The Prequel Pond

Prequels seems to be the trend nowadays when it comes to films, TV shows, books, and lots of other things. There are beginnings to virtually everything so no wonder there is a current trend to look back, to see how things began and what series of events happened that led to the development of how things are now (and in some cases, have been). But more often, the reason for a prequel is that sometimes it's just nice to look back.

Heck, even our big pond construction has a prequel to it!

Blast from the past, year 2008 - before the build of the big koi pond, there was the build 
of this pond, the 'Prequel pond'. The pond that started it all...

Funny how small things can lead into bigger ones, and how one thing can lead into another. It then becomes a chain of events that leads you to something and somewhere new, a place and position that never even crossed your mind before that you will get into and yet find yourself pleasantly surprised that you got there. And from there the journey continues to move on. Such is life!

So how did we end up wanting to construct a large koi pond then? The prequel to the big pond is a small pond, a goldfish pond for that matter. And it was only ever going to be a goldfish pond but one thing led into another...

One of the simple pools of water that we've seen on our travels that inspired us 
to build this pond, but for our garden it will have goldfish in it.

We are gardeners and we love our plants but had always wanted a garden water feature that was formal in shape and similar to some of the small pools of water we've seen on our previous travels (see above). And it would have to have several goldfish in it as it's nice to see some colour and life in the pool of water, as well as finding it relaxing to watch fish swim by. With the pool of water having fish in it, the water must be conducive to fish life hence it would have to have filtration, and a UVC too which will help keep the water clear by preventing algal bloom (green water) so we can see the fish.

So we wanted a goldfish pond to complement the garden. Planning was made and construction begun...

The area we chose to site this pond was right down the bottom of the garden where a
 pig sty used to be (one of the previous owners kept pigs as pets!), where a thick
 concrete base has been laid even before we bought the property

Early beginnings....

Up goes the breeze blocks!

Walls are all up. This pond build didn't take long as there was no digging involved (because a 
concrete base was already there).

Up next, building the smaller pool where water from the filter will go to, which will then cascade 
towards the main pool to create sound and aerate the pond.

But before we can proceed to the final stages, the pond liner must be put in first and the pond filled with water.

By filling the pond first it will ensure that the pond liner is taut and tight against the walls, after which you can then cement down the coping stones.

Coping stones all down on the main pool, just the little pool now left to finish

All done! Now all we needed to do was switch on the filters to clear the water and add goldfish. But we didn't stop at goldfish...

And once it was done it should be easy enough to maintain and we can carry on gardening and pursuing plant interests, we are gardeners after all and not fish keepers (apart from tropical fish in fish tanks). But it was a big goldfish pond, filtration seems good then so why not add one or two more bigger fishes in it, i.e. koi, just to add a bit more 'ooomph' into the pond? With this in mind, a fateful visit to a koi dealer near us was made and it was never the same afterwards...

We saw 'living jewels' and we were hooked....

Looking back at these photos and looking at this pond now, we will always have a sense of fondness for the experience of building this and having it in our garden. Especially now we're planning to deconstruct and rebuild it (perhaps this year, maybe next?) to make it more ideal to keeping koi, rectify the mistakes that were made, and integrate all the retro fitting that had to be done to modify this goldfish pond to suit the special needs of koi that we introduced. 

And speaking of mistakes, we had plenty! It was all part of a learning process, part of the experience and you gain wisdom and knowledge afterwards. Keeping koi was a roller coaster of an adventure for us in the first two years, an adventure that we would have not undergone had if we chosen (or rather been disciplined enough) to just keep goldfish in what really is just a goldfish pond. And I think we've done well, not bad for 'just' gardeners!

The 'Prequel pond'

In my blog post next week it will be all about the adventures (and misadventures) that we had in our first two years of keeping koi and some of the mistakes we made from which we have learned, the precursors that led to us to building a bigger pond, a proper koi pond.

Mark :-)