Hello!

[buckry]

Hello,

My name is Ryan and I'm a pond newbie in Indiana. I started with a preformed pond last year and have had so much fun I just had to dig a custom pond this spring. I'm actualy not even done with it, the water has only been in the pond for about 4 days. I'm the proud owner of 12 baby koi and 12 1 year old goldfish. I will post some pictures of my ponds tonight when I get the uploaded from my camera.

 

[sissy]

Welcome but that many fish will never work ,sorry to say and remember they have babies

I have 13 fish and really to many for my pond and it is 10 feet wide 4 1/2 feet deep by 20 feet long with 2 filters and 2 waterfalls and still have to build a bigger filter and i also have a large aerator

 

[buckry]

Well, it's going to take a couple of years until they reach full size. I've got some time to find someone to take a couple of fish off my hands. I can think of a few people that might be interested to stock their farm ponds.

 

[buckry]

I guess I didn't really give the full dimensions of the pond, it's 4' deep 22' by 11'. It's a triangle shape, and my math came up to almost exactly 2000 gallons. I'm working on the stone work now, but I've got 2 custom built filter boxes at each end of the triangle away from the waterfall. It sucks the water from each end and pumps it back to the top of the triangle. So far it's doing a great job cleaning all of the clay and dirt I'm dumping into while working on the edging. I've actually decided to spend the next day cleaning and brushing off my flagstone, it's just so dirty I really need to take care of that before continuing.

 

[sissy]

Close to the same size as mine .My koi have been the same size or around that size for 4 years .Seems koi grow in spurts .I have a 2900 gph pump and a 2150 gph pump .I let some of the water in both pumps go back into the pond via fountain heads and just a hose to keep the water moving in the middle of the pond to help keep it clean and aerated .I have to net the bottom of the pond also to pull up some of the fish waste .



This my low area coming out of my filter and is around 3 feet wide and 3 feet long and is about 8 to 12 inches deep and that depends on the amount of water in the pond at the time .This I am going to rebuild to make it deeper and bigger and wider .The new filter will be 3 feet by 3 feet by almost 3 feet deep .I found the tank at lowes and not sure what it is used for but it was by the garbage cans and was 22 dollars and nice and heavy and sturdy .

 

[buckry]

My filters are rubber buckets, about 20" round. I have several different layers of filter material in them, and nestled inside is a 1/6 HP sump pump. I used this filter all of last year and this year and after I upgraded to some pond filter boxes and a danner pump my pond has taken a small step backwards. I think I'm going to put one back in my goldfish pond because I'm sick to death of changing filter pads on that filter box.

 

[sissy]

Aren't the pads washable .I was my top pads and then soak them in peroxide to kill algae and then put them back in and i use lava rock and I soak it in peroxide for a week before I put it in the filters.

 

[buckry]

Yeah, they're washable, I have 2 sets, I put in the new set and rinse off the old set and let it dry, but this process is happening at least every other day, sometimes I have to do it every day. It's ridiculous.

 

[sissy]

I soak mine in peroxide and water then set it out to dry and not sure why it should be so dirty every day .Are you talking about algae or just fish waste .I know the filters are not cheap either but there are alternatives to the expensive ones .Just have to look at every thing a little different .

 

[j.w]

Ryan

 

[buckry]

Just algae, not much waste or uneaten food in them, just green stuff. I make my own filters from time to time with a natural fiber, cheese cloth, and carbonized charcoal. Those work just as well as the storebought ones, definitely a lot cheaper, but they take a little more to deal with due to them being in a couple of pieces, versus just one.

 

[sissy]

You can use quilt batting to pick up the finer algae cells .I put all my filter pads on top of the quilt batting this way the pick up the heavy stuff and the quilt batting picks up the finer stuff .

 

[buckry]

Here is the most recent shot of my koi pond. I'm working on the bridge now, once that's in place I'll finish up the rock laying and get everything all locked down. Then all I have to do is waterproof the waterfall and get some new grass to grow all around it and I'd say it's done.

 

[j.w]

Looks really nice!

 

[lovinglife]

Very nice, but you know those goldfish will be giving you LOADS of babies eventually. Then you will be like me, "OMG now what do I do with 500 baby goldfish..." I would tell you what I did, but some may not approve..... :redface: