a few fish pics & a look at my simple but effective basement pond setup

[koiguy1969]

Hello and welcome. glad you could stop by... O.K to start just a few fish pics....

Hope those were enjoyable..

now on to a bit on my filtration. a simple upflow filter. 55 gal poly barrel with a flush assembly. its fed by a TetraPond 1000gph pump. and prefiltered by a TetraPond barrel style prefilter. ( the larger of the two they make).
the flush assembly is run thru a wall and to the sump vault for the house. this allows the wastes that are flushed from the filter to be pumped out into the sewer system. the downpipe or inlet for the filter is venturied for some extra free aeration. (actually draws quite a bit of bit of air into the filters water column)

now just to touch on light skimming, fines filtration, circulation and more aeration. a simple seperate independant sysem thats self contained and easily maintained. its a simple paper shredder trash can, (a bath sized trashcan would do as well). it has a 1000gph (only 44 watt) fishmate pump mounted to its bottom and plumbed into it via an 1" pvc elbow inside a 2" length of 1&1/4" tubing and a 2" length of pipe reaching up inside the can. inside the can there is a pvc frame about 4" high to hold up a grid, that the fines media sets on. this keeps the fiberfill from getting sucked into the pump inlet, and a good area for the water to disperse the draw from the pump more evenly thru the media. this setup does a fantastic job of catching fines. which tend to accumulate (in suspension) at the waters upper level.
Now the output of pump is elbowed with a 45* and venturied. fed by a 1.75 watt aquarium air pump. this puts out a suprizingly strong stream of fine bubbles for aeration. and a more than adequate flow for circulation.

i just cant seem to get a good picture of the fine bubbles put out...
The comination of the directed flows of both filter units is adequate in flow to create a gentle whirl pool affect and gather the most part of all fish wastes into an easily netted up pile. i also do run a continuous drip system. i open the bio filters flush valve for 15 seconds or so every couple days. and just let it refill. when it hits the line i open it up again.... simple but effective...

 

[callingcolleen1]

KOI Guy, Zone five, can't get THAT cold there, have you every tried to just run your pond all winter? Eventually 800 gallons may not be big enough, some of my big koi are just too big, so it would be hard to move them without major stress. Looks like you put lots of work into your setup. I used to have stock tanks many years ago inside the house, but mold started to grow cause it got too damp.

 

[koiguy1969]

My smallest adult is 18", largest at 2', i dont have any problems moving them. they dont actually put up much of a fuss. i can have all my adults caught and moved in, in a half hour or less. first off they get moved into the same water...so no acclimating needed.. far lessens the stress..i never lift them out of the water by net. always by hand or pillow case. theyre released into the basement pond in less than one minute. they come inside every year, the adults and the youngsters i want to make it thru the winter for sure. this way they continue to be fed and grow until spring when theyre sold. it does not have to be a big stressfull ordeal...heck, they eat from my hand an hour after being moved.... and yes theres some fish left in my outdoor pond every year.. and we are zone 5b here.. thers about 70 juveniles outside this year.

 

[capewind]

It all looks fantastic Koiguy! I need to remember to show hubby your set up. He just got in a 600 pond downstairs (7'x'11'), mainly for plants (except I added the comet babies in with the plants LOL)...at the other end of the basement, instead of being in the middle like the 750 gallon QT. Likely the middle of winter (when he has more time), he is planning to move the QT over to the same area and set up a real filtration system, in its own area. At present, just running "spare parts"...

 

[callingcolleen1]

My friend used to have big koi too and she did the same thing, pumped the water into her garage pond that she had set up, worked good for her too. One day soon (maybe spring) I'm going to have to try the "pillow case" when I rebuilt the top pond where they live, not looking forward to moving them though...

 

[koiguy1969]

JUST A NOTE...untill this year i was buying "Joe Boxer" brand pillows at Kmarts for about $4.00 they had a piece (about 12" x 18") of egg crate foam to cut a nice snug fitting bottom layer,and enough fiberfill to last the winter in a fines filter...this year they went up in price and they no longer have the eggcrate foam. the foam was able to trap the finest of fines. now i will have to make a trip to foam world and buy some... it was amazing how much it would catch even after the fiberfill in visually clean & crystal clear water.

 

[addy1]

Great water, bet your fish are really happy!

 

[j.w]

What a setup koiguy,you have it down pat to a fine system.............looks like it works perfect for you! Great looking fish and they look and sound happy!

 

[waynefrcan]

You never mentioned you're a koi dealer, cool! Advertising that might give your posts more weight as in the "salt in pond" topic, where everyone was against you.

 

[koiguy1969]

waynefrcan...i dont feel the need to argue or validate the salting of my ponds. mine have been in salted ponds for years and are in great health, and highly social, and i have never lost a fish or even had to treat any of them for anything. i've raised my fry every year in a salted fry pond, and tubs... as of yet, i havent seen any downsides. and plants will be negatively affected long before the fish..and my plants thrive as well. that said, if i do experience any negatives, i may quit.
anyways heres a clip of the basement pond....

 

[Craig58]

Very cool. But watch the humidity in the room. Capewind is correct. I use to rehab houses for a living. Have probably done 40-50 of them. Most, if not all, had mold issues with them and we of course got them very cheap. It's not hard to fix the mold issues but it does take some work. You really want to try and keep the humidity below about 12% tops or you will start to get mold given enough time at those levels. Big water in small rooms isn't great for that.

Craig

 

[koiguy1969]

i have a dehumidifier..havent needed it yet.. 6 years and no humidity issues at all. basement is heated. kept at 60 - 65*. water stays at 58 - 60*. not much evaporation at that temp range. i know the problems humidity can cause.. ive been in the building trades and a floor covering tech most of my adult life. (over 30 years) my floor joists have even been tested ...moisture has always been "acceptable". no signs of mold, or mildew.

 

[Craig58]

Cool! Sounds like you have it covered!

Craig

 

[koiguy1969]

thought i might share the skimmer build...
pic #1... is the whole unit ...(basin is an old bathroom size trash can).. weir door blocked with Tenax plastic hardware fencing / netting to keep the little fish out
pic #2..the 865 gph pump. its mounted upside down on the bottom of the trash can. intake is plumbed thru the bottom of can. outlet is 1" pvc and a 45* elbow. its venturied for a little added aeration. the blue line is air line. powered by a 1.75 watt aquarium air pump.

pic #3 ...is the pvc frame for the grid that supports the media. it lifts about 3"- 4" off the bottom.
pic #4...is the grid and a layer of the plastic netting (fencing)
pic#5 .. is the egg crate foam...bottom layer of filter media. ( cut a little big so it fits in tight, so it has a good seal around the edge to the walls of basin (trash can). (egg crate side up) egg crate style foam is used because it can offer more than twice the surface area as a flat surfaced foam
You dont want fines sneaking past..water flows in the direction of the least resistance.

pic #6... the skimmer running with the pillow stuffing (fiber fill) installed. at this point it draws 1/4" of water thru the weir door. the whole assembly is simpley held to the pond wall with a large 'C' clamp. so i can lower it when feeding the fish. so it doesnt suck in all the food. when its down for feeding it draws in from 2" under the waters surface. i also keep my small aquarium net in it, in front of the weir door...it does a good job of catching any poopoo floating around. seems the fiberfill stays cleaner longer..

just a few more pics... #7 & 8 running up..(skimmer mode)... #9 in feeding mode.

The biofilter build can be found here in the DIY section... https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/2766-koiguys-55-gallon-bio-filter-skippy-style/

 

[j.w]

Very clever and looks like it works great koiguy!