Every so often, I get sent a story that makes me smile — and this one’s from Reinhilde in Belgium, who reached out after reading one of my emails to share how her pond came to life.
It’s a perfect example of starting small, learning along the way, and proving you don’t need expensive gear to enjoy a clear, healthy pond.
Reinhilde’s Story
Hello Kev,
Just read your last email, and yes, I’d like to share my story.
I live in Belgium with my husband, where we are currently experiencing a wet autumn with temperatures around 10°C. It all started very innocently and on a small scale, but I quickly got the taste for it — and now I have a pond of 1,500 litres.
But let me start at the beginning. Because we (my husband and I) love gardening, we had three raised vegetable beds installed in our garden a few years ago. The first one, which was closest to our home and kitchen, became an herb garden.
After a while, I missed some coziness and movement and decided to install a round tub of about 100 litres. I planted some plants and installed a small fountain. When my daughter-in-law came to visit, she was enthusiastic but felt something was missing… and a few days later, a small koi and two goldfish were swimming around in it!
With a small filter, I kept the water surprisingly clear, but I started feeling sorry for Eddy (that’s what I called my koi) and began looking for a larger alternative. At first, I looked at ponds around 500 litres, but my husband was of the opinion that if I was going to do it anyway, I should make it as big as possible in my herb garden.
And so it happened — the herbs were moved to the second raised bed, and the digging work for a preformed 1,500-litre pond had begun. That was last August.
By then, I had already spent many hours surfing the internet to inform myself as best as possible, and luckily I came across Ozponds. I’ve spent hours watching all your videos!
Pond supply stores here in Belgium love to boast about super-expensive filters, products, and so much more that it makes your head spin. Watching your videos convinced me there was another way.
In my small pond, I had just a simple pump with some pebbles, zeolite, and gravel — and the water was crystal clear. Luckily, I have a handyman, and together we put together a bog filter. There’s a prefilter in the pond, which sends the water to the bog filter. The bog is filled with large pebbles, lava stones, zeolite, small stones, and plants for extra purification. After the winter, we’ll add more.
There are a number of oxygenating plants in the pond, and Eddy has been joined by two koi friends. They’re all doing well for now.
We’ve made a shelter to protect them from birds of prey and cats, and a rain cover for the heavy rainfall. Of course, it’s still a work in progress. There are many more plants to be added next spring, but because it’s so late in the season, that isn’t an option for now.
Maybe we’ll increase the bog filter size a bit in the future, but for now, it does what it’s supposed to do.
It might not be the most lifelike pond I see in your garden, but for us, this was the most feasible option — and it works!
If you have any thoughts or advice, I would be happy to hear them.
I wish you a nice day or evening, whatever the case may be over there.
Greetings,
Reinhilde
Kev’s Note
I love this story — Reinhilde’s setup proves once again that you don’t need to spend a fortune on gear to have clear, healthy water.
Natural filtration, simple materials, and a bit of curiosity go a long way.
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