In need of help!

[Jason]

Pond looks great! Yes 3 goldfish will live happily in 130 gallons especially with more surface area like you have. Not sure how cold the winters get where you are but I would bring them in for the winter or really cold weeks. The shallowest part of my pond is 15" but it only gets 34 degrees here so it does not freeze the water even when still.

 

[pecan]

One last question (yeah, right) will my 220 gph pump work for the new 380 gallon pond? I've heard as long as the entire pond water is circulated at least once every two hours it will work.

I like to turn mine over more than once an hour. You may want to consider getting a second pump and running them both at the same time. You should be able to get a second pump for pretty cheap. I hear Harbor Freight has them really cheap. Plus it is always good to have two in case one goes out on you, then you still have moving water.

Try to keep your pumps elevated off of the bottom for two reasons. One the muck at the bottom can clog you pump and two if something goes wrong and your pump is pumping water out of the pond (problems with hoses, waterfall etc can cause this) then you wont drain the pond completely dry killing your fish. Maybe 8" off the bottom would leave enough water for the fish if anything went wrong.

 

[sissy]

remember they will have babies

 

[gardengirl]

remember they will have babies

If they are not all the same sex!!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The answer is yes, unless you live somewhere where it'll ice over in the winter, like say, Ohio. But I think eventually you'll want to buy more fish and dig a deeper pond, everybody does.

that is true. Depending on your zone, if the pond isnt deeper than 2.5 feet, you'll need to bring the fish in.

 

[Dave 54]

To be truethful if you have heavy icing during the winter 3 ft or lower depending on your lowest temperature last year we had -10c in the UK .
Some people prefare to bring their fish indoors during the winter months putting them back out n late spring till your fall....

rgrds

Dave

 

[newpondguy]

We usually don't get very cold around here, the lowest is usually in the teens (F) only for a few days. We are also purchasing a heater for the pond.

 

[davepratt]

i live in cleveland ohio and i have never took my fish in although my pond is around 42 in deep so that prolly helps just get out the shovels and dig till you cant dig no more then dig some more tmorrow. lol my pond is 11' oval and 42 " deep and i dug it all myself with a shovel in two days and a cpl 12 pks of bud light

 

[sissy]

If colleen can do it in Canada you can do it in Ohio .Just have fun doing it as ponding is fun also .

 

[dieselplower]

From my experience with going from a 150 gal to a 250 gal to a 1600 gal pond I am just going to say go as big and deep as you can and don't look back. I would say your current pump would not be enough gph when you enlarge. Go deeper and skip the heater. I'm glad I did. Most of all, enjoy!

 

[CometKeith]

I would recommend 4-5 ft deep. It will give your fish the ability to hide from predators, and it will be deep enough so you can leave them outside in the winter with just a small air pump to keep a hole in the ice. A friend of mine had a 2 feet deep pond for a few years and swore by it until uv light from the sun actually damaged the liner so much that it cracked! Note the whole pond doesn't have to be that deep, just the center portion.



https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/6742-my-goldfish-pond/

 

[Litzi1964]

With three fish it should be fine. If you add more fish you'll probably have to get a bigger pump. For winter I suggest getting a floating heater. Our local Menards sells them for about $40. I have a 350 gallon pond, that's about 7 ft x 7 ft x 21 in deep. I overwintered my fish fine. Half my pond surface was completely ice free and the part that did have ice had ice less than 1 inch thick. I live near Chicago.

Right now I have 12 goldfish between 2 and 5 inches long.