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  1. #1

    Temporary koi home whilst moving house size - advice please?

    Hi All,
    Wonder if you could give your opinions on how to handle my koi when moving house. Situation is that I'm moving house in February from London to Lancashire, into a short term house, and will then be moving again to a permanent house, probably in summer (when we find one!).
    I have a pond full of koi, which I need to move. New temporary house will NOT have a pond, so i need to work out a temporary solution for my koi. Realistically this will be for at least 5 months, but could even be for a year+ depending on how the move goes and how long it takes me to build a proper pond.

    So i will need a temporary pond. I can't afford to spend several thousand on a pre-built pond that would be difficult to move to the new-new house when we move again. My plan is to build a "semi-portable" pond that can live in the garage at the new place and then be moved. I think i can build something simple by screwing together 2x4's, lining with kingspan and putting in a boxweld liner. That could then be raised off the garage floor on a frame to allow room for bottom drain and pipework. Here are my questions:

    How big do you think an in-garage pond would need to be? I will include my shower filter on the pond and will be able to change water regularly, and will only feed lightly. I have 11 koi, with 8 of them between 45-55 cm, and the other 3 around 25cm, currently in my 2000gal pond. I realise these are a bit big for a small temporary pond, but don't have many options and will seriously overfilter the pond. I think I could build something of about 800 gallons relatively easily. Do you think that is big enough to hold the koi for a year indoors, if I'm extremely careful?

    Also does anyone know of any problems having a pond in garage, for moisture etc.? It is an external garage sharing one wall with the house and has windows for sunlight but is not insulated.

    Thanks for the help!
    Matt



  2. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Andy1671's Avatar
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    What about a swimming pool. They should be cheap this time of year
    Look on eBay and see whats about
    Good luck with the move
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  3. #3
    Hi Andy, thanks for the reply. Problem with buying a paddling/swimming pool is not enough depth (anything small enough to fit in a single garage would be < 800 gallons), and also fitting a bottom drain.
    But sourcing/building the pond isn't the problem - I can do that myself. I'm just worried about keeping koi in something so small for potentially a year. Anything over 800 gallons isn't going to fit in the garage very easily given I also have to keep some other things in there.
    Matt

  4. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Skoosh88's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mattsville View Post
    Hi Andy, thanks for the reply. Problem with buying a paddling/swimming pool is not enough depth (anything small enough to fit in a single garage would be < 800 gallons), and also fitting a bottom drain.
    But sourcing/building the pond isn't the problem - I can do that myself. I'm just worried about keeping koi in something so small for potentially a year. Anything over 800 gallons isn't going to fit in the garage very easily given I also have to keep some other things in there.
    Matt


    Here’s my temp setup in my single garage. Bit rough around the edges but does the job. I have a retro bottom drain feeding a sieve which drops onto the pump for the eazypod (I can’t have them in series as I obviously would have to have the sieve above the pod). Your fish are a bit bigger than mine but I have 10 35cm fish in there and there is plenty of room for them, in the far corner I have a water butt that drips in fresh water then when it reaches the max height I’m happy to let the water get to I dump the contents of the eazypod and start again. Correct me if I am wrong but I don’t think the depth matters too much it’s making sure the filtration and water change is adequate.



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  5. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Skoosh88's Avatar
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    Mine is a tandem single garage tho


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  6. #6
    Hi Skoosh.
    What size is that? It doesn't look any bigger than 800 gals unless the photo is deceptive. With estimated over double the weight of koi in mine I don't think that would be big enough. Does anyone have an opinion on whether 800 gals would be ok?
    Thanks,
    Matt

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  8. #7
    Member Rank = Nisai AJB's Avatar
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    If this were me, I would be putting out a "please help" message to fellow Koi enthusiast with an established Koi pond and quarantine facilities. Then see if they will Koi sit for you for a year, in exchange for out of pocket costs and an indemnity from you that your fish are clean. Just an idea. Cheaper and safer.

  9. #8
    Thanks for the idea AJB, but I don't want to do that. Anyone that would take this many koi from a stranger, I wouldn't want to leave them with. Just want to find out what people think about keeping the koi in 800 gallons, and if not that then what would be the minimum.
    Thanks,
    Matt

  10. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    ive got my koi all 20+ of them in a 500g fiberglass qt,been in there about 5 months now while i build my pond,and all fine,about 8 of them are over the 60cm mark and 3 are over 80cm,using a nexus 200 and a constant trickle in,clean nexus every 3 or 4 days,andi

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  12. #10
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Mature Champion pip895's Avatar
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    Just think how dealers manage - they often have huge stock in very small volumes and sometimes over quite long periods. Build it as big as you can but by tweaking the trickle in rates and managing the food carefully you should be fine.
    6000g in ground koi pond
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  14. #11
    Thanks Andi. Sounds like you have far more in there than I have, so hopefully I'll be ok. Any advice? I'll obviously need plenty of air going in. And a trickle sounds like a good idea... will have to sort out a simple overflow. What kind of rate do you trickle in at? Any other tips? Might be worth having a chat with a couple of dealers for advice too I guess.
    Thanks!
    Matt

  15. #12
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    What ever you do make sure you net it. Fish often tend to jump when they find themselves ‘downgraded’ in volume.

    You can make a small volume work as if it was larger just by running heaps of filtration at a fast turnover rate, and changing the same amount of water as if they were in their original pond volume. Do you know yet if your temporary accommodation is on a water meter?

  16. #13
    Yes, good advice - I wouldn't dream of leaving it un-netted. In fact the current pond is always netted unless I'm outside - but that's more down to herons. Hopefully won't be a problem in the new place!
    I only change about 2-300 gallons a week currently... but I guess if that works at the moment then it should be ok in the temp pond, especially if I'm not feeding a lot. Don't know if it's on a meter or not... but will just have to suck it up. Never been on a meter but a quick google suggests it's around £3/1000 litres so I guess I'll be paying around £3 per week. I can live with that.
    Matt

  17. #14
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion Ant62's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mattsville View Post
    Hi All,
    Wonder if you could give your opinions on how to handle my koi when moving house. Situation is that I'm moving house in February from London to Lancashire, into a short term house, and will then be moving again to a permanent house, probably in summer (when we find one!).
    I have a pond full of koi, which I need to move. New temporary house will NOT have a pond, so i need to work out a temporary solution for my koi. Realistically this will be for at least 5 months, but could even be for a year+ depending on how the move goes and how long it takes me to build a proper pond.

    So i will need a temporary pond. I can't afford to spend several thousand on a pre-built pond that would be difficult to move to the new-new house when we move again. My plan is to build a "semi-portable" pond that can live in the garage at the new place and then be moved. I think i can build something simple by screwing together 2x4's, lining with kingspan and putting in a boxweld liner. That could then be raised off the garage floor on a frame to allow room for bottom drain and pipework. Here are my questions:

    How big do you think an in-garage pond would need to be? I will include my shower filter on the pond and will be able to change water regularly, and will only feed lightly. I have 11 koi, with 8 of them between 45-55 cm, and the other 3 around 25cm, currently in my 2000gal pond. I realise these are a bit big for a small temporary pond, but don't have many options and will seriously overfilter the pond. I think I could build something of about 800 gallons relatively easily. Do you think that is big enough to hold the koi for a year indoors, if I'm extremely careful?

    Also does anyone know of any problems having a pond in garage, for moisture etc.? It is an external garage sharing one wall with the house and has windows for sunlight but is not insulated.

    Thanks for the help!
    Matt
    There is a guy on aquarist classified either greater manchester or lancashire section selling off a temp pool for koi quite large aswell....

    I will have a gander if you want matt and if i find it do you want me to pm the link...

  18. #15
    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Skoosh88's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mattsville View Post
    Hi Skoosh.
    What size is that? It doesn't look any bigger than 800 gals unless the photo is deceptive. With estimated over double the weight of koi in mine I don't think that would be big enough. Does anyone have an opinion on whether 800 gals would be ok?
    Thanks,
    Matt
    Just under 600g mate if filled to the top




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