How Koi Ponds Are Designed and Constructed

Have you ever wanted to improve your backyard with the serenity of the far east? Or perhaps you want a beautiful alternative to the simple foliage growing behind your home? If so, a koi pond might be the perfect solution. The landscaping professionals at Reflections have successfully designed and installed countless of these koi ponds for our customers and can advocate for their beauty and serenity.

What are koi ponds?

A koi pond is essentially a large tank for koi to swim in. They are constructed with the health and safety of the fish in mind to generate a koi-friendly energy and atmosphere. Sometimes, koi ponds are constructed to be free of rocks, gravel, and aquatic plants so that homeowners have an unobstructed view of the koi (which will also grow larger without those materials). More frequently, homeowners prefer to raise koi in a hybrid-style pond that looks like a water garden to further improve the aesthetics of their backyard. Neither type of pond is better than the other, it’s merely a matter of preference.

Why install a koi pond?

There are many reasons to install a koi pond. Some of the top reasons our customers report include: brings natural beauty to a backyard, raises property values, thought to be stress-relieving, thought to bring good luck and strength, and koi fish are low-maintenance pets for homeowners.

What does the design and construction of a koi pond involve?

While there is some flexibility to customize a koi pond according to a customer’s desires, there are some general guidelines we follow for every koi pond we design. For example, our koi ponds are usually deeper than 4 or 5 feet, don’t contain many plants or sharp stones, and are intentionally low-maintenance in their design.

A koi pond has the following main components as part of its design:

• Skimmer to allow water to be drawn from the surface of the pond
• Bottom Drain to promote the removal of heavy solids
• Mechanical Filter to trap solids
• Biological Filter to convert nitrogenous wastes from the fish and promote the health of the koi
• Ultraviolet light to help algae form into clumps so they can be removed by mechanical filtration
• Water and Air Pumps for circulating water through a filtration system

Our design process is tailored to ensure our customers’ ultimate satisfaction. We follow these five steps to construct a beautiful, unique koi pond:

1. Conduct a phone and email conversation with the potential customer to get to know them and their landscaping needs/wants. During this step, we also determine:
   • The ultimate goal of the koi pond/reason why the customer wants one (e.g. do they want to develop their backyard? Do they want beautiful fish? Will it be a dedicated koi pond or a water garden?)
   • Desired size of the koi pond
   • The amount of maintenance the customer is comfortable with so we can recommend a filtration mechanism
   • Budget
2. Our team creates up a design for the koi pond based on functionality, landscaping limitations, and our conversation with the customer.
3. Our team presents the design to the customer in the form of sketches and models.
4. When the design is approved, we discuss the engineering we expect will be involved in creating the pond especially in regards to the filtration system.
5. Once we have the engineering plan for the pond tied down, we begin construction on the pond.

For more information about koi ponds and our construction process, please click here. You can also check out this case study complete with photos of a koi pond we installed earlier this year for a Chicago homeowner to get a glimpse of what we can do for your backyard. For more information about our company and the landscaping services we offer, visit us at reflectionswatergardens.com or give us a call at 815-955-4911.