Existing Koi Pond at House I Bought.....

[RHKoi]

Thanks again for all of the tips. Still haven't gotten to TSC or Southern States for my oyster shells, but it's on my list for this week.

I attached a picture of my pond that was taken last week so you all can see what I have to work with.

This weekend, I added two monkey-flower plants in the bog, as well as a reed and another flowering plant. I added an iris in the main pond, and some floating hyacinth and water cabbage plants. I then broke apart the overgrown water lillies into fve pots from two, and bedded them in pea gravel in small baskets from Dollar Tree. No soils left in pond - all hydroponic now.

We saw some nicely-colored koi at PetSmart and added them to the mix, so have 11 fish now. Amazing how easy adding the new fish was. Just let the water temp match up and then dropped them in. Within an hour they were schooling and swimming around with the existing fish.

I did a 50% water change as well and was sure to add conditioner. Did that last week well in advance of new fish.

My problem now, and continues to me, high phosphates. I'm hoping the extra plants will help out. All other chemicals and salt level are just fine. Any ideas?


Thanks,
Dan

 

[marla]

RHKoi,
welcome to the forum...Nice pond and love how you did your net. So much to read on this forum, lots of advice and info...still trying to take it all in and finding if I miss a day even more to read LOL....seems I'll never get caught up.

 

[CountryEscape]

Fishin4Cars, I just had a chance to look at your short video, and wanted to thank you for that! I agree, it's ok to read and read about how to do things, but being my first pond on the hopefully close horizon, I had questions still about how to backflush the filter, and your video answered all the questions, plus gave me a "hands-on" view of how one is put together, along with the skimmer. Thanks so much!

 

[fishin4cars]

Your quite welcome, very glad you were able to get some useful information from it. I want to see more on installing a bottom drain, the few I found on you tube weren't really that good and I really want to install one or two on my next pond.

 

[CountryEscape]

And, when you install your bottom drain, Fishin, you will for sure take a video for the rest of us to see how it works, and why it is so beneficial? I, for one, cannot see putting one in, since I have no fall to my yard, unless I trench out at least 150', so a bottom drain does not sound beneficial to me. I will vacuum or net things that get in there, I guess. Unless someone can convince me that using a bottom drain where the pump pushes the water out a drain pipe would still be best!

 

[addy1]

Junk collects on the bottom, silt, missed leaves pond debris. If you vacuum and sweep it out it can stay clean a bottom drain pulls the junk out. I do retro fit bottom drains, don't want to put a hole in my liner, even though a lot have with no issue if done right.

The when I sweep I push the muck towards the drain, helps in keeping the pond clean.

Pump sucks it up, through the leaf basket into the filter...........

 

[CountryEscape]

Addy, what is a retro fit bottom drain you talk about? Is it something that lays on the bottom and essentially does the same thing? Will it drain if there is a pump attached to it to push the water and gunk out? That might be my solution.

 

[addy1]

http://www.aquaart.com/drain.html

Here is a diagram of one. I have an external pump, pulls the water up and out. Making our own drain, haven't done yet on our list to get done lol

 

[sissy]

hey that is cute like that it looks like a turtle I may get one cutie name him fred