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  • Results 1 to 7 of 7

    Thread: 1st time Koi pond builder looking for tips

    1. #1
      stillwaterhockey is offline Junior Member
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      1st time Koi pond builder looking for tips

      Okay so as I do more and more reading on this site and online a couple questions come to mind.

      1) being that I'm in Minnesota and I'd like to keep the Koi in the pond during the winter, is it a must to have a BD that form bubbles?
      2) what is recommended for a pond of 2700 gallons, a Sieve or Vortex?

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    2. #2
      Douwe Guest - Time to Register
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      You will get a lot of opinions but ultimately you will have to decide for yourself.
      IMHO as long as your putting in a bottom drain why not have one that does bubbles and then experiment (no reason you can't leave the bubbles turned off).
      What I have been observing, if the only choice is between Sieve or Vortex, is that Sieves are more in favor now.

    3. #3
      johnhubbs is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by stillwaterhockey View Post
      Okay so as I do more and more reading on this site and online a couple questions come to mind.

      1) being that I'm in Minnesota and I'd like to keep the Koi in the pond during the winter, is it a must to have a BD that form bubbles?
      2) what is recommended for a pond of 2700 gallons, a Sieve or Vortex?
      Stillwater,
      While I am not near as far north as you, I still get some pretty cold weather come winter. I would agree with Douwe in that, you can always just turn off air pump to aerated bottom drain. The advantages of the aerated bottom drain make the choice a no-brainer IMHO. I am currently installing my first two sieves, as I had vortex type chambers in the past. The reason I decided to go with sieves is they remove debris from water column, instead of just trapping it in a chamber where it can continue to degrade water quality. Sieves are pricey, but I believe they will be worth it. If you have the budget, I would suggest you look into a Rotary Drum Filter (RDF). These are becoming a little more common and I believe dependability has increased greatly. You question would most likely be, "then why didn't you purchase one instead of the sieves". Easy answer, I just couldn't afford one. LOL
      I would highly suggest you go deep being as far north as you are. Six feet would be the minimum IMHO for your climate, eight feet would be even better. Pleae check out my build thread when you have time.
      Regards, John...

    4. #4
      stillwaterhockey is offline Junior Member
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      Thanks. Sounds like it smart to spend the extra money and get a aerated BD.
      I'll also look at the Sieves along with the Rotary Drum Filter. Yes Budget is important to our family so I'll also look at some of the DIY set ups. Just trying to gather as much info as possible so I know I'm making the right choice. You guys here have been amazing


      One more thing. I was using an online pond calculator and it gave me a feedback for a liner of 24x21. My design is 10 ft length, 7 ft width, 5 ft depth. Would the 24x21 liner be correct?

    5. #5
      Douwe Guest - Time to Register
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      If you have a perfectly rectangular shaped pond with vertical walls you are pretty close with you pond liner but I would go a bit larger. You can always trim off excess but if you come up short
      If you have a freeform pond you will have to take into account the many folds that make sizing the liner somewhat tricky.

      The big thing, concerning budget, is pay now or pay twice as much later.

    6. #6
      catfish whiskers's Avatar
      catfish whiskers is offline Supporting Member ~ WWKC President
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      Aaerated bottom drains work. They create circulation that draws water towards the drain.
      I use a Zacci sieve on one pond and it always collects a lot of poop. I forgot to turn the air back on to My bottom drain one day ,and noticed that there was hardly any poop in the sieve. I turned the air back on , and lots of poop collection resumed.
      Sieve or Vortex ? I'd say Sieve hands down . The wedgewire screen is a wonderfull thing , poop and debris collects and is out of the water collum, and water passes right through.
      Regardless of what type of filtration You use , size Your bottom drains large enough for Gravity flow.

    7. #7
      DragonFireSG is offline Senior Member
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      Zakki sieve feeding 2 55g sand and gravel filters would work wonderfully. Bio would probably be 55g barrel based moving bed filters fed by the S&Gs since a shower is troublesome to operate when the mercury drops below freezing.

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