New house, new crappy pond!

[max384]

I recently bought a new house. My plan was to dig a new pond in the 4-6000 gallon size range. However, after starting the dig in this extremely ROCKY soil, I realize that I will have to wait until the spring and rent a backhoe to dig it. My current work (and everything else that comes with a move) schedule just won't allow me to get this done before the winter comes.

I currently have a 2000 gallon pond that is 3.5 feet deep at my old house with six koi and six shubunkins for a total of about 120 inches of fish. I have a 5000 gallon pump with bottom drain and 55 gallon biofilter. Water parameters are always good, and the fish seem happy and healthy. Both my old house and new house are in zone 6a.

My old house will soon be on the market, and I want to get the fish moved over here as quickly as possible.

So, for an interim solution, I plan to use the pond that is already here. It's ugly and poorly designed and in a bad spot in the yard:

It's about 7.5 x 9.5 feet by about 2 feet deep. It is very uneven (high side is about 8 inches higher than the low side), it is on the bottom of a hill, so water runs from the yard into the pond. The liner is also torn in several spots, and the pump doesn't work. It has no filter at all, and it has obviously been neglected for years. Oh, and the gutter system empties into the pond:

I plan to level it and put cinder blocks around the edge. This should give me a depth of almost three feet, and it will prevent runoff from the yard into the pond, since the edge will be higher. I will replace the liner with a new cheap one (since it only needs to last six to eight months or so), and I will have to reroute the gutter runoff. I'll buy a temporary submersible pump in the 2000 gallon range and make a biofilter out of a large trashcan.

Aesthetics won't be something I'll care about with this interim pond. I just want a place where my fish can live in the winter before building them their new bigger home.

Temps have already started dropping below freezing at night here, though days are still in the 60s on average. Will I be able to cycle a pond in these temps?

After I'm done, I'll have about 1500 gallons or less. Will this be okay for 120" of fish (40" of shubbies and 80" of koi) for the winter? I realize it is overcrowded, hence the plans to build a bigger pond, but I don't want to sell my house with the fish included. I've grown attached to them, and who knows how the new owners will treat them.

Any comments, suggestions?

Thanks for reading.

 

[MitchM]

There is an existing biofilm on the existing pond, so that is valuable.
How much sludge on the bottom of the new pond?
Have you done any water tests on the new pond?

I'm thinking that if you can make the new pond deep enough for your climate, provide good gas exchange for the winter and not have a lot of rotting material sitting on the bottom of the new pond that would overwhelm the oxygen needs, your fish will be fine until next year.

How long do you have before you have to move your fish?

 

[max384]

There is an existing biofilm on the existing pond, so that is valuable.
How much sludge on the bottom of the new pond?
Have you done any water tests on the new pond?

I'm thinking that if you can make the new pond deep enough for your climate, provide good gas exchange for the winter and not have a lot of rotting material sitting on the bottom of the new pond that would overwhelm the oxygen needs, your fish will be fine until next year.

How long do you have before you have to move your fish?

Thanks for the quick reply.

The liner on the existing pond is ripped in several spots, so that it will only hold about a foot of water. Unfortunately, that liner is going to have to be replaced... along with the biofilm.

There is about a foot of water in the pond, and a foot of sludge... Basically, the entire pond is a sludge pile that smells REALLY bad when it is disturbed.

I haven't done any water tests. My test kit is at my old house still.

I don't have a set amount of time. I am going to list my house for sale next week, and then however long it takes to sell. I'm really just trying to beat the cold weather.

 

[sissy]

I think your idea will work short term .But have you checked the liner you have to see if there is maybe lots of extra left .You could get one of those billboard tarp liners cheap or pvc ,but i would save the old liner just in case you may need it .I used pieces of my old liner in my new pond because of the good muck on it .But are you taking your old pond apart or just moving the fish and leaving the old liner .In Pa you may have a short window of time to work on this .PA weather can change fast .Being from there I know just how fast it can be .

 

[sissy]

OH congrats on the new house and hoping your old house sells fast for you .I know in Hazleton the market is a little better than Berwick or Benton or Millville

 

[MitchM]

The most important thing is to get a setup for the fish that has sufficient biological filtering capacity.
It sounds like you'll have to buy a temporary pool and get that cycled. Do you have a garage in your new place that could house the fish until next spring?
- and if you do have a a garage, do you have an external filter from your old pond that you could bring over to your new house??

 

[Meyer Jordan]

It will take considerably longer for this temp pond to cycle because of the Winter temperatures, but this may also work in your favor as the metabolism of the fish will also slow considerably meaning they will produce less Ammonia. You should be OK providing that you can have the new pond ready come Spring thaw.

 

[mgmine]

I wouldn't waste money on a temporary liner. I would get the size liner that I need for the new pond and use it to upgrade the existing one. I would empty the existing pond, build up the edge and throw the new liner in over the old one. I wouldn't worry about anything else since there is nothing that can be done. Put the fish in and hope for the best.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

How far away is the new house from your existing house? It would not be unreasonable to include as a term of the sale of the house that the fish are your pets and not included, and you want to leave the fish where they are until you build a new pond and it is safe to move them.

 

[Troutredds]

The most important thing is to get a setup for the fish that has sufficient biological filtering capacity.
It sounds like you'll have to buy a temporary pool and get that cycled. Do you have a garage in your new place that could house the fish until next spring?
- and if you do have a a garage, do you have an external filter from your old pond that you could bring over to your new house??

I like the temporary solution Mitch proposes. If you can spare the space, a large kiddie pool in the garage with a small pump (to circulate a bio filtration setup) can house your fish through the winter. In the spring you can tackle the pond remodel at your leisure.

 

[max384]

I think your idea will work short term .But have you checked the liner you have to see if there is maybe lots of extra left .You could get one of those billboard tarp liners cheap or pvc ,but i would save the old liner just in case you may need it .I used pieces of my old liner in my new pond because of the good muck on it .But are you taking your old pond apart or just moving the fish and leaving the old liner .In Pa you may have a short window of time to work on this .PA weather can change fast .Being from there I know just how fast it can be .

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll put the old liner with all of the bacteria on it over top of the new liner.

I'm leaving my old pond intact and selling it with the house.

Yep! This is a sporadic time of year, weatherwise, here.

 

[max384]

OH congrats on the new house and hoping your old house sells fast for you .I know in Hazleton the market is a little better than Berwick or Benton or Millville

Thanks! I hope it does too. My old house is actually up in Wilkes Barre, which isn't a great market... But we'll see.

I actually live just outside of Hazleton, fortunately, as Hazleton has become a real cesspool.

 

[max384]

The most important thing is to get a setup for the fish that has sufficient biological filtering capacity.
It sounds like you'll have to buy a temporary pool and get that cycled. Do you have a garage in your new place that could house the fish until next spring?
- and if you do have a a garage, do you have an external filter from your old pond that you could bring over to your new house??

I don't have the garage space for a temporary pond inside. I'll be putting together a new filter, but I'll be taking some of the bio filter media out of my old one to add to it.

 

[max384]

It will take considerably longer for this temp pond to cycle because of the Winter temperatures, but this may also work in your favor as the metabolism of the fish will also slow considerably meaning they will produce less Ammonia. You should be OK providing that you can have the new pond ready come Spring thaw.

That's a great point that I didn't think about.

The new pond will be my first spring project!

 

[max384]

I wouldn't waste money on a temporary liner. I would get the size liner that I need for the new pond and use it to upgrade the existing one. I would empty the existing pond, build up the edge and throw the new liner in over the old one. I wouldn't worry about anything else since there is nothing that can be done. Put the fish in and hope for the best.

I'm not entirely sure what size my new pond is going to be yet. I have a rough idea, but I want to dig the hold, and then buy a liner, so I'm not bound by my liner size.