Relocating a pond

[addy1]

You would be better getting set up now in the winter, let the pond settle, move the fish in the spring, summer. It would be hard on them, to disturb them while it is cold and they are in the hibernation/slow mode.

 

[HARO]

A fish's immune system is very low in winter, which is why you would be better off waiting until spring to move them.
John

 

[Waterbug]

When you say $3,500, do mean he's going to pay you or you have to pay him? Sorry, old joke.

I'm a big fan of recycling. My last project was remodelling my home with nothing but materials purchased on Craig's List, Ebay and second hand shops. I spent a whole summer just buying used materials. For what it's worth I learned was recycling is expensive.

Retail new costs
--------------------
$400 liner
$500 two 6000 gph pumps
$500 local rock delivered
$300 Arkansas flat rock
$20 Crappie and catfish, or free from local lakes and ponds
$200 9" Koi (not sure how many) I guessing these aren't Grand Champions
$100 skimmer
$400 300 gal Rubbermaid trough
$100 plants
$20 per lily
$0 waterfall
--------------
$2,540 full retail
- 50% used value
--------------
$1,270 best case value
- ??? tear down cost
- ??? transportation
- ??? oops, couldn't use that
- ??? oops, fish all died waiting for new pond
- ??? oops, didn't see that coming
--------------
$deep dark hole of despair

The price I'd charge to tear down that pond would be in the $2,000 neighborhood and I keep whatever I can. The rocks would be left in the hole and covered with dirt.

Rocks, are free for the most part. The cost is in digging it up, crating it, transportation and overhead. You're doing the digging, crating and transporting.

I've picked up rocks for free off Craig's List. Dumpest thing I ever did. Gas, wear and tear on my truck, time, no where close to worth while. If they were next door, and free, OK.

That $300 a pallet Arkansas flat rock...after you dig it out of that pond it isn't going to be Arkansas flat rock any more, it's going to be slime coated black flat rock. No value. And getting it out of that pond is going to be a nightmare. By slabs I assume big, heavy. Working in the bottom of a pond is grease on ice. Putting large dry rocks into a pond without damaging the liner takes some experience...getting them out, nightmare.

If you do this I suggest plan B is to bring a sledgehammer and give the slabs some hits to break them into smaller pieces you can manage. Breaking them won't damage the liner but you have to be careful picking them up as they now have very shape edges.

The chance that the hole in the liner for the skimmer(s) will line up in your new pond is zero. So the useable liner size will be less than current. Most people buy a liner several feet larger than needed. Filling in a pond to make up for being short on the liner, now that's a job.

Pond plants reproduce fast (or die). So even a $100 worth of plants will normally fill a pond in one year.

The waterfalls have no value. The chance of reusing that liner is near zero. Maybe in a much smaller application.

The price I pay for used material is around 10% of retail for most items, depends on item. After tossing the things I couldn't use afterall, or were in worst condition than I thought, my time screwing around to get things to work, was it still ended up costing more than retail. I do it for other reasons. Many sellers get really mad and say you're robbing them but I'm not here to turn their problems into my problems. And I never force anyone to sell. They're grown ups.

It may sound harsh but I think it's a reality. A reality I learned the hard $$$ way.

 

[pondlover]

I think we've decided it's more than we want to take on. So we will just continue with our build. Thanks everyone for all your input. It helps alot to get advice from experienced ponders!!

 

[CountryEscape]

The pond is indeed beautiful, but the price they are asking is very high priced. At first I thought it was a good deal, but Waterbug is right, you are paying to build your pond ... TWICE!
Why are they selling the pond? Are they tired of it, or did they buy property, don't want the pond? If they are just tired of it, they will wait until you get your pond built, to the size YOU want, and then buy the rocks and pumps and so forth from the buyer. You can then safely move the fish, if that is what you are wanting to do. Don't let them tell you the fish are worth $100 each, as they are not. If they were, they would have sold them for that. They are extremely expensive to move, and if they don't have an oxygen tank, they could never ship them. It's a hassle. If they can find local people to sell them to, that's fine.
I moved 11 koi that I bought in July from a breeder 3 hours from me. They were 3" to 9", only 3 were the bigger size, rest were 3-6". The breeder told me to bring large coolers and a aerator for each. Look for them in the fishing dept at Wal-Mart, get the battery operated ones. They will provide the oxygen while you travel with the fish. You don't have to have HUGE containers to put them in, but bigger the better for the fish stress, since they are pretty large. the large trough they have would be nice to use, if you have some type of cover to put over it (netting would work) as they will try to jump during the ride. Looks like there are about 10 koi, so you could also move them in smaller containers like large coolers with lids. It can be done, but the water they will go into is the key. If you get your pond ready first and then transport the fish that would be ideal. Also, if you do end up doing this (for much lower price), bring back as much of their pond water as possible. That's where the large trough could come in handy, or 55 gal drums with lids, too. That way you would have "seasoned" water to help start your new water.
Think about what you would pay for the rock that they have, then cut the price by at least 50%. After all, you will have extra gas to drive there to get it, loading time (man power or hopefully they would have access to machinery to carry and load ...). The pumps you can figure out value on-line, and again, they are used, so no more than 50% of new. Remember, they might have gotten them at 50% off at a sale! That's why used stuff you pay much lower price, unless it's less than a couple of years old.
Lots of things to consider, but it's exciting to see it all in place and at least give you ideas. If you go to view it (or maybe you already did or decided not to), look for ideas for your own pond. You may still strike a deal with the owner. Just let him/her have some time to realize they are asking far too much to move the pond. Good luck!

 

[CountryEscape]

The pond is indeed beautiful, but the price they are asking is very high priced. At first I thought it was a good deal, but Waterbug is right, you are paying to build your pond ... TWICE!
Why are they selling the pond? Are they tired of it, or did they buy property, don't want the pond? If they are just tired of it, they will wait until you get your pond built, to the size YOU want, and then buy the rocks and pumps and so forth from the buyer. You can then safely move the fish, if that is what you are wanting to do. Don't let them tell you the fish are worth $100 each, as they are not. If they were, they would have sold them for that. They are extremely expensive to move, and if they don't have an oxygen tank, they could never ship them. It's a hassle. If they can find local people to sell them to, that's fine.
I moved 11 koi that I bought in July from a breeder 3 hours from me. They were 3" to 9", only 3 were the bigger size, rest were 3-6". The breeder told me to bring large coolers and a aerator for each. Look for them in the fishing dept at Wal-Mart, get the battery operated ones. They will provide the oxygen while you travel with the fish. You don't have to have HUGE containers to put them in, but bigger the better for the fish stress, since they are pretty large. the large trough they have would be nice to use, if you have some type of cover to put over it (netting would work) as they will try to jump during the ride. Looks like there are about 10 koi, so you could also move them in smaller containers like large coolers with lids. It can be done, but the water they will go into is the key. If you get your pond ready first and then transport the fish that would be ideal. Also, if you do end up doing this (for much lower price), bring back as much of their pond water as possible. That's where the large trough could come in handy, or 55 gal drums with lids, too. That way you would have "seasoned" water to help start your new water.
Think about what you would pay for the rock that they have, then cut the price by at least 50%. After all, you will have extra gas to drive there to get it, loading time (man power or hopefully they would have access to machinery to carry and load ...). The pumps you can figure out value on-line, and again, they are used, so no more than 50% of new. Remember, they might have gotten them at 50% off at a sale! That's why used stuff you pay much lower price, unless it's less than a couple of years old.
Lots of things to consider, but it's exciting to see it all in place and at least give you ideas. If you go to view it (or maybe you already did or decided not to), look for ideas for your own pond. You may still strike a deal with the owner. Just let him/her have some time to realize they are asking far too much to move the pond. Good luck!

 

[CountryEscape]

Oops, sorry about the double post. My computer is stupid again today. :sad:

 

[sissy]

lol blaming that poor puter country shame on you

 

[CountryEscape]

Haha, well I didn't type it twice. Been giving me problems the last 3 weekends. I have a feeling my satellite internet provider is having mega problems. Time for me to not pay my monthly fee and get their attention. Tired of it working one minute, not the next ... over and over, but mostly not working.

 

[sissy]

thats why i tell people here buying a house to make sure you have high speed internet where they are looking for a house .they give me what they want and i try to narrow it down and then the go to my agent Art Craft to look at them .I have seen people come here and not think about it and then they have to get hughes net or something.Right now i have century link 19.95 a month

 

[addy1]

Good write up country and waterbug, part of the problem is you see this neat pond set up, visualize it in your backyard and the price seems reasonable, until you step back and break it down. Get caught up in the wow lets get this, like buying a used car, get it home and go shoot.............buyers remorse.

We only have comcast or hughes net.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I live in the country so my only option for high speed internet are: through phone company (have to have a land line, extra cost), satellite internet (which was already on the house when I bought it, and has worked very well up until lately, and sure don't have any trees to interrupt the signal!!!) or wireless through Verizon. At this point, I'm not sure which would be best. I am wondering if the internet service I have (satellite) maybe added so many customers lately that it's overloaded? Not sure if that even happens. Anyhow, getting VERY tried of resetting my wireless box and still getting nothing. Computer shows a signal, and it could be my computer, but just so frustrated that I have called, left messages, get no return calls. Called this morning, finally got someone (usually I'm at work by the time they get to work) and she has to call me back because she had 2 other people on the line . Said net was "down" last night. I asked "what about the last 3 weekends in a row?" Now I have to leave to go visit my brother and help him with his medical bills. Grrr .... I hate when things work, then they don't then they do, and I have no idea what happens to cause problems.
Thanks, Addy, for compliment. I can see that pond being a good deal yet, if they talk the owner into far cheaper amount to get it all removed eventually!

 

[sissy]

I have a landline and it is worth the extra cost to have high speed internet .When I left nJ to move here they were just starting up internet up there on fiber optic lines and my cousin up there has the fasted internet speed and it is crystal clear .I know here they warn you about satelite internet because of the amount of people on it here plus weather conditions can effect it .The phone company one automatically updates everything so no problems with the speed or with downloads ..My phone company gave me the linksys box and the wireless boxes and they warranty them as long as I am there customer and recently replace my linksys box as it was more than 2 years old and come in and set everything up ,no cost part of the aggreement .

 

[j.w]

We have Comcast and when the power goes out our cable goes out too. They had back up generators on the poles out here but thieves stole them so they say. We don't have Verizon DSL in our hood yet but think that would be your best bet. When we had a regular land line and not Comcast cable phone our phone never went down.

 

[Oldhead]

I moved my pond two years ago, liner and all. From one town to another. Will never do the liner again. Moved as much water as I could, maybe 25% of the new pond. Had 2 of my koi jump out but found them in time. one was actually dry and covered with ants but i managed to save him. He later got eatten by a predator. They are all happy now but it was not something that was fun to do. A new liner would have made the whole thing way easier.