Considering buying a home w/ existing koi pond

[Insomniak79]

I am currently house hunting and by far and away, my #1 pick just happens to have a koi pond with a small stream feeding into it. To give you some background, I have absolutely no experience with koi ponds, but used to maintain a hard coral tropical reef tank, so I'm hoping a lot of the concepts I learned will be applicable here. As a fan of fish, I'm looking forward to maintaining and improving this feature of the house if I decide to go through and bid on it. Before I make an offer on it, I need to get some honest answers about what needs to be done with this thing and the approximate costs of maintaining it, along with any red flags you notice.

The pond currently contains a single koi, several smaller fish, and doesn't appear to be overcrowded, which is a plus. The environment is northern Delaware, with hot, humid summers and cold winters that usually hit no lower than 10F. From what I can see, it is not bottom drained and looks like it has a couple pumps that normally feed the stream above it. Based off the pictures below, my primary concern is the amount of algae and detritus, which seems to completely cover every surface.

As part of the sale, the home includes the fish and all equipment related to the pond. So far I've seen a filter and a couple pumps, all in working condition, but I don't have any details about their brand, age, or GPM at this point. From what I can see it does not have a skimmer and I'm not sure if it needs one.

Based off observed fish behavior, they do not appear to be stressed and aren't showing obvious signs of infections or parasites. My questions are:

1) What needs to be fixed immediately and approximately how much would it cost?
2) How do I fix it?
3) Does it need a skimmer or any additional equipment?
4) What is a ballpark figure of maintaining this (food costs, maintenance, electricity)? I'd say it's about 10'-15' long, 6' at it's very widest, and perhaps a 1.5' average depth (2.5'-3' at the deep end).
5) Any modifications you'd recommend? e.g. adding plants or equipment
6) Are there any additional red flags that you see, questions I should be asking, or things I should be paying attention to?

Thank you and I appreciate any constructive feedback.

 

[slakker]

I still keep reef tanks at home... I find pond keeping easier (knock on wood so far) than a SPS tank. Just the water changes alone is easier compared to salt mixing, salinity with ATOs, not to mention protein skimmers and calc reactors needed.

A lot of the same theories are the same except I'm not finding an equivalent to Live Rock and DSB for denitrification.

But it's a lot of fun! That pond looks great!

 

[Insomniak79]

No doubt, thanks for the feedback, Mike. I'd assume keeping a koi pond is somewhat easier than a salt water reef, but the things to watch out for are a bit different. At least I won't have to worry about accidentally overdosing kalkwasser.

 

[mtpond]

I have had saltwater tanks for over 20 years. Got into reef tanks a couple years after getting into saltwater tanks, I have had a really good experience saving corals, I love my reef tanks but hubby wants to start traveling so need to get rid of them. . By far my pond is so much easier. Hope I can get someone up here to watch it over the winter.

 

[Insomniak79]

I always enjoyed the challenge of maintaining SW tanks and I can relate to that myself, mtpond. Below my main 60G tank, I had a 40G split refugium with the skimmer and main pump on one side and live sand/algae/recovering corals & fish on the other. I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but I want to redirect this conversation back to the pond that I may possibly be maintaining in the near future and would like to get a few opinions about that. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

 

[sissy]

welcome and to start with have the owners if you decide to put a contract of purchase list all the stuff that is to be left and if you get to closing day make sure everything is still there that is on the list that stays with the house .Also get a home inspector and make sure the pond electric was done to code .I took one pond apart where I was lucky the electric was off as they had run an extention cord for the electric and cut the end off and wired it into a outside use box and the cord under the rocks was severly damaged and could have caused a fire or worse killed some one .Make sure none of the structures built there have been under mined by the pond .Hate to say this but deck 2x2 's would never pass a good building inspector .To the pond it looks good but you may need a pond heater or aerator for winter .Needs a small cleaning ,do fish look healthy enough to you and if house is what you like then you could be getting a nice bonus .Big rock by screened in building is that a skimmer or where the filter is .Find out if you can the wattage of your pumps and sizes meaning gph and I know right now mine with also 2 stock tanks adds about 15 dollars to my bill .Food would depend on how much you feed them I only feed mine 3 or 4 times a week and wait for end of year sale on tetra and got a 5 lb bag for 29 dollars last year at pet mountain .com and still have plenty for next year as long as you keep it cool and out of dampness .Question did you ask him about why the dry stream bed and if a pump maybe pumps water down it .I try to keep my pumps under 150 watts .

 

[sissy]

looks also like he has a barley ball floating at the edge .

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome, and what a deal!

 

[Insomniak79]

Thanks for the advice, Sissy. You're probably right, I didn't get a chance to take a good look at it, but I suspect that's an older barley ball they got in the corner. The house appears to be slightly underpriced from my perspective, based off the neighborhood it's in, along with the quality of the house itself. My agent, my contractor friends, and myself couldn't find any major issues with the house itself outside of a few cosmetic things, which is why I'm heavily leaning towards possible issues with the pond.

Of course, the inspector will tell the story and I plan on having them cover this property with a microscope. As you can see, the house is on a slope and the last thing I want to happen is have the pond spill into the 3 adjacent properties. Thanks for pointing out the issues with the deck, since I wouldn't have noticed that offhand myself. I'll need to take a closer look at those rocks near the screen, since I'm not sure if they're hiding a skimmer or anything else. I'll make sure to take closer pictures the second visit I make there and would appreciate it if you could provide anything specific I should be looking for.

 

[Insomniak79]

Thanks TM! Oh, this house is an amazing deal if I showed you the rest of the property. I'm just suspicious I'm missing something, but then again, koi ponds are a liability for people who do not want them. Fortunately, I do!

 

[JohnHuff]

Welcome! My first thought is that the koi pond should not be the deciding factor on your purchase of the house. Worse come to worse, you could fill it in. I would straight out find the cost of filling in the pond and ask for deduction in that amount. It's possible that the owner is already prepared to do that.

Having said that, I'm the owner of a pond and 2 freshwater tanks and the basic concepts are all the same. In fact, I learned a lot more from owning my tanks than my pond because my pond being larger, has a great margin for error in fishkeeping.

In regard to your questions:

1) What needs to be fixed immediately and approximately how much would it cost?
--- If nothing is broken, then nothing. You should ask the owner if anything is broken or needs to be fixed. The biggest cost would be a hole in the liner or anything structural. Anything else, pumps, skimmers, filters are small cost.

2) How do I fix it?
--- Depends on what's broken.

3) Does it need a skimmer or any additional equipment?
--- You can, if you want.

4) What is a ballpark figure of maintaining this (food costs, maintenance, electricity)? I'd say it's about 10'-15' long, 6' at it's very widest, and perhaps a 1.5' average depth (2.5'-3' at the deep end).
--- Don't know about electricity, but it will depend on what you've got running. Check the usage of your electrical equipment and multiply by the cost of electricity in your municipality. Food costs is dependent on how much you feed.

5) Any modifications you'd recommend? e.g. adding plants or equipment
--- Only if you want, but that's down the road. You might want, need to add lights, netting, more fish, more filters, etc. But let me warn you, once you start, you can't stop!

6) Are there any additional red flags that you see, questions I should be asking, or things I should be paying attention to?
--- I would mainly be concerned about the integrity of the pond, ie. age, leakage, etc.. That would be the biggest issue.

 

[slakker]

I know 2 couples that bought property with a pond and the first thing they did was fill it in... It is not desired by many people, good deal!

 

[sissy]

look first at the breaker box alumiun wiring a no no and had many amps come in and if you have friends that are electrician make sure the box has no double wires going to a breaker .Get a circuit tester that you just pulg into eack outlet and has lights on it that tell you it is wired right .Check gfi 's and gutters and downspouts Look under all sinks for water stains .Tons of other stuff you can do .I had my house in NJ inspected before I put it on the market .Also ask if you can see utility bills like water sewer electric and gas .I privided these to people my self as a booklet that was sitting on the dining room table .My son is a licensed building inspector in NJ and Virginia and was a contractor also at one time .

 

[Insomniak79]

I appreciate the good advice, JH & Mike. I know that the pictures can only tell so much, so I'll make sure the inspector tells me the rest of the story. I'm aware that keeping several koi can add up real quickly, but fortunately this has only one. I would expect heating to not be an issue, since bodies of water don't tend to freeze over in this area, especially with circulated water. Either way, I doubt I'd entirely fill it in. At worst, I'd turn it into a bog garden.

 

[sissy]

true and true also they mentioned liner is it 45 mil .I really think the most expensive part of ponding is your self .We all do it .Keep in mind a budget and stick to it because the first year you are in a house you seem to find everything that needs done no matter new or old .I remodeled 4 fixer uppers and this is the first new house other house I own here is on 12 acres .Oh by the way check the basement well that well tell you if the pond is adding to drainage problems on the property .I have taken out 8 ponds here for realtors because they were bank owned or foreclosed .Yopu can also check on the house through your local building department and the county tax office .The other house I bought was bank owned bank wanted 39 thousand and I told them firm and final 27 thousand they took it .Amaziing world right now .