Still thinking things through, would appreciate advice

[Dave 54]

Craig sorry my friend think again I've just read your post about pond depth for koi , I havent a clue where your information is coming from Craig someone gave you a bit of a bum steer there. basically your going to have to dig another two and a half feet before the pond is sutable for he type of winter you guys get .
At the moment you are setting yourself up for a big fall my friend as a rather harsh and prolonged winter would freeze them to death at the depth you are.just thought I'd point that one out before you go too far

Dave .

 

[Craig Brown]

Wow, thanks for the replies!


Addy1: I will look into shubunkins. Do they get along with Koi? I’m just looking for nice things to view. Trying to create a “Zen” like escape. If the interpersonal relationships of the fish are bad, they are no fun to watch. I’ve got a small 5 gallon tank of glow fish in my office. I calculated that 5 was the magic number. But they spent all their time chasing each other and none survived. I’ve had the same three for about a year now and they swim together. Much nicer then checking each morning to see who was missing.


DrCase: I will add the skimmer. When you say to add a second water return, you mean for water to flow back into the pond or as a backup for the gravity filter incase the first gets clogged?


Dave : I saw that you were from Plymouth. Plymouth, Massachusetts is about 30 minutes from my house. I did not know you had a Plymouth in the UK. You guys really need to steal our names instead of making up new names for yourselves J

I could install 4” pipes. Given the pond is < 1500 gallons, I figured the 3 x 3 tanks would hold about 135 gallons each. It is supposed to be about 10% of the total volume, right? I could make the tanks any size. Only issue is the digging (because it is on a hill). Tendonitis is brutal.


Mgmine: I need the gravity system so the water can be used for the future hydroponic garden. How big should the boxes be? The current plan is about 135 gallons. The pond is < 1500 gallons, so I thought that was OK.


Tula, Dave : The Pond store (where I got my lining) said that 2’ is what is needed in my area. However, did you see the ;-) (wink) in my post? The pond currently slopes down to almost 3 feet. It is unlikely it will ever be inspected. If it was declared a pool, it would not be such a crisis. A pool requires a fence. My yard is fenced in anyway. Household doors going into the yard must be alarmed. We don’t have any. Worst part would be dealing with townie bureaucrats.

I’ll go down another foot.


Nepen: Yes, that is sort of like what I am doing. In my day we called it “recirculating aquaculture” but “bog” sounds more homey. I had a friend who grew tilapia in a green house. Above the fish was basil. He made more profit on the basil then the tilapia.

 

[Nepen]

here's my bog. I have plenty of space to put more vegetable in there but I havnt start yet. My husband kept saying I should I actually think I'll play vegetable next spring along my stream.

 

[Mmathis]

WOW, nice bog @Nepen!

@Craig Brown, in reference to Shubunkins, they are gorgeous, with all kinds of colors. They are single-tailed gold fish, just like comets, but a different variety, and will always be "calico" colored [of one type or another]. Any single-tailed gold fish with 3 [or more] colors is a Shubunkin by default. They are very hardy [survive well in lots of different conditions] and are friendly. They would get along with just about any other fish. But keep in mind that if you keep koi, even if you add to your pond's depth, there is still going to be a safe limit to the number of fish you can keep, for them to stay healthy. If you get them small, before you know it, your 5 or so little koi fish that were perfect for your size pond when you got them, are going to grow and you'll have water quality issues. So, even adding koi and goldfish, unless you scale down your numbers, you're still going to have issues.

And I was going to ask what the requirements were for your city as far as water depth. But are you only going by what your "pond guy" is telling you? If so, I would check personally to see what the city codes and rules are -- you don't need those kinds of surprises after you go to the trouble to build a pond!

 

[MitchM]

Honestly, Craig, not to steer you away from our forum, but with all the equipment questions [etc.] and dealing with a true koi pond, you mignt want to check out the forums at KOIPHEN. Those guys deal with these questions all the time. Most of us are just lowly gargen pond folks -- not saying we can't help, but it never hurts to get advice from other sources, as well.

Nothing against Koiphen, but that forum tends to lean more towards the use of chemical additions and extensive mechanical filtration for their ponds.
If that's a method that appeals to someone, then by all means follow that method.

The best choice is to for an individual to educate one's self about what is occuring with the pond water quality and maintain your own pond as you prefer.
Never follow anyone's opinion simply because of their perceived reputation or agressiveness.
(man, I hate political correctness, lol)

 

[Mmathis]

@MitchM I was being a little bit sarcastic/facetious [make your choice] when I mentioned KOIPHEN -- at least by my comment that "we're just lowly garden pond folks." I think they frown on garden ponds, in general...... I go there for information, but more the kind of info you get by just sitting back and observing rather than by actively participating [lurking]. There is a lot to learn there, but I learned very quickly that it's not where I [personally] belong. Those guys are pretty hard-core [anal?]. Well, not all of them, but that's the overall impression I get. There is nothing about my pond that is suitable: I have a Skippy, I don't have a BD, etc., etc. -- you get the idea, so asking questions gets me no where. I've posted a few times, either to ask a question or to comment on something. Yes, lots of knowledge and experience there.

 

[MitchM]

Ha, ha, TM, I know what you mean.
I just don't want to show any disrespect to another forum.
I posted over there a while ago about fishless cycling and it seemed like a concept that was unheard of....

 

[Dave 54]

Craig you and I are going to fall out if you know the history of America you will find the pilgrim fathers left from the shores of Plymouth in the UK which was the original Plymouth since then there has been a rash of them all around the world around abouts 32 other Plymouths and an ex plymouth in Monserat that got taken out by the Islands Volcano kicking off.
As for the depth problem certain codes say we can have this or that in our yards we got around all these planning issues by standing all but the bottom drain above ground thus making it free standing and thus a temporary structure that can be taken down like a bird avery .
So why not build upwards from the ground then before putting your liner in unsulate the sides and bottom of your structure against the winter just as we did .
When our policarbonate covers go on in the winter then net result is a pond that never goes bellow 7c in temperature meaning we dont have a problem with it icing over .

Dave

 

[Mmathis]

Ha, ha, TM, I know what you mean.
I just don't want to show any disrespect to another forum.
I posted over there a while ago about fishless cycling and it seemed like a concept that was unheard of....

Do you go by the same screen name? Maybe you helped some guy who was asking about kick-starting his cycle. He was getting vague, not helpful answers, so I suggested he Google "Fishless cycles." Never went back to that thread, so don't know if he ever got the answers he was looking for. And strangely, no one acknowledged my comment, either....now I know why, LOL!

 

[Dave 54]

@MitchM I was being a little bit sarcastic/facetious [make your choice] when I mentioned KOIPHEN -- at least by my comment that "we're just lowly garden pond folks." I think they frown on garden ponds, in general...... I go there for information, but more the kind of info you get by just sitting back and observing rather than by actively participating [lurking]. There is a lot to learn there, but I learned very quickly that it's not where I [personally] belong. Those guys are pretty hard-core [anal?]. Well, not all of them, but that's the overall impression I get. There is nothing about my pond that is suitable: I have a Skippy, I don't have a BD, etc., etc. -- you get the idea, so asking questions gets me no where. I've posted a few times, either to ask a question or to comment on something. Yes, lots of knowledge and experience there.

The aim Maggie is to create the same type of information here so that people come to us yes ?
Oh just a quick one your article have you had the time to submit it yet ?


Dave

 

[Mmathis]

@Dave 54, I think he was being facetious with regards to Plymouth.......

 

[Dave 54]

Facetious a friend of Mind Richard Bibby an Oceanographer landed in Texas and decided to go on the town for the evening a Texan on hearing Richards accent said "thats a mighty fine accent you got there boy caint rightly understand a word your saying where you from boy", "Richard turned round and said Plymouth why" and the reply "wheres Plymouth in Texas boy, aint heard of it".....[priceless]

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

I think its time we took you back into the empire guys

Dave

 

[MitchM]

Do you go by the same screen name? Maybe you helped some guy who was asking about kick-starting his cycle. He was getting vague, not helpful answers, so I suggested he Google "Fishless cycles." Never went back to that thread, so don't know if he ever got the answers he was looking for. And strangely, no one acknowledged my comment, either....now I know why, LOL!

Same screen name, TM.
This was before that thread you are talking about.

 

[DrCase]

Wow, thanks for the replies!




DrCase: I will add the skimmer. When you say to add a second water return, you mean for water to flow back into the pond or as a backup for the gravity filter incase the first gets clogged?


A second water return would be for circulation you could run your water fall with it ,on cold winter days you could shut down the falls and run the under water return turn it up and it will keep a hole open in the ice