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  • Results 1 to 16 of 16

    Thread: Above ground wooden QT for my koi

    1. #1
      HiddenLeaf03 is offline Senior Member
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      Smile Above ground wooden QT for my koi

      Hello Everyone!

      Man it has been such a long time since I have been on koiphen. Its better late than never so hopefully I can get a pass from you all. Hope everyone has been safe and healthy through this crazy pandemic. Alot has changed since my last visit to koiphen. Besides personal life, after years working as a floor nurse I transitioned into the field of Infection Preventionist and I'm so happy with my new career. Make my own schedule, work from home and now I have more time to dedicate endless hours to our koi pond.

      By the way I want to thank everyone here that was a big help to me during my rebuild of my pond. Steve, Icu2, koiman....and the list goes on. You all helped me through my challenges with my 6000 gallon pond. It's still running today and my koi have had babies and their babies had babies. I'm so grateful. I have great pictures of them if you would like to see.

      Since we are on the subject of babies, I want to make a QT because I am getting joy out of breeding koi. Taking care of them and raising them ❤ has become a passion and people are always wanting to buy koi around here. With most of the koi farms around here going out of business due to leases being up and not renewing, I find myself being a person that others are going to. So weird! And as you all know a QT is great for taking care of sick fish, introducing new fish, performing maintenance or fix it jobs on main pond. I should have done this a long time ago- I would have had much more babies than what I do now. I'm sure the goldfish ate most of the eggs as they always have spawned in the pond itself. And speaking of goldfish- I'm I'm the process of getting rid of all of them from the pond. They are such an invasive species and over populate the pond. Not to mention them eating my koi fry and trying to mate with the koi. Ughhh!

      I'm always impressed by the above ground wooden qt used at koi farms. Looks pretty simple - wooden frame with drop in liner. Most of the time submersible pumps are inside and takes the water to a barrel filter or trickle tower. So I am leaning towards something like this that in any emergency I can easily dismantle if need be. Due to the limited space I have in the backyard, I'm thinking of setting up a qt on a back patio. I will not be able to dig into the ground because it's all concrete.

      Dimensions: 4' x 8'x3' deep
      Location: Southern California

      I think this will roughly give me an 800 gallon qt. I might be able to add an extra foot to length or width. I'm pretty savy when it comes to working with tools but I don't have the slightest clue on how to start with this build. Would I need to insulate this above ground qt? The summer months can get hot and the winters are not that cold.

      Does anyone have a step by step guide on someone else build similar to what I want to do? Maybe a thread? Here are a few pictures. I still need to install some decking to go over my filter pits (I know, I know I never got it done) and some rocks have fallen down into the pond due to racoon invasions. I have lost fish but still have alot left.

      The other picture is of the patio area where I'm thinking of placing the qt up against the wall. I can build a shelf above where the qt will be to place filter pumps or whatever need be.

      The system to use for the set up is in the air. What do you believe is the best set up? I remember, and correct me if I'm wrong, but steve makes those awesome sand barrel filters and I'm really intrigued with that idea. I didn't get it for my big pond but I figured not to make the same mistake with this new build.

      Anywho- I'm looking forward to hearing from old friends and as always your guidance is much appreciated. Hope you all stick with me throughout this next journey of mine and I apologize for my lengthy absence.

      Much love and admiration,

      Leif
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    2. #2
      icu2's Avatar
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      Hey Leif!
      Great to see you posting! The pond is looking nice. I'll see if I can find some QT builds above ground.
      This might be new since you've been on but there's a custom Google search that works a lot better than
      the standard one. Give this one a try:

      http://cse.google.com/cse?cx=0070364...19978874%252Fc

      You can also find it under "Quick Links" on the dark blue navigation bar on the Koiphen front page.

      Welcome back!
      --Steve



      Koiphen 2021 Koi Person of the Year!

    3. #3
      HiddenLeaf03 is offline Senior Member
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      Hi Steve!

      Thank you and no I didn't know about custom Google search. I'm so happy to see you on here. I'll do some browsing. Thanks for your help friend.

    4. #4
      One Poet's Garden's Avatar
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      Hi, Leif,

      I just built almost exactly the kind of QT pond you describe. 8' x 4' by about 30". I need to take some pictures, but there is a tiktok video: https://www.tiktok.com/@onepoetsgard...from_webapp=v1

      You can see it's just a bunch of old 2x10s I had lying around, with some 2x4s to hold them together. One 2x4 from bottom to top on each inside corner, held steady with 3" long screws, and one vertical 2x4 inside midway along each of the two long walls. I added a couple of exterior 2x4s, but I don't think they're needed. The liner is just two layers of some 6 mil black plastic I had lying around. I used some old redwood decking for the top edging. I didn't dig into the ground for this one at all.

      If I were back in San Diego, I could probably keep the thing year round. But this is Maryland, and winter is coming, so this one's just temporary. Right now I don't have a filter, or aeration, or anything. I've got a couple dozen very small feeder goldfish, and a couple dozen rosy red bullhead minnows in there.

      I built it to grow on some lotus and water lilies until I can get my next pond built. I'm counting on the water hyacinth, water lettuce, etc., to provide enough filtration until then.

      Still, I might get lucky, and get some 3"-4" koi for father's day. If that happens, I won't be able to put them directly in the 1000 gallon greenhouse pond with the other koi. So I'll likely have to jury-rig a temporary filter for this pond: submersible pump inside the pond, in lieu of a bottom drain, with a hose directed into the bottom of a 40 gallon trashcan, with a pvc pipe gravity flowing back into the pond from near the top of the barrel. I usually make the 'fall' back into the pond about 8", just to provide aeration.

      Usually, I make a bunch of small - maybe 2 gallon - mesh bags out of deer netting, fill them with lava rock, and use them to mostly fill the barrel, so the water flows up through them. But I'm less enamored of the lava rock than I used to be, and I'm looking for a cheaper, and less 'heavy,' replacement. I've heard of people having success with cut up 1/2" plastic strapping, but that stuff is 80 bucks a roll, so lava rock is still cheaper, darn it!

      Anyway, I just wanted to write to say: "This can be much easier than it looks." With the greenhouse pond, I was very careful, using cross-bracing above and below the pond, but the greenhouse pond is 20 feet long, and any structural failure would have been catastrophic for the greenhouse. This pond has only been up for 8 days, but I'm pretty confident in it already... as long as we don't get any snowstorms!

      Thanks,

      Bill

    5. #5
      HiddenLeaf03 is offline Senior Member
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      Awesome thank you Bill!

      Yea I figured all that would be required is some 2x6s and 2x4s but hey can't go wrong with 2x10. Looks pretty sturdy. So you just stacked the 2x10s on top of each other?

    6. #6
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      Here, this might also helps. It some of the pictures from my wooden pond built from 2x6 and 2x8. But you'll get the idea.

      https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showt...51#post2776951

      https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showt...12#post2775912
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    7. #7
      HiddenLeaf03 is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by EmeraldDragon View Post
      Here, this might also helps. It some of the pictures from my wooden pond built from 2x6 and 2x8. But you'll get the idea.

      https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showt...51#post2776951

      https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showt...12#post2775912
      Thanks Sunny, your QT looks great!

    8. #8
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      Quote Originally Posted by HiddenLeaf03 View Post
      Thanks Sunny, your QT looks great!
      That is actually my Koi Pond. I wishes I had spaces like your to do a nice pond like that. Either that give up lawn spaces (My DW would killed me for that) for Koi Pond.
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    9. #9
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      Dude I know what you mean. Once you get bit by the bug, you always want to go bigger! This pond of mine is actually my 3rd rebuild. Who needs a lawn when you can have a watergarden! Once I get the QT done...next will be making a small zen rock garden.

    10. #10
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      Been looking through some different set ups on koiphen here and Bruce did a pretty good job with a deep qt that was solid. Trying to understand how he made his jig when making the walls. Everyone's set up is quite nice and creative. Tough choice to make.

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    11. #11
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      Quote Originally Posted by HiddenLeaf03 View Post
      Dude I know what you mean. Once you get bit by the bug, you always want to go bigger! This pond of mine is actually my 3rd rebuild. Who needs a lawn when you can have a watergarden! Once I get the QT done...next will be making a small zen rock garden.
      Come by my house and let's build (Just Kidding, my DW would killed me right now if I do that).

      I do knows what you meant thou, I do want bigger pond or what you call Water Garden. That's what I keeps trying to tell my DW. We have three small ponds now (kind of), two of them are her lilies ponds (container ponds) and the other is my prize and joy Wooden Koi Pond. They are all above ground ponds.

      I would loved to see your Zen Rock Garden...

      Quote Originally Posted by HiddenLeaf03 View Post
      Been looking through some different set ups on koiphen here and Bruce did a pretty good job with a deep qt that was solid. Trying to understand how he made his jig when making the walls. Everyone's set up is quite nice and creative. Tough choice to make.
      EDIT: Everyone has his/her own style. You'll just have to find your bro!
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    12. #12
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      Quote Originally Posted by HiddenLeaf03 View Post
      Awesome thank you Bill!

      Looks pretty sturdy. So you just stacked the 2x10s on top of each other?
      Lief,

      Yes, they're just stacked. The key to the structure is the use of those 2x4s.

      I'm not an engineer - my father was - but it's my understanding that the key force involved is the outward push at the lowest level. The six vertical 2x4s - one in each corner, and one midway on each long side - turn each wall into a 'single unit', rather like 'sistering up' a beam in the attic: the upper 2x10s aren't holding back much, but they add strength to the lower ones.

      I'm not sure I'd even try it without the 2x4s, although someone with more knowledge than me might suggest exterior brackets or even some simple structural screws. There's an old saying in the woodworking community: "when in doubt, build it stout." Not always the best advice - elegance should count for something - but that saying has served me well in pond and garden construction.

      The QT pond I linked is made out of scrap and recycled lumber I had lying around. Alas, with the price of lumber through the roof, I'm finding I need to learn to build with concrete block. So: new skill set to be acquired, whole new set of tools. All that is fine. But wood gives a sense of flexibility, ephemerality, and "do-over-ability" I don't get with concrete block. Still, there's nothing for it. I need to learn new tricks. As the poet said: "life is short, and the art of construction is long to learn."

      Best,

      Bill

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      I had built a 7 by 4, 4 feet deep for my wintering pond. I used two by fours mostly. One thing I did a little different- I cut a 4 by 7 piece of marine grade plywood (an old used piece leftover from a retail store signage) and attached that as the very bottom layer- as in the contact layer where it sat on my concrete basement floor. The reason I did this is to counter that "push out" force in the mid section of 7 foot run. Any time you can tie the forces of "push out" from one side to the other so the forces are equally countering each other you should try do that.

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      You might consider running one, or two 2 by 4's across the bottom. Of course then you have the issue that the bottom is not flat. Solve this by filling those cavities in with 1.5 inch thick styrofoam.
      I think you could build this pond in a way that it could be taken apart when not in use. Build the base as a single component, then each wall as single components that would solidly bolt together at the corners. And the sides would attach to the base with "ledge lockers" that construction workers use to attach decks to the side of a house. The screws have tremendous sheer strength and would give you all the hold you need. When assembled it would be sturdy, and when disassembled it would be a 4 by 8 by three inch thick base, two 3 by 8 by 4 inch thick sides, and two 3 by 4 by 4 inch thick end walls.

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      Ok great stuff so far thanks everyone. Going to plan this all out on paper and figure out how exactly I want to go about this before taking a trip to the hardware store.

      I have a question:

      Is it possible to breed two different females in same QT with a divider in the middle? I'm noticing that my other female is looking pregnant as well. If I did the ratio of 1 female per 3 male, would that be too much koi for this size qt? Is it okay to have 2 males to 1 female?

      Not sure if I will accomplish the build before they spawn but I'm going to try. In any event this is good to know for future events.

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      Quote Originally Posted by HiddenLeaf03 View Post
      Ok great stuff so far thanks everyone. Going to plan this all out on paper and figure out how exactly I want to go about this before taking a trip to the hardware store.

      I have a question:

      Is it possible to breed two different females in same QT with a divider in the middle? I'm noticing that my other female is looking pregnant as well. If I did the ratio of 1 female per 3 male, would that be too much koi for this size qt? Is it okay to have 2 males to 1 female?

      Not sure if I will accomplish the build before they spawn but I'm going to try. In any event this is good to know for future events.
      I have read in one of the thread that it does happened with two females.


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