Hello, my wife and I are new to the garden pond scene and are looking forward to learning a lot from here. This spring we built up a two tier, pre-formed pond alongside our back deck. We use a Laguna maxflo 600 waterfall pump in the bottom pond which pumps up to a Laguna UV sterilizer, and then into a homemade bio filter that I learned how to make on Youtube. The top pond just overflows into the bottom. We currently have 2 Comet goldfish and 4 Koi which I can't remember offhand which type they are. I'll post a couple pics to get us started.
Pond Newbies here from NY
- Thread starter Fedfire37
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Welcome.
What size is your pond?
It looks like it's too small for koi, so you should try to familarize yourself about nutrient control and filtration.
What size is your pond?
It looks like it's too small for koi, so you should try to familarize yourself about nutrient control and filtration.
The lower pond is 220 Gal. and the upper pond is 110 Gal. My Mom had the ponds before me at another location and had Koi and goldfish thrive so I figured it was safe to try myself. They seem to be doing well. I haven't done any testing. The water keeps crystal clear with minimal algae. I understand that doesn't always mean the water is healthy, but I plan to learn more about water quality from the forums here.
bettasngoldfish
Maria
Welcome to the group!
Cute little pond you have
Cute little pond you have
sissy
sissy
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welcome ,koi get over 2 ft long fast I know and wish some one had told me
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Clear water is fine, but be prepared to deal with algae.
You might not want to hear this, but I suggest exchanging the koi for goldfish.
Just a friendly heads up.
You might not want to hear this, but I suggest exchanging the koi for goldfish.
Just a friendly heads up.
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Welcome and what a pretty pond This is a good place to learn about ponding.
This is a good place to learn about ponding.
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welcome to our group!
Welcome!
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Hi Fedfire37. Welcome to GPF. Your pond looks great. You did a fantastic job. I have a 700 gallon pond that is too small for koi. Keeping goldfish will be much more rewarding for this size pond and you will have way less problems. My goldfish show a wide range of behavior and are really fun to watch so by no way are you sacraficing anything with keeping "just" goldfish.Good luck!
Welcome to the forum from Plymouth UK Fedfire 37, koi can continue to grow all of their lives and will out grow your ponds or be stunted by them .
You may want to concider @MitchM suggestion of swopping them for goldfish as in reality you need a pond of 1,000 gallons upwards .
But in saying that I kept koi indoors behind glass in a huge 220 imperial gallon tank 6 x 2 x 2.5 for 22 years and my koi where in imaculate condition , however we moved outside 6 years ago to a larger pond giving the 3 or 4 times that space .....see photos of 220 gallons imperial set up indoors
Ignore the 50 banners that was eight years ago now "god how time flies"
As the koi reached 22" we sold them on but kept two fish back Tiny a rescue koi and browntop as we call him , Tiny passed last year aged 27+ [the plus ign is because you dont know how long they had kived with the breeders prior to selling to koi dealerships in the UK]:cool
The large koi with the douitsu scales is our oldest koi at 28 years + this year, we still have others that are 15, 10, and younger from those days they never grew over 10 ".
He has just survived a lightening strike to the pond that has left him a tad kinked but otherwise in good health .
Dave
You may want to concider @MitchM suggestion of swopping them for goldfish as in reality you need a pond of 1,000 gallons upwards .
But in saying that I kept koi indoors behind glass in a huge 220 imperial gallon tank 6 x 2 x 2.5 for 22 years and my koi where in imaculate condition , however we moved outside 6 years ago to a larger pond giving the 3 or 4 times that space .....see photos of 220 gallons imperial set up indoors
Ignore the 50 banners that was eight years ago now "god how time flies"
As the koi reached 22" we sold them on but kept two fish back Tiny a rescue koi and browntop as we call him , Tiny passed last year aged 27+ [the plus ign is because you dont know how long they had kived with the breeders prior to selling to koi dealerships in the UK]:cool
The large koi with the douitsu scales is our oldest koi at 28 years + this year, we still have others that are 15, 10, and younger from those days they never grew over 10 ".
He has just survived a lightening strike to the pond that has left him a tad kinked but otherwise in good health .
Dave
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