In May 2019, we were able to finally start on a longtime dream of local business Fairview Water Gardens — to install a pond at our “Country Park.” Country Park is a unique outdoor area for children, families and friends to gather or have birthday parties and events.
Adding a pond to this area was the perfect touch.
We had a location picked out where the pond could be enjoyed from anywhere in the park area. We decided to build a 2,000-gallon pond that was 15 feet long, 9 feet wide and 2 feet deep with an extradentary waterfall. Since the area where the pond would go was flat, we had to raise the waterfall 5 feet with dirt from the pond excavation to get our height and hope that there was enough to get it done.
The next step was to choose our equipment for this project. As we have seen, the one thing you can never have enough of in a koi pond is filtration, so we always go heavy in that area. We used an EasyPro Mini Skimmer, Atlantic 6,000-gph pump and an EasyPro Melody Waterfall Box packed full of filtration media and bags of Fish Floss for our secondary filtration. The true power in our designs comes from the EasyPro Bio-Bead Filters and 25-watt UV System from Misty Mountain. With this combination, the pond would be able to safely sustain a fish load that a pond double its size would have a hefty task keeping clean.
Next, it was time to begin our excavation. We marked out our rough digging parameters and began scooping out that good old South Carolina red clay and piling and compacting it where our waterfall would go. Once the excavator had done its job, we began digging and shaping the final shape the old-fashioned way — with shovels and a little bit of technological help from our trusty transit to ensure we kept everything level. Once the final excavation of the pond was completed, we realized that we were still about 5 yards short of dirt to form our waterfall. Luckily, we had 24 acres of property on-site for sourcing more dirt. After about a dozen or so trips back and forth with the tractor, we had enough, so we cut in our form for the waterfall. After the entire excavation was scoured with a fine-tooth comb to remove all small roots and rocks that could be hazardous to our liner, we began installing our underlayment and liner. We chose to do a one-piece liner for the pond and waterfall to reduce any chance of leaks in the future.
Now it was on to my favorite part — setting all the rock and watching the pond begin to take on a life of its own. Once all the boulders were set, we put a layer of river rock around the outside edge of the boulders to aid in keeping unwanted debris out of the pond during heavy rains and to help give some more character to the pond. Once we had all of our rock set and the waterfall foamed, it was time to rinse the pond and the rock to get all the dirt — and our not-so-good friend, red clay — off them to prevent it from washing into the pond in the future.
After about four hours of rinsing the rock and pumping and pond vacuuming out the dirty water and debris, it was time to start our final fill. While the fresh water was filling, we took this time to take care of our pondscaping to give it a polished look. We added two different colors of mulch to add some unique contrast to the area.
After mulching and adding some plants and statuary, we dechlorinated the water and added some lilies and pickerel rush. Then it was time for that fateful moment — plugging everything in. To our enjoyment, everything worked perfectly! The time was nigh to introduce the stars of the show — a carefully selected group of beautiful high-quality premium koi from Fairview Water Gardens — to their new home. With this beautiful pond and its new inhabitants, Fairview Water Gardens Country Park now has a new showpiece and added dimension to the area for all who visit to enjoy and relax by the pond, which is aptly named True Tranquility.
