Moving Pond need advice

[fastener]

I currently have a 1200 gal pond at my house. I am buying a new house with a much bigger back yard. The people buying my house don't want the pond. I have dug a new pond that is 3000 gal. I bought a new liner, but I am going to move my skimmer and bio falls to the new pond. My pump is a 3500 gph. I have a few questions:

1. I have five 55 gal drums that I was planning on moving the water and fish in. (I'm only moving about 3 miles) If I leave some of the water in the drums for 2 or 3 days, will the water go bad? When I put the fish in the barrels they will be moved right away. (only in the barrel 30 minutes)

2. When I pull out my existing skimmer and bio falls, how long would my fish be ok with no water circulation? I would have to lower the water to get the skimmer out, so they would be in about 600 gallons instead of their usual 1200 gallons. Do I need to get some kind of aerator for them?

3. Since I am going to be moving approximately 1000 gallons and adding 2000 new gallons do you think my fish will be ok? I have 6 large koi and about 10 medium size gold fish.

4. I will also be moving my plants, bio falls lava rock and many of the rocks in my current pond.

So now that you know what I'm up against, have any of you ever done something like this? I would really appreciate any advice you might be able to give me.

 

[koikeepr]

hi there. if you can't have a smal filter of some kind in your barrel/drums or wherever the fish will stay for 2-3 days, you should really get your hands on an air pump and a nice big air diffuser at the bare minimum. Make sure that barrel is placed in a very shady spot where not sun can't get to it. Not sure if you can manage even to put your barrel in your house (like in a laundry room or basement) for the 2-3 days until you figure out what to do.

I'm not clear on what the exact size of your fish is. You say 6 large koi. Is large 8 inches, 18 inches or 28 inches?

When will your new pond be ready? I'm assuming you will be sticking your old filter media quickly into that pond so that you don't lose your bacteria, correct? Could you possibly keep your fish in that pond as long as possible before you have to move them? I'm not sure where your old pond is situated. Is it in a shady spot that perhaps with a good aerator you could keep it going until the last possible moment?

This is interesting!

 

[koiguy1969]

you can buy a 8' round intex style pool for about $40.00 bucks at Biglots with the blow up top ring ...theyre 700 gallons.I. forget the brand name but theyre just like an Intex and i know intex are fish safe... i kept mine in one for 2 weeks.

 

[fastener]

I'm kind of leaning towards a different way of doing this. I have access to a large inflatable pool (700 gallons) and I am thinking of putting all of my fish in it while I get the new pond set up. I can pump the water out of my existing pond into the pool and I have a place in my back yard that doesn't get any sun so the pool would be in the shade. I'm thinking if I put a fountain pump (450gph) in the pool with a hose shooting up out of the water that it should keep the water aerated enough for the fish to be fine for 3 to 5 days. Is this correct or will my fish be in trouble? My largest koi are about 16". I could then move my filter and bio falls to the new location, get it set up and then fill the pond with all new water. Does this sound like it would work? Should I put that bags of lava rock that are in my bio falls in with the fish to keep the bacteria alive, or is there a better way. My #1 concern in this whole process is keeping my fish alive. Any ideas or thoughts are much appreciated. I've had a very successful pond with absolutely zero problems (never lost a fish) and I want to keep it that way. I would just be sick if my fish didn't make it. Ideas?????
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[fastener]

you can buy a 8' round intex style pool for about $40.00 bucks at Biglots with the blow up top ring ...theyre 700 gallons.I. forget the brand name but theyre just like an Intex and i know intex are fish safe... i kept mine in one for 2 weeks.

You wrote this while I was writing my last post. lol
The pool you described above is exactly what I have. When you had your fish in there, did you keep the water aerated some way? If you did, how did you do it? I would like to be able to keep my fish in the pool until I know my new pond is stable.

 

[koiguy1969]

i had the intex15' (3600 gals) with filter ..... run a fountain get your filter there and use it.

 

[koikeepr]

ditto. that would be ideal. Your fish are pretty big and a 700 gal intex would get you through in a pinch. And you know how things work where 3 days turns into 5 days...

 

[fastener]

So I'm not sure I completely understand? Is it necessary for me to have a filter system in place in the temporary pool even if it's only going to be 3 days? I was hoping I could just put a fountain pump in there and have a hose spraying water in the air and falling back into the pond. I figured this would provide enough aeration to keep the fish alive. I don't have a filter system and I really don't want to buy one to use just for 3 days. On the other hand, I don't want to kill $3,000 worth of fish either. What do you think????

 

[koikeepr]

yes, you could do it for 2-3 days. But I would not go further than that, as the ammonia will build up with that many fish in it. If I were you, I also would not feed the fish for those 2-3 days so their poop output will be at minimum. Stop feeding the day before, actually.

 

[koiguy1969]

if you stick the fountains pump in a bucket and fill the bucket with $10.00 worth of zeolite that would really help keep your ammonia levels down a bit. exspecially if you run over your 3 day estimate.

 

[DrDave]

I would still stop feeding them for the duration. No poop, no problem.