Big move but still want koi!!

[mellis18]

My wife and I just recently moved to Utah from CA. In CA we turned a swimming pool into a koi pond and it was fabulous. Our location in CA made it pretty easy to raise and keep koi due to almost perfect weather conditions. Now that we are in Utah, near Provo, we want to create another koi pond. We know the conditions are going to dictate that we take added precautions in the preperation and maintenance of the pond and koi so I'm hoping that we can rely on this forum to guide us through. We will be starting from scratch, i.e., digging the hole, plumbing, etc. so any advice and precautions that can be provided by the experts on this forum will be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome back! I am not too familiar with UT, but our son moved out there to work last year. He’s in Orem — where are you in relation?

 

[Brian B]

I am interested too. Wife and I are moving from the CA central valley to Montana next year.....I am really curious how anybody does aquascapes in places that get below freezing.

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome @mellis18 and @Brian B ! We have an aquascape style pond in the Chicago area where it definitely gets cold! The biggest considerations are pond depth and waterfall construction. I think it's best if you build your pond so it can run all winter long, which requires some pre-planning.

To successfully overwinter your fish your pond needs to be deep enough so they can stay below the ice. Here in my area many ponds are built only 24 inches deep and the fish do fine. Our pond is 3 feet deep - we like the look of a bit deeper pond.

Our waterfall is built to accommodate freezing and the build up of ice - you want to make sure that, even when ice starts to form, the water will stay inside the waterfall and not be diverted out of the pond. Basically that requires your waterfall to be built wide enough and with edges that are higher than the middle - concave I guess is what I'm going for.

You'd also want to use a submersible pump as opposed to an external pump and place the pump where it stays below the ice. Most choose to put there's in the skimmer box. Ours is in the rain exchange, which is six feet below ground level.

So that's a simplistic 1-2-3. Ask any questions you might have! Lots of friendly, helpful folks here! Check out my pictures in my signature - I should add some winter time pictures so people can see how pretty it is to run all pond all winter long!

 

[sissy]

look at Canada ponders and if they can do it you can .Welcome back .I know a good source of info would be from colleen .