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bad at math and have some questions
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Posted by
cody_mi z5 MI (
codyvtaylor@live.com) on
Mon, Mar 15, 10 at 2:36
| i bought a small pond kit. the liner itself is 8x10 which is meant to make a pond 4x6x1.5. i live in michigan, so it's gonna freeze. i've been doing a lot of reading since the kit was bought last spring. i'm only familiar with our huge spring fed ponds that we had dug for fishing. i started out trying to make one of them for ornamentals ie; goldfish, koi, lotus and waterlily. i didn't take into consideration mink, muskrat, racoons, snakes, geese, ducks, herons, hawks, kingfishers, bobcat, game fish etc. needless to say, pretty to look at, but not real good for what i planned. this is my fist ornamental pond i'm afraid i'm going to screw things up. if i make the pond only 18 inches, we can assume it'll freeze 8-10 inches right? the remaining 8-10 inches wouldn't be enough for koi right? in most of the books i've read it says the pond should be at least 3 feet deep to overwinter fish. i'm willing to remove the fish for the winter, but i'd really rather not. someone mentioned styrofoam on top of 2x4's over part of the pond. i could put an air stone in it, or maybe a deicer. i plan on having a few water hyacinths in it and maybe two or three waterlilies. i don't really know what else i'd put in the shallow part, except maybe variegated cattails. here comes the bad at math part. if i shorten the length and make it like 3.5x5 or so, have only one shelf with about 12 inches in depth, would i be able to make the rest of it at least 24 inches. some websites say 8inch overlap is enough some say 12 and some say 24 inches overlap. basically i'm asking if i'm way off base with what i'm thinking or can i make it work? i apologize if none of this makes any actual sense. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: bad at math and have some questions
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| http://www.justliners.com/prodspec.htm Above is a link to help you figure pond liner depending on the basic shape of your pond. Koi get big when they grow up, so it is said they need min 3 feet deep, but with and 8x10 liner, you would have a tiny pond. Say you build the pond 2 x 2 and 2 feet deep, you would still need a 10 x 10 liner. You can always go with goldfish instead. Below is another link with some into on koi. Hope it helps. http://www.koiandkin.com/koi-size-and-growth |
RE: bad at math and have some questions
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| thanks but i've already been to both of those sites. i plan on having butterfly koi, which i've read don't grow as big as regular koi and they grow more slowly. i also don't plan on having more than three in there. plus this will probably be just the first of many ponds. do you think three, 3-4 inch butterfly koi would still be too big for, say two to three years? i suppose i should get it set up and then decide what to put in it, i'm well known for the cart before the horse mentality. |
RE: bad at math and have some questions
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| My suggestions would be: skip shelf-your pond won't be deep enough anyway. Dig a 2 ft deep pond. Get a few small comets and shubunkin goldfish and one potted marginal plant that you'll remove at the end of the season. I'd put the pond in a sheltered place-maybe close to the house and put a deicer/heater and aerator in it for winter. Then next spring, if you still like ponding, expand. Dig out a proper size (1000 Gallon+) pond for the koi and link it to the original pond by waterfall or stream. |
RE: bad at math and have some questions
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| well it's done. i'll have pics later. i ended up making kidney-ish shaped. 6 feet long, one end is 4 feet across the other end is three feet across and it's 22 inches deep. when i was laying it out, it seemed bigger than it really is. it only took about 2 hours to dig the hole lay the liner and fill with water, so obviously, it's tiny. i've traded for some lotus that are coming this week, so i'm pretty excited about that. i cut a couple plastic 55 gallon drums in half that i've buried around the pond to put the lotus in. tomorrow i should be able to get the rocks all in place before it snows again. i was still really hoping to get one butterfly koi, but i don't know if that will happen or not. i'm going to try to trade for a miniature water lily to put in the bigger part and i have a small fountain in the smaller part. i'm happy with it so far and i'm ready for a much bigger one. should i get a few snails to put in there? and if i do, do i remove them in the fall too? |
RE: bad at math and have some questions
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| You really need it deeper for koi. |
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