Pond and Koi

Buddy · 10 Apr 2017 at 14:30

So I'm in the process of sorting the pond I inherited when I moved into the house.
It's approximately 2400 litres (528 gallons), not very deep 80cm.

Plan:

Draining the pond and cleaning it all
Installing 12000 Oase Filtoclear with 18w UV
+
8500 Oase Solids Pump.

There's a lot of weed like plants which I will completely remove.
Lots of question would appreciate any guidance.

Now maintenance - looking at online youtube videos the Oase filter just requires some pump action clearance every so often - I plan to do this monthly.

For a proper cleaning how often would you advise? I was going to remove the sponges squeeze them through and re-insert if they still look functional. Now I have read that you should clean through with the pond water - is this necessary?

The solid pump should be more straight forward - look like I just pull it out, open the latches and hose through the grill. Shall I do this quarterly?

Nishikigoi:

So I've been completely captured by the history and different variants and seems I'm hooked.

Questions:
1. The recommended number of fish/inches which I've come across is 1 inch per 10 gallons which would mean approximately 10 fish each 5 inches. Obviously they will grow so this leads on to the second question. If my pump and filter are working to a capacity of almost twice of that of my pond, does that mean I can have double the fish or have the 10 fish and allow them to grow and my pond *should* be able to control the water quality.

2. Any specific brand of koi food you prefer? Assume feed once a day observing them until they are clearly bored of the food to avoid food dropping down to the bottom.

3. Koi dealers: I'm in two minds about this. Perhaps I should just buy some cheap koi for now as I get use to dealing with water quality - This place isn't far, I can go to their farm and pick some out. Another part of me wants be picky about my choices, and go to a place like This . How did you start off?

On a more fun point, this video is great:

I would love to have some of the following varieties:

Kohaku
Tancho Kohaku
Ki Utsuri
Doistsu
Showa Shansoku

Also would love to see any prized koi or ponds anyone has...

Lumeycom · 10 Apr 2017 at 21:17

Don't clean filter parts in anything other than pond water removed from your pond. If you clean it with tapwater the chlorine/chloramine content will kill most, if not all, of the beneficial bacteria on the sponges. Learn the nitrogen cycle before touching a pond.

Inch per 10 sounds reasonable but work it out on what your fish will be in 5-10 years time. As for overstocking its possible but its more than your filter size. Koi require an awful lot of oxygenation to thrive and more fish deplete this. Your filter doesn't replace this. Personally I have 4 koi in my pond and have made up the numbers with common goldfish and my pond is 2700gallons (approx).

Depth is important too, koi really need an absolute minimum of 3 foot but 4 is more like it. Koi kept in shallow ponds tend to get fat and/or eaten by herons (who will stab many holes in your liner trying to catch them). Also the extra depth helps them overwinter if its very cold. I'd say your pond is not deep enough to keep healthy koi, they will likely end up like rugby balls rather than the torpedo'ish shape they should be.

I clean my pump once a year in the spring and it suffices. Filter is lightly cleaned fortnightly over the feeding season and probably two or three times over autumn and spring. Winter I don't touch it aside from moving the pump much nearer the filter to create a 'still end' in the pond for the fish to sit in.

I tend to do a 1/3 water change in spring, one in summer and one once my lillies have died back including a good bottom clean.

As for food i feed nishikoi growth when the pond water temp gets over 16c and wheatgerm once its over 5c and the fish are interested. I have good results with this.

Biggest tip I can give you is use Seachem Prime as your water pre-treatment, a little goes a very long way so its really inexpensive to use.

If your pond is brand new personally I'd forget koi this year and mature it with a number of decent size goldfish. They are hardier, cheaper and if it goes **** up it wont be heartbreaking. A mature pond will absorb many issues that a new pond cannot. Read up on the nitrogen cycle and understand it, get an API master test kit and watch the water quality like a hawk for the first few months, again once mature its not such an issue - i tend to test mine monthly over the feeding season and if something looks 'weird'

I'm no expert, just an amateur thats been keeping fish for many years with good success.

Buddy · 10 Apr 2017 at 21:51

Lumeycom said:
Don't clean filter parts in anything other than pond water removed from your pond. If you clean it with tapwater the chlorine/chloramine content will kill most, if not all, of the beneficial bacteria on the sponges. Learn the nitrogen cycle before touching a pond.

Inch per 10 sounds reasonable but work it out on what your fish will be in 5-10 years time. As for overstocking its possible but its more than your filter size. Koi require an awful lot of oxygenation to thrive and more fish deplete this. Your filter doesn't replace this. Personally I have 4 koi in my pond and have made up the numbers with common goldfish and my pond is 2700gallons (approx).

Depth is important too, koi really need an absolute minimum of 3 foot but 4 is more like it. Koi kept in shallow ponds tend to get fat and/or eaten by herons (who will stab many holes in your liner trying to catch them). Also the extra depth helps them overwinter if its very cold. I'd say your pond is not deep enough to keep healthy koi, they will likely end up like rugby balls rather than the torpedo'ish shape they should be.

I clean my pump once a year in the spring and it suffices. Filter is lightly cleaned fortnightly over the feeding season and probably two or three times over autumn and spring. Winter I don't touch it aside from moving the pump much nearer the filter to create a 'still end' in the pond for the fish to sit in.

I tend to do a 1/3 water change in spring, one in summer and one once my lillies have died back including a good bottom clean.

As for food i feed nishikoi growth when the pond water temp gets over 16c and wheatgerm once its over 5c and the fish are interested. I have good results with this.

Biggest tip I can give you is use Seachem Prime as your water pre-treatment, a little goes a very long way so its really inexpensive to use.

If your pond is brand new personally I'd forget koi this year and mature it with a number of decent size goldfish. They are hardier, cheaper and if it goes **** up it wont be heartbreaking. A mature pond will absorb many issues that a new pond cannot. Read up on the nitrogen cycle and understand it, get an API master test kit and watch the water quality like a hawk for the first few months, again once mature its not such an issue - i tend to test mine monthly over the feeding season and if something looks 'weird'

I'm no expert, just an amateur thats been keeping fish for many years with good success.

Thank you. Very informative.

The pond is just short of 3 foot then. 2 foot 7 inches. Though there are layers (years and years worth of decayed leaves and what else at the bottom so I think the 3 feet would be made up. Also ive realised it is currently underfilled. So once everything is done I'll re-measure.

The pond is quite long 3 metres by 1 metre (narrowest) so whilst it will probably be just about deep enough the length hopefully will allow them some distance to swim and helpfully avoid that fat/rugby shape.

I think I'll take you're advice. Probably get 2-4 small koi and then fill the rest with hardy goldfish or something similar.

Did you pick your koi from your local garden centre or a specialist ?

Any pics of you pond?

Lumeycom · 11 Apr 2017 at 08:06

I bought my koi at a local independent fish shop and had no issues, I'm not a fan of the big chains.
I'll put some pics up later if I remember