What is better two ponds or one?

[GreatDanesDad]

Ok I have been raising my Koi pond for 6 months now. Relatively short time, but my fish have grown tremendously here in the AZ heat. I am hooked, and I want more.

I currently have an L shaped 1800 gallon pond. I want to make is symmetrical and significantly deeper on the “new” side. This time I will bring in heavy equipment to dig instead of my handy shovel. This is obviously the planning and saving stage. This can’t be completed for atleast a year, but now is as good a time as ever to start.

So here is my question, do I combine the two sections into a single pond or do I keep them separate with the illusion that they are one. And if I combine them, do I just do it with a water source or should I make it possible for the fish to freely go from one section to the other?

I know there are many pros and cons. Example for pro, more water typically means more stable water chemistry, or con in the event of a disease all the fish would be affected…

What are your thoughts?

 

[dieselplower]

As big as Koi get I think they would appreciate it being one big area. On the other side, I guess 2 seperate areas could come in handy if you have fry or something. I would much rather maintain one big area than two smaller ones. That is just my opinion, based on nothing. Would you put a pump and filter in both sides or would you pump from one and return to the other or what? It is interesting to think about all the options.

 

[capewind]

Can you post pics of the existing pond? How many Koi do you have now?

 

[Mucky_Waters]

What sort of filtration do you have on your current pond?

 

[GreatDanesDad]

Either way, I would like to keep a seperate pump/filter set up. It would basicly be a large u shape when it was done being deeper at the ends and more shallow in the Bend. I would need a pump in each of the deeper areas to keep sludge from building up. Also, having two pumps, filters, and falls, means if/when one fails, the fish are not completely without O2 and circulation.

 

[GreatDanesDad]

OK guys you have to use your imagination.

Attached are some current pics of the pond. I have also attached two .bmp images. The current is as close as possible to what I have and the Dream is what I would like. I will be replacing the Gazibo with large shade sails and doubling the size of the sitting area.

 

[GreatDanesDad]

Oh and I currently have ~20 koi. 2x24", 8x8" and ~10x3" fingerlings from my spawn this year. The fingerlings keep coming out of the plants and bog, they just keep showing up one by one as they grow.

 

[capewind]

Very nice existing and expansion project .. I am not a fan of seaming liners together, but if you can do it correctly (I'd worry), I would do it as one big pond. Whether as the pond now is, or expanded as you want, you have a LOT of koi for your present gallons/proposed gallons of water as they grow. It isnt an issue right now with most of them still being small, but if you want to keep them all, you may need to address your filtration.

Making two ponds, so that all wouldnt be exposed to a possible disease wont do you any favors unless you are going to treat each as a totally sterile environment. IE, each side has its own nets, etc, not to be used in the other side

 

[GreatDanesDad]

I agree that seaming two liners is hazardous at best, that was what drove the initial idea of not mixing the ponds. I could hide the joining of the two seperate bodies of water under the bridge and they would appear to be one pond. However, I am not diciplined enough to keep two sets of pond equipent and everything so seperate to gain a "health" advantage. I have a hard enough time doing that with my qt pond. Currently my plan is to combine water, but not swimming area. Because of the waterfall that is currently at the end of the pond, I can lower that wall when I remove that falls. (Pictured) I have seemed liners when I tied the waterfall to the pond the first time, and although it is a lot a patience and work, I think I can do it sucessfully. Also after the seems are strong, it will be burried under the flagstone and mortor. That has been very sucessful for me in the past. Believe it or not, the current pond is a patchwork of 4 different liners, 8 inches of overlap, double side taped, and calked on both sides of the tape.

As for fish load, yes I will be selling some of my current fish after next years spawn. My two spawning fish are 24+ inches long and are so beautiful, I think I will be able to find a good buyer for them. Also, of my first 8 smaller fish, it is like 4 sets of twins, so I will be trying to also sell one of each of the twins. I have had really good luck in the local market here buying, selling, and trading. I have no misconceptions of making any profit, but I like the idea of having new colors and designs in the pond. Some are special and will be there forever, others may just be passing through.

I have tried to be pretty careful about a 7 day qt before adding anything new to my pond. The kids like it, because in the qt, the fish can quickly learn to eat out of your hand.

 

[fishin4cars]

I would go two ponds no matter what. here are my thoughts why, 1st, if one has a problem and has to be drained you have a second back up. second, one could be used for quarantine for new arrivals while one held the rest of the herd, 3rd if spawning starts up and you need to separate the female you have a place to move her already available. Forth, Although larger can mean more stability, a well designed pond and filtration can make life so much easier. Advancing the filtration to make a easier to maintain pond could actually make the hobby more enjoyable. I've reduced my maintance time by about 1/2 the time daily and now only have to move some valves and monitor instead of physically cleaning the material all the time. BTW, on your QT, one week isn't long enough to see if your fish are carrying parasites, or Virus infections, some can take a month or longer to actually show up. 3 weeks to a month is minimal if you really want to practice safe QT procedures.

 

[capewind]

How big of an area do you have for QTing? If you plan to have fish regularly coming and going, you may be better off with 2 ponds. Seven days in QT is pretty useless. That short of a period, all you are really doing is saying hello

I used to QT for 4-6 weeks, but now will be doing 8-12 weeks instead. The difference in time is to simply add one step to our protocol.

 

[JohnHuff]

You can build two ponds and build a fish bridge made of acrylic pipes between them, which can be removed and put back any time you want.