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