LARGE PONDS are NOT bigger SMALL ponds. What is a large pond?

I would class anything over 1,000 gallons or 5,000 litres as a large garden pond and anything over 4,000 gallons or 20,000 litres as a very large garden pond. When you start talking about large to very large ponds then the implications to your pocket are significant. The bigger the pond the greater the amount and efficiency of the equipment required and the more there is to go wrong. Expert design must be built into the pond and there will inevitably be a lot more plumbing and electrics involved.

I am specifically talking about fish ponds where crystal clear water is the prime requirement .... most large koi ponds seek this objective. This is the list of equipment you will need and it does not cover everything ...

• a 6 feet deep pond

• large specialised biofilter taking up quite a bit of real estate

• lots of UV power

• lots of pump power

• bottom drains and plumbing to match

• sophisticated safe electrical circuitry

• skimmer

• valves

• system draining and so on.

On the other hand if you want a small "natural" pond/lake from then the design approach is very different.

You do NOT need the above and instead you need lots and lots of plants and few fish (just like a natural pond). There is also no point in making it 6 feet deep .... why? You will never see the fish. For this type of pond keep it to max depth of 4 feet with most depth around 3 and a very shallow end with a beach made of pebbles.

Do not over-feed the fish unless you really must do to relieve your own stress .... treat them as native fish and allow them to look after themselves to some extent