plants in a seperate vegetation chamber as part of the filter system. The plants and the containers need to be removed and cleaned at least once a month.

:-) thank you .... fully understood.