Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Bathtub Koi Pond


A fellow blogger, Barbara, of Clay Garden remarked about my koi pond in a previous post. When we moved here there was an old bathtub which was used for a cattle watering trough. It was a huge, cast iron, claw foot tub, minus the feet. We wanted to dispose of it but it was too heavy to move very far even with a tractor. So we tried to think of how we could camoflauge the tub. We installed a bathtub koi pond with just the cost of a few fish, plants, some materials we had on hand, and some hard work.

When we made our parking area, I had an idea to make a turn around in the middle and thought about making a bathtub koi pond. Gary placed the bathtub on top of the ground with the tractor. We connected a PVC pipe to the bottom of the drain. We put the PVC pipe in in case we ever wanted to drain the tub. Then Gary piled some nice compost enriched soil all around the bathtub about two feet wide, right up to the top of the bathtub. We placed rocks we gathered on our property riprap fashion, around the soil to prevent erosion.


I planted shrubs on the east and west side of the tub to shade the water part of the day. I planted bottlebrush, cotoneaster parney and red yucca. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't use the bottle brush because the flowers drop in the pond and I have to keep cleaning the flowers out the pond. I put a rubber stopper in the bathtub drain and filled the tub full of water. I had some old ceramic molds and put them in the bathtub and placed water plants in pots on top of them. The water plants are fiber optic grass, pickerel rush, and penny wort. If a pond has more than 6 hours of sunlight a day, algae grows more easily. We let the tub "age" for about a month.

I purchased four very inexpensive koi and placed them in the pond. During the hottest part of summer the water in the tub stays cool. The soil surrounding the tub insulates it and the depth of the water helps keep it cool too. The plants put oxygen in the water and help to keep it clean. During the summer I regularly refill the water which evaporates. I found the copper float in our yard and placed it on a piece of rusty rebar as an ornamental sculpture. The image above was taken two summers ago. Notice the copper float is above the level of the shrubs. Now the shrubs are much taller than the float.


The koi were one inch long when I brought them home four years ago. One fish died the first week and a month later I found one fish skeleton on the ground. The other two fish, one solid orange and one orange and white, are now eight inches long and their bodies are getting nice and plump. They actually look like koi now instead of gold fish. When visitors come to my garden, they don't even notice the pond unless I point it out to them. A pond really attracts all kinds of wildlife to the garden. The first week I put the water in the pond, I saw water bugs in the pond and noticed birds and lizards visiting the pond to get a drink. One time I even saw two very large toads beside the pond. If you've ever thought of having a koi pond I recommend a bathtub koi pond.


Gaillardia 'Torchlight' or Blanket Flower is blooming in front of my studio right now. It's a member of the sunflower family and is drought tolerant. Blanket flower refers to the resemblance of brightly patterned Native American woven blankets. I know I promised a post on how I plan on hanging my wall panels. I finally got some more epoxy so I'll work on that post tomorrow.

12 comments:

  1. What a wonderful small oasis with the water and beautiful plants. Good idea to elevate the whole area up to the level of the top of the tub to make a turn-around. Do the koi get their food from the "pond" like goldfish do, or do you have to feed them sometimes? I filled in my small but deep backyard "pond" after a few years because it had become a popular spa and lap pool for raccoons from at least 2 counties but I miss it. Thanks for the pictures of yours.

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  2. you are so smart! What a tinker and doer you are. I love the pond.
    A real recycled project.
    I would love a small pond- but Mark says we have a pond and pet fish. He goes out and plays with them when he can.

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  3. of course you know I meant THINKER!

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  4. **** PLEASE NOTE - Folks with small children should be careful putting in ponds since they could be a drowning hazard - probably less so if they are raised up like this bathtub one rather than at walking level. *****

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  5. linda, Charming pond; we have had several. Currently only have salamanders in ours. Had frogs for several years. The raccoons come and knock all the rocks over and mess things up.. we live near a little lake and get all forms of critters. thanks for posting. Joan T

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  6. Hi Barbara, Perhaps that's who ate my first fish I found on the ground, the raccoons. I feed the fish regular aquarium fish food. I was using the pelletized food, but a friend said they really like the flake food - and they do - they have been growing faster since I started feeding a combination. Also there is a type of floating food that will last a week and get that if I go away, but I also think they eat natural stuff that lands in the pond like bugs, toad eggs, etc.

    Hi Meredith, I hope to see your pond some day, it looks so beautiful in your photos. We stayed at a campground in Sequim Washington once and that had a nice pond there with very large trout - it was so cool.

    Hey, I am a thinker, a tinker - er and a stinker, he he.

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  7. Hi Joan, the pond has actually turned out to be such a joy. One time a garden club came for a tour here and I was telling them all about how "a pond attracts wildlife" and at that very moment one of the ladies said "Look, there is a toad!" "There's two of them!" Sure enough one was in the pond laying eggs and one was burying itself under the lip of the pond - it was one of those perfect garden tour moments, I couldn't believe it.

    I bet that lake near you is nice.

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  8. what a gorgeous flower. hope to have a koi bathtub pond someday. if that becomes a reality, I'll contact you for more insight!

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  9. Hi Amy, thans, I have even heard of people having a pond in a half wine barrel on their patio or insie in bowl. Fish are so relaxing to look at, of course that is one more responsibility and too often I think I don't need any more things to do in my life.

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  10. One time a garden club came for a tour here and I was telling them all about how "a pond attracts wildlife" and at that very moment one of the ladies said "Look, there is a toad!" "There's two of them!" Sure enough one was in the pond laying eggs and one was burying itself under the lip of the pond

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  11. Hello Linda! I landed on your blog because I´m building a bathtub pond, and I´, looking in the net for ideas. Then I saw you are from near the Sequoia National Park, which I visited when I was 20 years old, in 1981. Then I saw you havn´t had a visitor from Southamerica yet, so, hello, and greetings from Uruguay! Very soon, because today starts our spring, and I hope the grass will grow very fast, I´ll send you pictures of my pond, having taking ideas from you, thanks! Love, Karin.

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  12. Hi Karin, how wonderful you are building a bathtub pond. My fish are still living in the pond withe water plants in the water and other plants to shade the tub from the hot summer sun. No pump or anything. I guess the water plants put the oxygen in the water. I fill up the water during the summer when it evaporates and give the fish that flake gold fish food which they love and that is it. I think one reason my fish have done so well is I packed earth around the outside of the tub/pond and have it shaded part of the day with taller plants to prevent algea from growing. The water is very clear in there even to this day - it is naturally clean the water plants must keep it clean. This is truly amazing to me and I would build another one of these again. Good luck with your pond I look forward to hearing about it.

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