New garden pond

[hurricaneharry]

Hi guys
Moving house very soon and I'd like a pond in the garden
possibly 10 x 5 and 3 feet deep around 4000-5000 litres
Mainly keeping shubunkins and a couple of koi
For a pond of this size and filter/pump a company told me that a bottom drain is not necessary
Is this correct info?
Thank you

 

[addy1]

4000 liters = around 1000 gallons. Koi get huge the rule of thumb is one koi for 1000 gallons.

I would just stick with shubunkins, they are very pretty and don't need as much water space as koi.
I don't have a bottom drain, with my bog filter I don't collect a lot of muck on the bottom. I do not have koi

 

[mgmine]

I don't have a bottom drain either and I don't think I need one. Do get a skimmer and put your pump in it.

 

[LarryM]

I would definitely stay away from koi. They will outgrow your filtration system in no time and give you headaches. Think of enjoying a nice balanced pond with plants and colorful shubunkins and goldfish swimming around in your beautiful low maintenance pond. Now imagine one or two koi quickly outgrowing their environment, throwing the whole system into chaos.
Your beautiful pond has now become a big problem you didn't want.

 

[Lisak1]

I agree with the others - and hopefully a pond company told you the same thing. 1000 gallons is too small for koi. A

nd a bottom drain isn't dependent on the size of the pond - it's more a function of the type of filtration you put on the pond. Generally people who keep koi in a dedicated koi pond (fish only - no plants, no goldfish) will use a bottom drain. It's generally not found in a garden pond.

 

[LarryM]

I have a bottom drain on my 15,000 gallon pond and two skimmers. The only time I ever use the bottom drain is when I need to draw the water level down below the skimmers for partial water changes.