New Pond, New Forum Writer

[dpillster]

Let me start by saying I have never posted to a forum before so if I make a faux pas, please excuse me.

I just moved to Florida from Illinois where I had an elaborate 2 pond (one was 11' x 25'), stream, waterfall, bog, Aquascape maintenance nightmare. Since I am trying to simplify my life (even though I brought my koi with me) I am building a concrete pond that is adjacent to my pool, that will be covered with screening.

I am looking for any advice I can get for picking out an external pump and filter system for my new 8' x 12' concrete pond that is 5' deep and covered with pond armour coating. I plan on having a circular waterfall that comes from the middle and will extend 2' - 3' above the waterline.

I am in the stage shown in the picture and I am in need of making a decision on pump and filter very quickly.

Appreciate any input!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group.

do you want and submersible pump or external, are you going to build your own filter or purchase one? that will be neat having a covered pond, keep those herons from eating sushi

 

[dpillster]

I've had my learning experience with herons already and my parents' next door neighbor just had a different fishing critter -- a family of sea otters -- since we live on the water. So I am excited about having a sfe place for my koi.

Since my pond has no place to hide a pump and I have no need for a skimmer, I was going to do an external pump. And since I am supposed to be making my life easier now, I was looking at a purchased filter that has a backwash cleaning ability so I am not spending time cleaning filters and such. I have 2 koi that are 18", 10 that are 12", 10 about 6" and 6 babies. What do you think?

 

[j.w]

dpillster
Looks like a nice project you have going there. How many koi do you have?

 

[j.w]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, I think you may have too many koi for that pond but then I only have goldfish so not really up on the koi. I know the koi will all get huge so eventually you will have almost 30 of them in your pond if not more w/ more babies. Yikes that can make a pretty good load on your filter and seems like you would have to clean often to keep them healthy. Maybe you could just keep your favorites and re-home some others?

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome from me :wave:

 

[CountryEscape]

Welcome, Dpillster! You'll love this Forum, you chose well. Lots of good advice will be derived from those on here. I agree with JW, probably too many koi, but I'm going to be in the same boat. However, mine are still small, and I will be choosing my favs eventually and selling the others. There is a calculator for how many inches of fish are appropriate for the number of gallons of water. I can't remember how it's figured, but that will give you the info needed to decide if that's too many fish for the size of pond. You're trying to make your life simplier, so may want to reduce number of koi to help make it simpler! Good luck whatever you decide.
Here's the website that shows the calculator for how many fish per gallon of water. For koi it says 3" to 100 gallons, but I bet there are those on here that would disagree with that. I thought it was more like 1" per 100 gallons. http://www.your-garden-ponds-center.com/fish-load-calculator.html

 

[sissy]

welcome and guessing you are really enjoying the warmer weather year round and will get to enjoy that pond year round .

 

[taherrmann4]

I use a Sequence external that I have been very happy with. Dodadd on here sells them I believe, if you PM him he could send you a price.

 

[addy1]

My external sequence has been working great too tmann. Very low electricity usage.