koi carp ponds

Post by **lee** » February 7, 2006, 11:23 am

I took these pictures at the Phuket Fantersea venue. The lake water was crystal clear and contained the most Koi I've ever seen in one area, it was very impressive to say the least.

Post by aj » February 7, 2006, 12:39 pm

Being another avid koi keeer in the uk have allready built a pond in udon , a few points come to mind , for sure you dont need the depth ie 5 ft as in the uk but remember Koi breed in the heat and thunderstorms , and they breed by the male knocking the female against the side of the pool ,so even in deep pools it is possible for both male and female to end up on the ground utside of pool . I can imagine thailand needing permanent netting ? Second point has to be the water . I bought ten small koi to try it out , pond is filtered etc, however all ten died within a week . So at moment water seems to be a proplem . Also I think Thai materials such as cement have maybe a different acidic content to the uk so quite possible that it was some think in the build that did poor fish in . however as the whole pool was tile lined like a swimming pool I tend to disscount that unless the grout is also very different ? Experiments continue..

Post by **lee** » February 7, 2006, 1:13 pm

I can imagine thailand needing permanent netting ?

Don't fill the water all the way to the top and line the pond with large rocks; this will avoid the fish jumping out. Remember to make a drainage hole otherwise the pond will overflow in the rain season and make it easier for the fish to jump out.

I bought ten small koi to try it out, pond is filtered etc, however all ten died within a week .

I would advise leaving the newly built pond for at least 1 month with water in to settle. New cement has a high salt content and needs to be removed. You will need to drain, scrub and fill several times. Then on the final fill add a water treatment solution and various natural plants and then leave for a week or two to settle. During this time use a pump and filter to clean and add oxygen. By this time the pond should be ready for the fish. Make sure you add lot's of rocks for the fish to hide under so as to make them less stressed.

Post by aj » February 7, 2006, 2:01 pm

not sure that rocks will help the breeding process , the male hits the female pretty hard when the are full sized fish , had several instances in the uk when the force just threw the female out of the pond. If you get the gang bang scenario and leave mre than one male in the pond and they all join in then very often the female is killed . but the point Im making is that a lot of force can send female flying over anything . And with the the weather what it is in thailand I would imagine that breeding will be a fairly constant problem . In 20 years in Uk only had my fish breed twice .

Post by **leprechaun** » February 9, 2006, 8:52 pm

With regard to aj. loss of ten fish , it would be interesting to know if you test water parameters,ie, ph, water hardness (both types kh and gh) ammonia levels, nitrite, etc, etc. As all good koi keepers know, you keep water first and foremost , the fish are secondary.
I am still lacking on finding out where pond making materials in thailand can be purchased, I am rapidly approaching the stage in making my pond where I will need a sealant such as g4 for sealing the cement, as I am not amoured with the thought of tiling, (its a pond not a swimming pool.)also, does anybody know if it is possible to buy proper concrete blocks 4" or 6" thick! and solid.and lastly are there any volunteers out there who can give an old man a hand!

Post by **beer monkey** » February 9, 2006, 9:15 pm

Would love to volunteer my brother inlaw but he probably would'nt be to pleased. as for concrete blocks should be available in builders merchants. My pond was made of blocks and cement and all is good after two and half years,no liners involved,i don't keep high grade koi in it only ghost koi and gold fish etc. good luck with volunteers.

Post by **yorkman** » February 10, 2006, 4:30 am

leprechaun wrote:With regard to aj. loss of ten fish , it would be interesting to know if you test water parameters,ie, ph, water hardness (both types kh and gh) ammonia levels, nitrite, etc, etc. As all good koi keepers know, you keep water first and foremost , the fish are secondary.
I am still lacking on finding out where pond making materials in thailand can be purchased, I am rapidly approaching the stage in making my pond where I will need a sealant such as g4 for sealing the cement, as I am not amoured with the thought of tiling, (its a pond not a swimming pool.)also, does anybody know if it is possible to buy proper concrete blocks 4" or 6" thick! and solid.and lastly are there any volunteers out there who can give an old man a hand!

I think that was just a matter of not filling and emptying the pond several times, as Lee suggested, to get the extreme alkalinity caused by lime in the cement out. Tiling and a bit of grout will not stop this. Water is known as the "universal solvent" and it will leach through.

Well you are some way towards finding your solution Leprechaun surely? The cement block method, followed by a concrete rendering (just like house walls) would do it. I'm not sure where you would get G4 sealant.....you could fetch some in ..or look into the rubberised coatings that are available for pool sealing...again with a lots of changes of water to get rid of any nasties. G4 is, in any case, just another form of rubberised sealant sold at an inflated price

Then..pumps, pool pumps perhaps, and design your own filters, again with the concrete and sealant method.

As for the help....hmmmm....with full reciprocation perhaps!! Probably easier to get a digger in and explain to a general contractor exactly what you want with your in-ground wall, and poured concrete floor, for the bottom drains, and take it from there yourself.

I dunno, I'd love to see somebody with a completed 10,000 gallon or so pond in the Udon area post here...

John

Post by aj » February 10, 2006, 10:55 am

in reply to leprechaun . no I did not test water at all, pond had been cleaned three times and filled and g/f was concerned about the waste of water , hence the ten small fish to find out. I found out and shame upon me as they say. however the pond is completly tiled and to be fair I thought that any cement residue would have been long gone. You live and learn. As a matter of interest the pond is made of bricks that cost 8 tbh each and fit into each other . they are made up near MacroS I think. They are easy to lay stronger i SUSPECT THAN THE old breeze blocks I have made ponds from before. Tiles are really cheap here so yes its tiled. There always seems to be two ways to keep koi. i PREFER A POND WITH NOTHING IN BUT THE FISH , FILTERED AND OXYGEN SUPPLIED BY PUMP AND VENTURA RETURN. Thats a prefferance only. I find fish become tamer and also that breeding is more likely . plus if they do breed its easier to seperate the young . I think there are many pros and cons to both ways. My last pond was down in wales .very formal and onle fish . it survived an attack by rampaging mink without losing a fish ,in fact one mink died . I doubt that would have happened had it been a natural pond.

Post by **leprechaun** » February 13, 2006, 11:01 pm

Thanks fellas for the various suggestions. I am now on the lookout for a suitable container to make a vortex chamber, as the cement water butt I was going to modify comitted sucide today by jumping down the hole and smashing itself to bits. Oh! I have just found the suicide note it reads---- I am a thai concrete water butt, and I would sooner die then be interfered with by a farang! (translation to english by mrs leprechaun)

and this, one day before valentines!

Post by **beer monkey** » February 13, 2006, 11:16 pm

May-be the Mrs might buy you a new water butt for valentines.

Post by **yorkman** » February 14, 2006, 3:11 am

leprechaun wrote:Thanks fellas for the various suggestions. I am now on the lookout for a suitable container to make a vortex chamber, as the cement water butt I was going to modify comitted sucide today by jumping down the hole and smashing itself to bits. Oh! I have just found the suicide note it reads---- I am a thai concrete water butt, and I would sooner die then be interfered with by a farang! (translation to english by mrs leprechaun)

and this, one day before valentines!

If you have the space, try a "settling" chamber perhaps, just like a sewerage works. Feed in at the bottom and return with the top level water. A periodic partial drain out like a vortex chamber ought to be ok, and easily built like a mini pond. You could even put some plants is there to feed off this. I am considering this with lot of guppies in there, their main food in the wild is mossie larvae.

Just my ideas; I have yet to embark on this

John

p.s. I hope the interference went well

Post by **leprechaun** » February 14, 2006, 9:51 pm

Hi all you late night guys with itchy fingers, ok, must stick to the subject matter.
the settling tank is a valid idea, and has inspired me to think about building in concrete something along those lines,space being no problem.Guppies to eat the mozzy larvae! I like it, top marks! thats truly eco in action.Should go well with my final filter, known as" bacteria house"consisting of oyster shell, on which i am hoping to grow a large colony of "nitrifying bacteria". and at the same time the shell will act as buffering material, to keep the ph constant.

Happy valentines to you all.

PS guess what mrs leprechaun bought me for valentines! Free drink to the winner.

Post by **polehawk** » February 14, 2006, 10:09 pm

A school of guppies?

Post by **Loaded** » February 14, 2006, 11:23 pm

leprechaun wrote:PS guess what mrs leprechaun bought me for valentines! Free drink to the winner.

A bottle opener

I have a CC if I win

!!

Happy valentines to you too.

Post by **beer monkey** » February 14, 2006, 11:46 pm

leprechaun wrote:
PS guess what mrs leprechaun bought me for valentines! Free drink to the winner.

Was it a strong young man to dig out the pond...........or Socks.

Post by **farang** » February 15, 2006, 12:39 am

leprechaun wrote:
PS guess what mrs leprechaun bought me for valentines! Free drink to the winner.

a fishing rod and a brochure on how to turn a pond into a jacuzzi $\:D/$

chang please lol

Post by **banpaeng** » February 15, 2006, 1:20 am

Don't know what he got but Falangs answer is the best so far.

Post by **yorkman** » February 15, 2006, 2:21 am

polehawk wrote:A school of guppies?

Yes, and some of those Archer Fish things to shoot down the mossies that the guppys miss.

Seems reasonable to me...

John

Post by **yorkman** » February 15, 2006, 2:24 am

BEER MONKEY wrote:
leprechaun wrote:
PS guess what mrs leprechaun bought me for valentines! Free drink to the winner.
Was it a strong young man to dig out the pond...........or Socks.

No, she bought the strong young man for herself...

John

Post by **FrazeeDK** » February 16, 2006, 8:57 am

It's a bit away from the Koi issue (although Kois can have leech probs) but does anyone have a solution to getting rid of leeches in local ponds.. I have two large spring fed (nam-hin) fish ponds on the property. Both are about 12 meters wide X 35 meters long X 3-4 meters deep. I've got family that have swum in them and complained about getting leeches.. Anybody know of any natural way to kill them off or indeed any chemical way that wouldn't kill the fish I already have in the ponds and where to get it locally?? The water's a might cloudy, but it sure would be a nice swimmin' hole during the hot season

thanks,

koi carp ponds

koi carp ponds

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koi carp ponds

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koi carp ponds

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Koi ponds and leeches