Underwater of my 4600g pool/pond
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Another gem from Heretix! Eye candy.
Half a year ago you were setting up the pond on a shoe string having no money and now you have $10,000 worth of koi swimming in it?
Something's not adding up
Half a year ago you were setting up the pond on a shoe string having no money and now you have $10,000 worth of koi swimming in it?
Something's not adding up
Another gem from Heretix! Eye candy.
Half a year ago you were setting up the pond on a shoe string having no money and now you have $10,000 worth of koi swimming in it?
Something's not adding up
Haha thanks man. We're part of a koi rescue group in the area and someone's pond/waterfall got hit by a drunk driver at 3am. The owner posted he needed his koi rescued because his filtration was shot and the water had who knows what in it from the car. So we went and picked up 15 24-36" koi and put them in said pond. After that, we had someone contact us saying they were breaking down their pond and wanted to know if we could take in his 9 18-24" koi. Add that to the 5 koi and dozen goldfish we already had less a handful we sold, and handful of losses (mainly due to the detergent issue), and you have a fully stocked gorgeous koi pond...er pool.
Not good for those folks but good for you! Are any in the video 36"? If yes, which ones?
IIRC, your filtration and pump size were not intended to handle such a large bio-load. Please, be vigilant and consider increasing both the filtration and the water turnover - koi need both, they are messy, heavy fish, some of the top ammonia producers. I'd guesstimate you need a ~3x turnover, which at 4600 gal would be ~15,000 GPH. I'd recommend three AquaClear 5000 GPH pumps, 360 Watts each, roughly ~$300-$400 each. Two at the very least, with no margin for error then.
Until you get there, I'd feed very, very, very (!) conservatively.
Test for ammonia frequently and at the worst perceived spots. If you see any at all, your filtration is not coping.
IIRC, your filtration and pump size were not intended to handle such a large bio-load. Please, be vigilant and consider increasing both the filtration and the water turnover - koi need both, they are messy, heavy fish, some of the top ammonia producers. I'd guesstimate you need a ~3x turnover, which at 4600 gal would be ~15,000 GPH. I'd recommend three AquaClear 5000 GPH pumps, 360 Watts each, roughly ~$300-$400 each. Two at the very least, with no margin for error then.
Until you get there, I'd feed very, very, very (!) conservatively.
Test for ammonia frequently and at the worst perceived spots. If you see any at all, your filtration is not coping.
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The two biggest fish are the orange butterfly with white fins ~34" (3:53 left side bottom of the screen) and the orange with grey patches ~32" (3:00 approaching the camera). These are obviously estimates based on the containers we transported them in last year.
I've since upped the filtration as well as media for it and I'm moving 8500gph per the ratings on the two pumps. On top of that, as you can see the pond isn't 100% full. It's probably currently holding closer to 3000-3500g instead of the full 4600. This merely helps turnover rater for the water in there. As we all know with big fish, so long as there's enough room for the fish to swim, the gph is what matters more. And koi need to live in ~500gph of filtration per fish. This would mean I can house at most 17 full grown koi. We have more than this as you can see.
But we do run a pond maintenance service and koi rescue, so we're far from amateurs.
To your concern though, the filtration and flow is designed to prevent dead spots (I've yet to find one in the year it's been set up). The water was getting tested weekly and after every test came back normal, less high nitrates (expected), we've moved to testing monthly. Everything is still perfectly healthy. Feeding has actually stopped for the season as the water temperature has dropped in to the lower 50s. The fish have more than enough algae to graze on if they want, but I doubt they will. Once it starts warming up again next year, we'll be dosing bacteria supplements and slowly increasing feedings to get bacteria back up to par.
Great. Sorry, I didn't know your level of experience and having recalled whatever little I knew about your pond/pool, I didn't want you to have problems with these beautiful fish.
Not a problem at all. I'd rather you assume I know nothing and me prove you wrong, than assume the opposite and see a post a month from now asking why my fish died.
P.s. I do the same thing with new people on here and reddit
P.s. I do the same thing with new people on here and reddit
I made a 3 hour time lapse today. Enjoy
I'm still trying to figure out what the big orange and white butterfly is doing in the back left. I know the other one is eating algae off the bottom (1:57), but I can't figure out why the big guy is just chilling under the filter output apart from just wanting to chill. Either way, they're getting a 50% water change tomorrow just to be safe.
I'm still trying to figure out what the big orange and white butterfly is doing in the back left. I know the other one is eating algae off the bottom (1:57), but I can't figure out why the big guy is just chilling under the filter output apart from just wanting to chill. Either way, they're getting a 50% water change tomorrow just to be safe.