I decided to build this Koi pond after visiting Japan a number of times and admired their water gardens ponds and Koi. Our design has three ponds, the top pond has water hyacinths in it and is the filter for the pond, the water is crystal clear. The middle pond has a waterfall from the top pond where the water gets aerated. The bottom pond holds about a 2000 gallons of water and the koi.

We enjoy relaxing beside the pond listening to the water cascades over the waterfall into the pond. Dragon flies dart in and around the shrubs and plants, bees and humming birds are busy flying from flower to flower. We sit for hours lazily in our lounge chairs listening and watching while the Koi swim around in the water garden pond.

The water lilies have large pink and red blossoms and the water is crystal clear. I have about 6 water lily plants in there and they cover almost all the pond in the summer time. They die off in the fall back to their roots and re-grow in the spring as the days get longer and warmer.

We have about 40 Koi in the pond, it is hard to get an correct number as they never stop moving. I buy small Koi that are 2 to 3 inches long. They grow to over 10 inches.

Egrets are the most frequent visitors to our pond. They will fly onto our roof or the neighbors roof then drop down onto our patio and wade into our pond. If we see the egret, we will let our dog chase them off. He hasn’t jumped into the pond since he was a pup.

The raccoons like to play in the pond and sit on the water lily containers. I saw a mother and 3 baby racoons play and try to catch the Koi in our water garden pond.

I laid out the pond design for our do it yourself Koi pond, with stakes and string. I laid down 3″ PVC pipes to pump water from the lower pond to the top pond. I treated the block wall with asphalt paste as I piled dirt against this wall. I stacked 4 railroad ties two layers high in an L shape to make the front edge of the upper pond and to make the waterfall.

I then made a 1/4 circle ridge from the ends of the ties to make a small middle pond where water would roll over the full 1/4 circle edge into the bottom pond. I dug the lower pond about 18″ deep putting most of the dirt into the retaining walls of the upper two ponds. I covered all the ponds with a PVC liner that I cut and glued to fit.

I started with a 1/5 horse power above ground pump with a 2″ inlet and outlet. This provided a good flow of water over the waterfall. Sometimes it would lose its suction and I would have to re-priming the pump.

I finally found a submersible 1/3 horse power water pump that was OK to use in a Koi pond. Check the fine print, some pumps cannot be used in a fish pond. I found this out after about 6 months when I tried to get a replacement pump.

I designed and built this water garden pond about 15 years ago and we have had good luck with it. The raccoons and egrets like it also.