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  • Results 1 to 2 of 2

    Thread: Swapping out pond liner

    1. #1
      Noompsy is offline Junior Member
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      Swapping out pond liner

      Hello everyone, I thought I would try to get some feedback. I have never gotten any advice and have done everything myself to this point but thought I would get some input from other Koi owners in this scenario.

      I am swapping out my pond liner currently. When I started this I bought a very cheap pond liner because I didn't know how all of this would end up. I have moved all of my koi to a 300 gallon tank until I get it done. I ran an inlet into the tank and a return to keep my bog cycling and to keep the water clean while the fish are in the tank. I will say right off the bat and will probably get a lot of criticism for it but, I have a LOT of fish.

      My pond is about 4,000 gallons. I run two filters, a skimmer and waterfall/spillway with bio balls. I run a bio pressure filter and a 300 gallon bog I made myself.

      I started my pond 6 years and have never lost a single fish, not one. Even the goldfish I bought at PetSmart for 12 cents to start the pond grew up, multiplied and grew almost to the size of small koi fish. I have since given away all of them and only have Koi fish now. I have given away thousands of fish every year after spawning but a lot of them hide very well, so it's hard to keep up. Now that I have moved them all to the tank I will be giving away about 80% of them before filling the pond back up.

      My water is ALWAYS perfect when I test it (once a week). I don't know why, I don't know how, but it is, always has been. Even when I show pictures to the fish stores and people I have bought plants from in the past, the question is always "why is your water so clear"? I never have an answer for them, it just always is and it always looks like drinking water.

      My fish range in age from 20 years old ( customer gave me four fish over 20 inches) to 6 months old. I have at least 6 fish that are over 20 inches, probably 15 that are about 14 inches, 15 that are 8 inches, maybe 15 that are 5 inches and the ones that are small from June of this year, about 30 of them. All of my fish are from the same 4 fish my customer gave me 5 years ago. I am going to introduce new fish to the pond after I give away the majority this week.

      So, now that I have given a little history. I was wondering if someone could tell me how long I need to wait to put the fish back when I fill the pond? I read a few threads on here before starting this one and none of them have the specifics that my pond has.

      I have two pumps running 24/7. One pump goes through a skimmer with a filter and then into my bio filter, and that one pumps at 5,200 gph. My bog has a pool pump with a 2hp motor with a 4" pipe and pumps about 6,000 gallons per hour. My plan was to continue to run one pump in the holding tank and cycle the other one with the new water. I just don't know how long I should do that before returning the fish back to the pond.

      I have attached picture of my bog and the holding tank with the fish in it.
      Attached Images Attached Images     

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    2. #2
      stevek is offline Supporting Member
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      Sounds like you have had more success with maintaining healthy conditions over the years than most koi keepers with more elaborate systems. If you are basicly doing a 100% water change by refilling the pond completely, you probably want to make sure PH and temp are as close as possible between the holding tank and main pond before you put the fish back in. Do you have city water ( chlorine added ) or well water ? You are probably already aware that there are chemical treatments you need to add to dechlorinate new water, which would be important if all the water is new. Once the water parameters are good, you can get them back in the main pond.

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