Featured member pond
In the summer of 2006 a long time dream of Pats to have a pond in the garden finally came true,( much to Alan’s delight ha!) in the form of a Koi Pond.
The main pond is approx. 12ft by 8ft. flowing into a smaller skimmer/bog garden pond of approx.3ft. by 4ft (total surface area approx. 108 sq. ft. The pond holds approx 3600 us gallons of water.
The pond is made of an estimated 12 tons of fieldstone from a friends farm and has a 45ml rubber liner. There is plenty of aeration, provided by a 40L. Hakko air pump and a 5 tier waterfall.
The water is pumped at 2400gph through a three part Vortex filter system made by Nitritech using brushes and media pads. Each of the ponds has a bottom drain. After filtering , the water passes through an 80 watt UV-C lamp then back to the pond via the waterfall or an inlet pipe.
Once the ecosystem , ( the appropriate bacteria balance for a healthy environment for the Koi and plants ) etc was established , the pond has remained very clear with minimum maintenance on our part.
We have a very nice selection of beautiful Koi and some nice goldfish also that are a delight to observe – especially after dark as we have three underwater lights that give a wonderful perspective.
Our pond was designed and constructed by Moad Mountain Enterprises of Vankleek Hill.
Biography of Toad Mountain Park Pond,
Home to Paula and Verne’s Koi.
above is pictured Dieter, an 18" surgoi
Toad Mountain Park is a three stage liner KOI POND system operating with a water falls. This means the system is dug into the ground and lined with liner and rocks around the rim of the system and no rocks inside the pond itself.
The Main pond known as Toad Mountain Lake is the koi pond and contains about 2000 gallons of water and is home to Verne and Paula’s 18 koi. This pond is connected to the bog filter (skimmer) which contains about 225 gallons and about 12-14 inches of clay with wild water lilies and cat tails. The water flows from the bog filter into Toad Mountain Pond containing about 600 gallons for a total of about 2700 gallons.
The koi pond and the bog filter are lined with epdm vinyl plastic while Toad Mountain Pond is lined with 40mil rubber liner, which was a recent change from the original 1983 swimming pool liner.
The system is powered by a Pond Master Mag drive 3600 gph pump, pumping into two 55 gallon barrel filters equipped with bio balls and 6 bio filter media pads.The filtered water flows by gravity out over the water falls which has 6 tiers of rocks going back into the pond .
The algae is controlled by an Emperor Aquatics 80 watt Ultra Violet Light independently fed by a Pond Master Mag drive 1200 g.p.h. pump. Aeration is completed with a Hakko 60 Air Pump and three 6 inch air stones.
Pond maintenance is carried out every two weeks by washing out the pads of one of the barrel filters, each filter is cleaned monthly. The bog filter is drained and wet-vacuumed on a monthly basis.
Water monitoring is also done weekly checking the ammonia, nitrite and ph levels
Water Changes are carried out weekly by dropping 8-10 inches of water which represents about 450-500 gallons of water. This gets rid of dead water and any build up of nitrates.
Future Plans are to enlarge the pond, equip with a bottom drain to a three stage Nitratech filter system.
Winter Holding Tank.
This is a 1200 gallon tank constructed of 2x6 lined with chip board and a 40 mill rubber liner. Equipped with a 4 inch bottom drain to a 55 gallon barrel vortex and filtered by a large Bubble Bead Filter and powered by a 2400gph Sequence Pump. Aeration is handled by a Hakko 60 air pump with three 6 inch air stones.
The 18 koi along with 6 from a friend’s pond are usually brought inside during the last week of October and sent back to the pond in May.