My basement pond project

[jameskoi]

Nevermind, I figured it out after 30 mins of tweaking! LOL!

It was counter intuitive for me. I had to close all 3 valves a bit to get consistent flow. Never occurred to me that I should close the 1st barrel (the one that didn`t get much water in the first place)... Phew... I thought I had to rework my plumbing again!

 

[CPT_CRUNCH]

thanks for the great info james!

 

[Holg]

How much did the pink insulation foam cost you? I am thinking of using that for my outdoor above ground tank.

 

[jameskoi]

How much did the pink insulation foam cost you? I am thinking of using that for my outdoor above ground tank.

Home Depot, Rona or Lowes all carry 'em.

I don't quite remember, but the price is okay. I think $8 for 0.5x2x8ft sheet!? However, thicker the better... Not sure, plus, I'm a Canuck... Your prices would definitely be better than mine!

Changed water in my pond today. Took the opportunity to take picture of entire herd since the always form tight group when I change water. I finally know exactly how many I have in the pond. I lost count. 31 in total. Largest is 15". My pond is perfect example of over stock! Some people will have a cow when they see this.

Some are currently growing 1" a month, so that's good or bad, depending how you look at it. Hehe...

 

[Stouty109]

beautiful looking fish

 

[jameskoi]

November update: Almost 8 months and going through one major pump/plumbing upgrade and huge head ache with over stocking pond when filters were cycling. I think I have 31 in there. Most started out small and now are monsters. 7-8" are now close to 12" or more. They're eating about 20lbs a month.

I noticed water goes cloudy a few days after I change water and always a hint of nitrite in water for a few weeks. Reason is I do 90% water changes (yeah, I don't recommend it - do at your own risk) once a month. I increased water conditioner by 50% and that fixed the problem. By the end of one month, water is still crystal clear but yellow. Nitrate off the charts and that is why I change water. LOL!

Nitrite now always zero. However, there is .25 ppm of ammonia after feeding. After being filtered, it's zero.

So, it's safe to say my three 55G design is doing it's job. I know my pond is WAY over stocked and they're still growing. Flow can be increased if need be (already about 2000GPH) or I may cull in the future.

Thanks garden pond forum, especially the Dr's.

And thank goodness for bottom dump valve. My mechanical filter gets clogged with koi poo in 3 weeks. I actually thought of not putting any in to save $$$.

 

[DrDave]

Thanks for the kind words James. We were wondering what happened to you.

For my 8 grown Koi, I only feed them 4 handfulls of food once daily and they are fine. You might be overfeeding yours. 20# seems like a lot of food, even for 31 Koi. I think I am going to weigh what 4 handfulls are and see where I am with feeding.

 

[jameskoi]

You're welcome.

I haven't said much because my system is running pretty damn well. LOL!

My koi are FAT. I should bowl some and take pictures and share them here. A lot of the once little ones 8" and under put on about 1" a month.

I don't know. Just they eat everything I gave them. I want to them to grow so I feed them 3x a day trying to remember no more than 3% of their mass per day.

I think I should have 20lbs worth of fish in there (it's just a wild guess). If I feed them 3% of their total mass at day, that's ~20lbs a month should be okay. Me thinks I need to do a weight check on my fish. I feed them rice 1once every 6 feeding sessions to cut down on food costs. LOL!

 

[DrDave]

With the cold setting in, I quit feeding rice, but during the summer, I give them about a golfball size helping of steamed rice daily. The big Koi love it.

 

[jameskoi]

BTW, I'm keeping the herd in my basement all year round for now. Unless I build a bond in my backyard, but not any time soon. My basement doesn't get too cold in the winters. It's the warmest in the house. I can't say for sure, but temp might drop to mid 60's at worse. I'll find out this winter.

 

[DrCase]

Glad you got every thing going your way
We would like to see some pics of your fat koi
Like DrDave said it does sound like a lot of food,, Koi don't know when to stop eating.
But if you got the food and the nice filter set up ,,feed away...LOL
Good to see you around again

 

[stroppy]

yes please lets see some pics

 

[jameskoi]

Here are some pics of the herd:

 

[jameskoi]

The last pic is the biggest koi I have. It's likely around 15".

Hopefully, you can use it for as a reference in the group shots. :fish2:

As you can see, some are growing like weed. Colour not keeping up with growth.

Some are retaining their shape and some are not. The ones that just look like bloated couch potatoes. But they're growing the fastest although a few lucky ones that do grow like weed still retaining nice shape.

If anyone wants a close up of particular koi, let me know and I'll bowl it for a nice pic.

Note: 2 step Kohaku (1st & 2nd pic) had an ucler that could not be healed with over the counter drugs. Poor guy must have been knocked out 20+ times during all sorts of treatments. I doubt the guy would have lived without injections. I used liquid oral baytril for pigeons. I started to see healing after 3rd injection. AMAZING!

 

[koiguy1969]

good lookin bunch there jk.