indoor micro koi pond project!!!!!

Hey everyone! just thought id share what im working on right now. I really wanted to get in on all the fun pond action going on right now. but dont have much spare cash or room. So i decided to USE WHAT I GOT!!!!! With the exception of and upper waterfall basin, some bio filtration media to go in the upper waterfall basin and some fish. I will have pieced this little pond together from free wood piles. A bin from home depot i was storing fish stuff in, some 5 mil plastic to line the little flower boxes i added along the back and side rim. an old pump and some tubing. always wanted to do this! any advice would be appreciated! will keep posting as it progresses. This is just day 1....

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Interesting.. I'll be watching for updates.   

That looks really cool! Definitely interested in how this turns out for ya!

What a great idea. I love the planting areas you set up around the pond. Those will give you the opportunity to add some beautiful plants...just watch the drainage on those as your liner will not allow excess water to drain away and it could pool in it. If you just set potted plants in that area it might be better than putting say soil in there as having the potted plants would allow you to remove them when needed to clear out any standing water.

Great Idea cichlid gal! ive been thinking of how to solve that one. sometimes the simplest solutions are the best!

whoops signed in under my girlfriends profile again. we both say thank you for the advice! -oddballer

I dont know why I pictured filling up that thing with the fish that eat dead skin and the charge for 'spa' services.   
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Now that you have that awful picture in your head... that really is a cool little mini pond!

haha Wow I've seen then before and it gave me the heeby geebies then! lol

Just imagine slipping into the water and feeling all those little mouths nibbling.... nom, nom, nom

kah kah! haha I'll continue on with my own pedicures.

How about a pedi while sitting next to the pond watching the fish feed? If you do, share pics of the fish feeding!

MRTom wrote:How about a pedi while sitting next to the pond watching the fish feed? If you do, share pics of the fish feeding!

Now that's good idea! Now to convince Oddballer to give iSsFiSh12 the pedicure! lol

THAT IS HILLARIOUS!!!! we were totally thinking of adding a chair and a bookshelf next to it and we arent 100% on what we should stock it with. leaning towards small koi breads. gunna paint it today. still trying to think of waterfall alternatives to the classic black basin. as DIY as possible without looking terrible   

Terra cotta pot spill over!

I like the terra cotta spill over idea! I was even thinking of disguising a 5 gal bucket full of bio media of some sort, with a simple in&out port. BUT! I happened upon a waterfall basin so I figure i should use it. Caulked and painted yesterday. now to install the pump and waterfall   
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just an update on some progress made today. had fun beach colming for rocks and drift wood. what a nice day!!!! gunna let it cycle for a week or so. At least as long as it takes to decide what to stock it with.   
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Looks good!   

  NICE!

You could probably tuck some marginal plants around the rocks also to cover the plastic and I bet they would do great. Good looking setup and sweet project.

thanks everyone! its been a fun little project. cichlid gal- thats a great idea! Thanks for the advice! now I need to find a dwarf koi breed. if that exists. Id hate to have my koi out grow the tiny pond and have to part with them. plenty of time to think about it i suppose while the pond cycles for a week or two.   

Wow looking awesome! I'm going to show this to my mom and I bet she's going to be jealous. She needs one of these on her patio with all her plants!

Pond update: Oddballer and I came across some free bamboo sticks from the neighbors, so we decided to decorate the pond! The sticks will act as trellis for ivy which we are going to plant in back of the pond and let climb up the bamboo. We went to Swanson's Nursery in Ballard the other day and discovered their AMAZING Koi that they have!!! We also picked up some ground cover plants to grow over the rocks that surround our mini waterfall! Looking forward to adding more plants, and then FISH!!!!

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Beautiful!!! I love those plants you have and those bamboo really fit the overall theme! Very cool you guys!

Looks good with the bamboo and plants in place. Cant wait for the fish pics!

I had no idea of the extent you where taking this thing. Before I was just imagining an oddball mini pond just chilling there. Now you guys have sparked my imagination with flowering ground covers, climbing ivy.... This is really neat guys.

Looking fantastic! This is inspiring yet another home remodel Looking forward to seeing some koi in there!

Thanks guys! this was such a spur of the moment project im feeling good about how its coming along. besides a few more plants, the only thing im having trouble deciding on is what to stock it with. of course id love to raise some real koi. But, i dont like the idea of inevitably having to re-home them. Im leaning towards raising some ranchu goldfish instead. two max with maybe a few pond mates. But i like the idea of raising the ranchu goldfish to maturity instead of having to pawn my koi off to someone with a MUCH nicer pond lol!  

I can't wait for the fish!!! gonna be SWEET! I told Oddballer we could just build another pond if we got Koi but we have to be realistic here.. Not sure about the extent as to how far this could go in our rental apartment! Landlord doesn't even know about Micro yet LOL!!!!!

id go for the ranchu as well, its perfect for viewing them (i know it seems silly but theyre meant to be viewed from above) plus worst case scenario u can still keep them in a tank (since ur concerned about rental issues)

PS: on a side note make sure you have renters insurance (make sure you have waterbed type coverage from any water damage) besides that i just greatly unexaggerate the size of my tanks (my 125 is the "55")

Haven't been on here in a while, but I thought I would share the latest update to the micro pond. I finally got around to adding some legitimate filtration. I came across some older in-line canister filters and plumbed one in this morning. Im just using activated carbon on the bottom and a sponge on the top of the canister. Id like to upgrade to a finnex px-360 canister filter. I think it would fit nicely in my limited space. I added a few goldfish, and I REALLY enjoy viewing them from above   . once the pond becomes more stable, I still plan on re-homing the basic goldfish and adding a couple ranchu goldfish.
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That looks STUNNING! I love being able to see the goldfish from above, and I really love the aesthetics you two have don with the pond, especially the wood accents, it really ties everything together! Great job!!

^ What he said.   LIKE!

cool project, i never saw your thread before now and it's cool to see how it came together all at once. You could try getting some of your aquatic plants to grow up out of the basin eventually, that would be another nice touch to see immersed/emmersed growth on the same plant in a pond setting

When I first looking at the view down pic, I thought there were pennies in the pond...LOL...the old wishing well vision. It's funny how your mind does that to you. I think this is the coolest project ever and so creative. How fun to have a pond inside the house. Plants are looking happy and what Luminous said, finding some plants that would grow submersed/immersed(emmersed).

Thanks you so much! I really like the plant idea! I must give credit where credit is due. The aesthetics have been mainly issfish12's doing, I just had the idea and built it   . I wonder what would make good some good specimens? The plants seem to really love the hydro farm t5 light fixture im using. So does the algae though   . But im hoping to get a replacement bulb for an 8 watt in-line uv clarifier i happened upon. That should clear things up real nice!   ! here are a few clearer pics of our little pond dwellers.
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What do you have so far? Looks like maybe frogbit floating, and some anubias on the bottom? You could definitely try something that grows faster so that it would break the surface sooner for you, but I really haven't looked into very many plants for emmersed growth... The only one I have done is a little ludwigia hybrid that ended up breaking the surface in the little vial it was living in and started sprouting emmersed leaves.

Also, the algae on the abubias should subside eventually, so don't worry too much about it. I am surprised that there is that much diatom coverage with no substrate... I always thought it was my sand that gave the diatoms their food, but I guess they can pop up even without any additional silicates for their shells. Maybe the rocks are leeching some minerals?

hmmm. diatoms huh? I will be the first to admit that i am very "green" when it comes to plants of the submersed variety. I can hold my own in the garden but my aquarium has never flourished the way i would like. Those anubias have actually been transplanted from my 55 communal tank. Ive been told it is due to a deficiency of some sort. But i haven't found a supplement to remedy it yet. I've really only had success with the lillies and some "wonder bulbs" from aquarium co-op.