270 gallon stocking ideas. Koi or goldfish, and how many

[Pondguy3579]

Thanks guys! I'll use filter media for my box filter, quite literally a box with a filter connected to my pump.

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Pondguy3579. Welcome! It sounds like you are pretty ambitious about keeping a nice array of fish. I would recommend starting out with less fish than you think the pond will hold and see how that goes. As you get pretty confident maintaining your pond you can always add more fish. Have you learned about how to "cycle" a pond? There is actually a lot to know about keeping healthy water for your fish so as to keep a disease free pond and new ponds are much more work than ponds with established "good" bacteria colonies.. It's much easier to start slow than to start out with too much bio-load and have to deal with ammonia spikes and sick fish. It can be a real lot of work and is always sad when fish die when they didn't have to. Remember that pond fish can grow fairly large and have babies so even if you start with just a few fish it will not necessarily stay that way. I have about 70 fish in my pond and most of them were born in the pond. Good luck!

 

[Dave 54]

Welcome to the group @Pondguy3579

270gls is a bit small for koi, but it would make a lovely pond for a few goldies...there are some pretty awesome varieties on the market

I have kept koi for 30 years now 22 of those years indoors in a large 6 x 2 x 2.5 aquarium but doing it that way is very labour intensive and you had to be on top of things 24/7 365 days a year at least with a pond its less labour intensive , however koi produce large amounts of poop you would need a filter that would be man enough to take on the koi but I would suggest you didn't go down that route .
If you want to keep koi at a later date learn your craft using goldfish as a start then when you can build a pond of 1,000 gallons upwards then start keeping koi

Dave 54

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!

I have a large pond, I only have shubunkins, gold fish. No Koi.

 

[Pondguy3579]

Okay, so I start off with three or four, then slowly add two every month or so. And I've heard that you have to let a pond cycle for three weeks

 

[Pondguy3579]

You definitely need something like this for the bio and foam media.

https://www.amazon.com/XtremepowerU...&ie=UTF8&qid=1520473165&sr=1-1-spons&keywords

Or

https://www.amazon.com/Hozelock-Pon...&sr=1-22-spons&keywords=pond+box+filter&psc=1

Do you know anything about cycling a pond?
If I was you I'd start with 4 Shubunkin. They grow to a nice size and come in nice colors.

That's a little expensive for me. I'll go DIY and make a bio filter

 

[Magzire]

That's a little expensive for me. I'll go DIY and make a bio filter

Thats actually really cheap considering what professionals pond keepers use for there koi
Anyways a well prepared DIY filter can be even better than bought ones.
What do you plan to use for media?

 

[HomerJay]

That's a little expensive for me. I'll go DIY and make a bio filter

That's the same one I run in conjunction with my DIY filter. it's actuall pretty cheap. Unfortunately, there isn't much that is cheap when it comes to ponds if you want to do it the right way to avoid future headaches.

 

[MitchM]

If this is your first pond/aquatic environment setup (which it sounds like it is), then you need to learn how to test and monitor water quality.
Fish should be the last thing you add to a pond.
For monitoring water quality, you can use an API master test kit, be sure and also purchase (and use) a KH/GH test kit. Do not add any fish until you have an established bacteria population.
http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?id=670#.WqFmpugbNhE
http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?id=587#.WqFmxugbNhE

Fishless cycling is the most humane method to cycle a pond using ammonia.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html
http://www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

We would hate to see someone rush into a pond setup only to have them be frustrated with fish deaths or nuisance algae problems.

Keep asking any questions you may have, No question is too basic.

.

 

[Pondguy3579]

Thank Mitch! I wanted some tips on how to make a bio filter

 

[Pondguy3579]

For my filter pump setup I have a pump with a foam pre-filter (mechanical filter/a little bio) and a small plastic box with bioballs, foam, and other good nesting sites for bacteria.

 

[brokensword]

the basics of a bio filter are this; water from the pond runs through a media designed to grow bacteria which will help scrub your water of ammonia and nitrites. Nitrates will be a result for which you'll want plants to help.

Now, you should have (not essential but I recommend as really useful) a mechanical filter PRE bio so your bio doesn't get all clogged up unnecessarily. A basic mech + bio filter can be visualized as a bucket where either bio balls, lava rock, plastic shavings, etc are in the bottom and two layers of some sort of mesh lies on top to catch the larger debris. The water then pours into the mesh padding, through and past the bio ball area, then returns to your pond. That's the basics. How you DIY is many and varied. I've done the bucket idea for a temp turtle enclosure and currently use a drum mech filter which pours into my bog, which then returns to the pond. So, same idea, larger scale and I employ the plants as a main part of my filtration.

Google 'filter sock' re aquariums and you'll see what I've done, but in grander style. What I like about this method is that I have like 3 times more filtering capacity before I have any cleaning to do (and last year, for my 2700 gal pond, there was NO cleanings until I threw the filter material away in the fall) PLUS the bio portion allows me to enjoy the many plantings I can't grow in the pond itself.

Realize, the larger your filter (capacity), the less maintenance you're going to have. The more plants you have, the less filtering you need. Your pond itself will eventually become walls and surfaces of good bacteria, but you need to give it time.

Hope this helps.

Michael

 

[Pondguy3579]

There's been a very big change. I now have a budget of $400 dollars. Any recommendations on what I should get?

 

[Lisak1]

$400 for what? The whole pond?

 

[Pondguy3579]

Yes, and this is what I plan on getting. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B016...r+and+pump&dpPl=1&dpID=419sZFALDtL&ref=plSrch
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DL0Y5S/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?psc=1
I want turtles, and koi. I calculated it, and I can have 1347 gallons