Since You Talked me out of a Bartisian, let me Have a Koi Pond

[i_am_the_koi]

:thumbsup

Reach out if you have issues anytime man.

Big thing to realize, is that ponds are ecosystems and everything you do changes that system. Give it time to balance, to change, and to adapt to it's new world.

 

[aminalmutha]

Kiddie pool and some guppies?

 

[Maddevill]

I was out bass fishing at Contra Loma in Antioch and caught a 10 lb goldfish. It looked like a basketball with a tail.

Mad

 

[DucatiHoney]

Robot fish...

 

[Ogg]

Had a fish pond for several years in Georgia on property that backed up to woods. Deep + ledge + plants is definitely the recipe to keep the 'coons and herons at bay.

Careful with feeder goldfish. They'll breed. While that sounds cool, they'll happily breed beyond the capacity of the ecosystem you've tried to create.

Last, though it sounds like you've already got your solution planned out, I had great success with an in-pond filtering system. It was actually scratch built out of a plastic tub, some PVC, and a bunch of industrial floor buffer pads. Point being that if you get enough surface area and the right flow through it and balance it with the fish population and plants, it becomes basically maintenance-free.

 

[dravnx]

Had a buddy who had a pretty sizable Goldfish pond. He thought it would be fun when he caught an undersized bass while fishing one day to put it in his pond, raise it to size and eat it. That bass ate all his Goldfish. He was so pissed, he killed the bass and gave it to the barn cats.

 

[DrSwade]

My two centavos:
Any pond or aquarium, the bigger the better. Think of a drop of contaminate in a 200gal vs. a 1000 gal. Much more buffering for any mistskes or lack of diligence with water care.

I dug a straight wall, 4’ deep, 8x8 pond and cantilevered a deck 2’ over the pond so kids could lie and hang over the side the way i did off of docks when I was a kid.
This also served as a refuge forthr fish from aerial and terrestrial predators. I ended up putting a basic pergola over it mostly for aesthetics, but it kept the heron and such from sitting on my gutter staring down at potential sushi.

I found my ponds to be incredibly soothing and it was a blast watching my fish grow and become “tame”.

And spend the money on Japanese koi. Those Thai and Chinese ones never get better with age. I sold all my koi when I moved to Mexico for a SUBSTANTIAL amount more than I paid for them as juveniles.

 

[lefty]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I did a lot of digging over the weekend and installed my 125 gallon liner. I added 400 lbs of sand to keep everything from shifting. I had an Electrician install a 110V outdoor outlet on Saturday. I am waiting for Lyngso https://www.lyngsogarden.com/
to open today, so I can buy rocks for inside and to create ledges around the edge of the pond.
This little project is costing me a lot of $$$$.

 

[WoodsChick]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I did a lot of digging over the weekend and installed my 125 gallon liner. I added 400 lbs of sand to keep everything from shifting. I had an Electrician install a 110V outdoor outlet on Saturday. I am waiting for Lyngso https://www.lyngsogarden.com/
to open today, so I can buy rocks for inside and to create ledges around the edge of the pond.
This little project is costing me a lot of $$$$.

Good luck with your pond, Lefty!
Photos of the build as you go would be cool :thumbup

 

[Climber]

If nothing else, you're at least creating a nice pond for your dogs to cool off in during the summer. :thumbup :laughing

 

[Maddevill]

Had a buddy who had a pretty sizable Goldfish pond. He thought it would be fun when he caught an undersized bass while fishing one day to put it in his pond, raise it to size and eat it. That bass ate all his Goldfish. He was so pissed, he killed the bass and gave it to the barn cats.

Uhh...as a predator, Largemouth bass will eat anything they can fit in their mouth. Fish, rats, ducks, crawdads, muskrat, birds, frogs etc. That's why they're so fun to fish for.

Mad

 

[DrSwade]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I did a lot of digging over the weekend and installed my 125 gallon liner. I added 400 lbs of sand to keep everything from shifting. I had an Electrician install a 110V outdoor outlet on Saturday. I am waiting for Lyngso https://www.lyngsogarden.com/
to open today, so I can buy rocks for inside and to create ledges around the edge of the pond.
This little project is costing me a lot of $$$$.

Still cheaper than a reef tank. I probably had $8k invested in my 120gallon one. Sold it all for $1500 when I moved. The guy who moved it for the buyer probably charged more than that.
Come to think of it, I had a grotesque amount of money invested in my ponds too.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Still cheaper than a reef tank. I probably had $8k invested in my 120gallon one. Sold it all for $1500 when I moved. The guy who moved it for the buyer probably charged more than that.
Come to think of it, I had a grotesque amount of money invested in my ponds too.

Ponds can add up quickly because you can just keep adding once you got it figured out and nothing is too big.

Anything salt water is fucking scary for how quickly you can go from full tank having to start over. The $$$ is ridiculous on just little chunks of coral to the fish themselves, to the equipment.

I never got into salt water, just too much moneyz

 

[1footdown]

If we've learned anything, it would be to never add up your receipts for your hobby.

 

[Climber]

This thread is useless without pictures. :x

 

[WoodsChick]

This thread is useless without pictures. :x

Thank you!

 

[lefty]

Had a buddy who had a pretty sizable Goldfish pond. He thought it would be fun when he caught an undersized bass while fishing one day to put it in his pond, raise it to size and eat it. That bass ate all his Goldfish. He was so pissed, he killed the bass and gave it to the barn cats.

Check out this hilarious video about a guy who brought home a Psycho Bass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbI1Ld0h3xY

I'm sorry for the lack of pics. I have been trying to upload pics, but I keep getting that "File too Large" message, I have a compression app, but I still get the message. What size must they be to post on BARF.
(I'm sorry for being a 'Tard)

 

[ScottRNelson]

I'm sorry for the lack of pics. I have been trying to upload pics, but I keep getting that "File too Large" message, I have a compression app, but I still get the message. What size must they be to post on BARF.
(I'm sorry for being a 'Tard)

Dear 'Tard:

Get an imgur.com account (they're free). Store any size image that you want there. Link to your images using [img] [/img] tags. You will no longer have any size issues.

You're welcome. :cool

 

[Ogg]

Guys with size issues...

 

[lefty]

Let's see if this works,,,

I will be deleting this stupid app. IMGR sucks!!!!