How important is "splash" for pond fish? - What I Did

[Julles]

I'm planning to move my (very small) waterfall and rearrange the pond a little, to have more room for lilies. 

Pond is 17' long by 3' wide (yes, like a bowling alley - that's all the room I have in my yard@  )  The falls will go from the middle of the pond to one end.  Lilies will go in the section next to the falls and will take up about 5'.  Then I will fence off the rest of the pond and the koi and goldies will have that end to themselves, about 10'.

Two potential problems:

-Will the falls be a problem for the lilies?  It's a 950 gph pump, falling a distance of just a few inches, maybe 3" before it hits the surface of the pond.  I have an Esther-inspired PVC pipe placed across the pond to quiet the water.

-How important is it that the koi and other fish be able to get under the falls for aerated water?  Will water from the falls still contain enough air if it is pulled 3'-4' to the section where the fish are?  I know the koi like to get beneath the falls to play...is this essential for health, or are they just having fun?

For the record, there will be a 750gph pump splashing a little into the end of the pond where the fish are.

-Also, will a section 10'x3' be enough room for the fish to swim back and forth?  The largest is abut 18"

Thanks for your thoughts.

[tranquility]

that splash is very  important because the more splash the 02 your getting into the water...the warmer the water gets the less 02 it is able to hold...if they are gathering under the falls during the evening and morning hours then that tells you already they need mre 02.....and personally with the koi I hate depending on one single pump going thru out the summer months especially-that way if something forbid goes wrong and that pump stops then they still have one going so I'd suggest adding another 950 gph pump but, if it were me I'd go with a 1,500 gph pump coming from the falls and a smaller pump just to add more splash(02) mid way down the pond -I'd put the 2nd pumps return in a different spot even if its just placing the return hose where it splashes directly back into the pond but,from a higher drop than the 3" falls....also I love the addition of air pumps---I even use aquarium pumps on my smaller ponds--just make sure the air pump is covered well enough but, have it where it can get air from the outside---I usually sit the pump on a brick so if it rains it won't get wet and then put a couple 1" holes on 2 sides of a sqare dish pan and place the dish pan upside down over the pump....you really can never have too much air IMO when it comes to health of the koi and another place I have found I like having air is in my bio filters...the more air in those the more bio film you'll have....the thing to remember here is that if they get 02 deprived its going to be your largest koi you loose--those are usually your favorites...and as long as the liles aren't getting pounded by splashing water they will be fine..they can handle rippling waters and a bit of splash....
Lawanna

[Zoe]

Julles,

Air stones would help the fish especially in our weather. I spoke to Rolf at Nelson's last week and he mentioned that air pumps have been  a popular item this summer.  You can place them all around with different lengths of air tubing.  Pond Master makes a good air pump but you can find a smaller one and cover it like the last poster suggested.  Also you will never have enough room for lilies because the more room you have the more lilies you will want    I know it is addicting to see the beautiful blooms. My husband built me a lily pond after we had built the other pond. The lily pond is full and the bigger pond is too! 

[Kittyzee]

I would probably reverse the order--let the fish have the area to play in the water splash and put the lilies out of the way of the turbulence of the water.  Lilies don't like that much movement, and fish do.   

[Tadpole]

I'm planning to move my (very small) waterfall and rearrange the pond a little, to have more room for lilies. 

Pond is 17' long by 3' wide (yes, like a bowling alley - that's all the room I have in my yard@  )  The falls will go from the middle of the pond to one end.  Lilies will go in the section next to the falls and will take up about 5'.  Then I will fence off the rest of the pond and the koi and goldies will have that end to themselves, about 10'.

Two potential problems:

-Will the falls be a problem for the lilies?  It's a 950 gph pump, falling a distance of just a few inches, maybe 3" before it hits the surface of the pond.  I have an Esther-inspired PVC pipe placed across the pond to quiet the water.This small amount of splash should not be a problem for the Lilies as long as they are not directly under the waterfall.

-How important is it that the koi and other fish be able to get under the falls for aerated water?  Will water from the falls still contain enough air if it is pulled 3'-4' to the section where the fish are?  I know the koi like to get beneath the falls to play...is this essential for health, or are they just having fun?

For the record, there will be a 750gph pump splashing a little into the end of the pond where the fish are.

-Also, will a section 10'x3' be enough room for the fish to swim back and forth?  The largest is abut 18"
You don't indicate the total number of fish and sizes or the depth of the pond. Oxygen is supplied to the pond  almost entirely by gaseous transfer at the water's surface.Waterfalls and surface fountains do little in contributing to the Oxygen content. Bottom aeration units or diffusers provide more benefit by exposing more of the water column to the pond's surface. A 70% of saturation is a good Oxygen level for fish, but 80% is better for the overall eco-system. I would recommend testing the Oxygen level to determine IF you actually have a problem.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[frogman3]

Julles what material were you planning to use to fence off the fish from the plants?

[Julles]

Thanks, everyone.  That's a lot of different points of view, and I will have to  - ahem - ponder this a little more before I move ahead.  I actually could switch the position of the two pumps and falls, as LuAnn suggested (with some not-small effort  ), or save myself the hassle, if I go by Tadpole's info.  I can easily add an air pump, too, and that may be the middle ground solution. 

Quandry.

I forgot to mention, the pump is at the opposite end of the falls, 17' away, so the tumbling water would be pulled to the far end, where the koi are.

Oh, and, you guessed it, the pond is, naturally, overstocked.   

Frogman, at first I had some green plastic poultry fencing from Lowe's (holes about 1"x1.5" that small fish can swim through, but not the koi) that I was going to spray paint black, and use Esther's favorite PVC pipe, capped at the ends to soften them, to brace it horizontally from side to side against the ends of the pond (it's only 3' wide, remember), and then wrap a foot or so along the bottom, and use lily pots to hold down that wrapped bottom section.

Then a friend gave me a whole bunch of plastic screening used to fence off a swimming pool so kids can't get to it and tumble in.  It's already dark brown, the right size, and it's free, so now I am going to use that.  The holes are much smaller (1/4" perhaps less), so small fish can't swim through but that means they also can't get stuck and hurt themselves, and it may impeed water flow a bit.

Thanks, everyone.

[Julles]

OK, to update, so what I did was to take a combination of your suggestions, and completely revised my original plan.  Funny - you spend all that dime making lists and drawing diagrams, only to change the entire thing and spend only a few hours planning it...

Anyway, it turned out great.  I removed the falls / bog from the middle of the pond.  Put the small bog on the near side on top of the plant shelf that wasn't being used because it was too shallow, with the 700gph pump running a small fountain and bog filter.

The 950 pump also went in this end, but it runs the falls at the opposite far end of the pond.  This falls is based in a pre-form liner bog sitting outside the pond.  Instead of the natural rock falls I had planned on, I ended up with two small natural rocks, got a stone company to drill a hole through one of them (I gave up after 1.5 hours of straight drilling, over two nights), so I have a gurgling stone fountain in this bog.  Then I ran the main output from the 950gph pump through a 2' long section of small concrete sewer pipe that I dug up in the old cemetery where I do volunteer work.  Somehow it morphed from the natural look I planned into this quirky version, but it's cool, shoots out a lot of water for aeration and splash, and you gotta admit, it very unique.

I put the lilies at the near end with the 750gph pump, and they have about 1/3 of the pond.  With no big fish at this end, I was able to remove the screen covers, so you can see the lilies nicely. The fish are seperated by a plastic fence, and it's holding them quite well.  At first, I used the free sun screen a friend gave me, but right away realized it  was too fine and might inhibit water being pulled to the pump and filter.  So I tore it out and instead used a 1" plastic hardware cloth.  Works great.  I did have one koi jump the fence, and I had to remove all the heavy lilies to catch him, but that should not happen often.

The fish have the 10' or so at the far end of the pond, under the sewer falls.  I have two milk crates stacked for shelter for them, with a few potted plants on top - taro, iris, umbrella plant.  The idea is to keep this area uncluttered, and to keep the plants trimmed low, and remove and repot befoe they get too large.

So the koi have less length to swim in, but more width and clear square footage, plus it's easier to see them, too.

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied. 

Took three or so days, over a week or so, including a fast run to the pond store because, of course, I misjudged the length of tubing needed and had to run for more, and a splicer part.







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[frogman3]

Julles sounds great....now where are the pics.

[Kittyzee]

Julles--you gotta go get a CHEAP digital camera so you can take pics and we can see your 'stuff'!   

[miguynmkoi]

Even cell phones take decent photos!  NEED VISUALS!