My boyfriend and I enjoy our koi pond so much that we've decided to make one specifically for breeding and keeping big ranchu! Having the 180 gallon aquarium for my fancies is wonderful but I am excited about a ranchu only pond. We are redoing the front deck, and we decided why not? It will be sunk into the deck (roughly 5 feet deep) and will hold about 1200 gallons. Today we went to the pond place and got a really nice in line pump and 10,000 GPH filter for this bad boy. We've decided the water return is going to be one of those giant basalt rock pillar/fountain deals Our winters are mild (it usually doesn't even snow) so we are going to heat it very well and of course have emergency tanks in case of a freak winter. The only issue we are having, is the pump and filter are going to be so strong we worry about small ranchu (heck, even big ones for that matter) not being able to handle the intake. We're trying to come up with a way to make the intake more gentle or keep the ranchu from getting plastered to the pond wall. Aaron had the great idea of having the intakes covered with a relatively thin grate and under a thin layer of gravel. Or the intakes will be corrugated (sp?) piping, the type with evently spaced holes, to prevent the large gravel from clogging it. Anyway, it's great to have a new project, especially for RANCHU! I'll get some pics up as soon as we get this show on the road. (Could be awhile though, we want to plan this out carefully)

Water quality will be amazing and personally the strong GPH rate actually makes fish stronger and healthier in my opinion, but if you are still to worried you can run a water feature which makes the water pressure slow down bunches and adds a great effect.

U can add a pre-filter over the intake?

Sounds like a very exciting project and I'm looking forward to updates and step by step pics of course when the time comes. Can't imagine many things nicer than sitting out on your deck looking at the pond you made and your favorite fish swimming around in it.

You could fashion a cage out of two perforated lily baskets for the pump, that way it would be easy to access the pump for cleaning. Water lily baskets can be found wherever they sell water plants. I've even seen them at Home Depot and Lowes. For that matter, you could even fashion one yourself with black plastic craft mesh and fishing line. Use the fishing line to "sew" up the sides of the plastic craft mesh, making a box and put the pump in that. No need to bury the intake in gravel, although doing that would work too.

Your pond sounds wonderful. :-)

I was wondering how you are going to heat your pond?

Ranchu-only pond sounds great! I love those fat, chubby fish, and you have a beautiful one in your avatar!

For the strength of the output, you can play around a bit as to where you'll direct the output. Fish do get stronger with a current, as long as there is a spot in the pond where they can rest, away from the strongest water power. I like to direct the output alongside the walls of the pond, not directly into the center. That way you'll create somewhat of a mild tornado effect, with the water going in rounds alongside the perimeter of the pond, but it stays relatively calm in the center.
That way it also helps to draw any waste towards the center of the pond, where it can be easily removed by either a vacuum or a bottom drain.

Thanks for the input, guys After much deliberation we've decided to do the intake undergravel. Basically we've got a long corrugated (sp?) pipe that winds almost the full length of the bottom of the pond for even intake. Andrea, we have decided to do basically exactly what you said We're splitting the output.. diverting half of it through a basalt column and the other half we're sneaking right behind the column- half will go up in a fountain and fall in, the other half will be running alongside the wall. Glad to know their swimming strength will increase with heavy flow!!

After a lot of research on heating the pond and keeping it at Ranchu safe temperatures, we're building a greenhouse like tarp for the winter (according to sources this will keep it about 10 degress warmer) a de-icer just incase and two heavy duty heaters. Here are some pics of the progress -

- after the boards were brought up- support beams still in place.

filter and pump inplace next to the pond and under decking. We've made a trap door for this with a recessed latch under the rug infront of the front door- can't even tell it's there

- support beams out and smoothed.

- beggining the structural support to raise the pond and the little shelf you see is for the basalt column to sit on. Obviously all of this will be under underlayment and liner.

- more of the structure gone up. This pond is gonna be deep!

Perhaps a slightly unorthodox way to do a pond but should work just great. We bought the underlayment and liner today. On the front side of the pond (since we are raising it and covering the outside with the same planks our deck is made from) we are leaving roughly a 3 foot by 2 foot space in the front side of the pond we're going to make an acrylic window in for vieweing into the pond More pics soon!