Indoor Koi Pond #3

[GregBickal]

Well, ever since I got my Japanese koi in late January, they have been a little crowded in the 500 gallon garage pond with my fingerlings. I'm having problems keeping the ambient ammonia below .25, and dealing with the injuries the koi got during shipment. I decided to take Lukes :twisted: advice (kind of) which was remove the fingerlings. Instead of throwing them out on the snow :shock: , I build them this new tank :-D

So in my garage I now have a 500 gallon pond on the left (for the japanese koi) and a 500 gallon pond on the right (for my fingerlings).

The new pond is 4x8x28" and 500 gallons. I also built it so that it has a plywood bottom so that I can load it on to my trailor as a transport tank, or move it from the garage to back yard for summer and spawning.

[GregBickal]

No bottom drain on this one, but I can do that later in the summer. I prefer a jump-shield as opposed to netting, as it makes it easier to net koi for customers.

The filter is a trickle tower with 1 1/2 cubic feet of Kaldness (I know, not the best for trickle use). The container for the trickle tower is one of those plastic containers used to hold chrismas wrapping paper rolls. What is cool about this container, is that a plastic tub (like the kind you use for your kitchen sink) fits directly inside the top of this. I use it for a drip plate.

The pump is a 475gph little giant mag drive.

Inhabitants of this pond are about 120+ fingerlings (born 2004). Range in size from 3" to 9".

[Busy B]

Tight fit but you made it work didn't you...I was trying to see if you could still open your door:razz:

I like the idea of your jump guard...have to remember that for next year when I have to build something bigger.

For the rest of it, you didn't tie all the boards together with anything? Each level is seperate and just the weight keeps it in place? That will be handy for dismantling.

Do you put anything in between the liner and the wood to protect the liner?

Full of ?'s aren't I..:unsure:

[Terri]

Very cool Greg :-)
All you're going to use is a TT? I happen to think K-1 would make a pretty decent media for TT's, can't clog, no channeling.

Bet Luke's gonna be impressed someone listened to him :twisted: :lol:

[luke frisbee]

terri,
What Pickle fails to tell you is that he selectively listens to me.....he does what he wants and if it happens to be something i told him I'd do then he pretends like he is doing it because i said to do it and I am right...but the truth is I will just get blamed if something goes wrong NOW

[barracudda]

Hi Greg !dude nice pic :wink:

[GregBickal]

Busy: The liner that I used would actually make a 7x8 but I didnt have room. I could have made a 5x8, but then it wouldnt fit on my trailor to haul around. You know, in case I want to transport koi long distances in the future. I did tie the boards together in the corners. Also I put boards at 32" interval along the 8' lenght on the outside wall as the middle board had bowed a little bit. Nothing in between the wood and the liner.

Terri: I got tired of re-arranging mats every time I changed my filter, so I like idea of just pouring in a bag of something. I actually am pretty anxious to try and make a chamber which is static kaldness for mechanical filtration, and another with moving kaldness for bio. Probably do that when I design my japanese koi house outside. For now, trickle tower will have to do.

Luke: If I did everything you said, exactly like you said, that would make me "one of the geese" and I would still be stuck in phenland kissing someones feet. The only thing you get blamed for is calling me "Boyfriend" :-| I doubt I would listen to my own advice if I went back in time and gave it to myself :-?

[Busy B]

I guess you don't have to worry about settling with an inside tank...did you sand the inside? No splinters?

[GregBickal]

Setting chamber is a MUST on any tank. My origional design, was to make this pond on a sheet of 4x8 plywood. A 4x5 tank, with a 3x5 filter and settling chamber. Bottom drain and the whole works. I will probably make that modification later. It would make a nice setup to move around, and also to use to demo to pond clubs.

No, I didnt sand it. Brand new smooth boards, shouldnt be a problem. Im even using old roofing rubber that had been up on a roof for 10 years !dude

[Busy B]

Settling as in the ground settling..

It looks like you screwed it together...will you have problems assembling/disassembling over time?

[GregBickal]

Since the pond is raised, the settling chamber is also raised. Here is a picture of the other pond in my garage. You can see the setting chamber on the right.

Screws would make for easy dis-assembly, and they are also stronger than nails with the type of outward forces we are dealing with here. This unit should never need dis-assembled. When empty, it is light enough for two men to lift/drag on to a trailor. I'm sure the weight is under 200 pounds. Its made up of one sheet of 4x8 plywood, nine 2x10 boards 8' long. three deck boards 8' long. And the rubber.

[Busy B]

Is that food floating on top? If it is, I don't feed mine enough :embarrassed:

[GregBickal]

Thats protien foam on the water. When I first fill the pond in the fall, I bring in the koi and the water from outside and I usually get some foam while the filter gets re-adjusted.

[Busy B]

OK..gotcha...I was thinking 'no wonder he goes through so much food' :lol:

[Busy B]

Well here I am...I just got back from Ho-de-po and have a load of lumber in my truck. I've searched thru so many construction sites and come back to your's..

And Terri...why didn't you tell me all the stuff you have on your homepage?:frisbee: I've seen bits and pieces of your's and Ian's ideas and now they make so much more sense to me:-P

I bought lumber with the idea of using Ian's setup but after looking at Gregs and me being mathmatically challenged:-? , well now I'm leaning back towards Gregs.

Guess I'm going to have to wing it..

It is a woman's perogative to change her mind..right?:lol:

[ozzyrockman]

Hey gang I gotta put my two cents in. With the wood framed above grounds why not incorporate a skimmer/bio/bottom waste drain into the frame work and save the space above the tank for a cover and build it 48" deep to save waste. Also if it is going to make contact with earth or concrete start the sill plate with pressure treated lumber. When framing 2X6 or 2X8 vertical 12" on center you can place 1 1/2" styrofoam between the studs and also add R13 batting insulation between the studs to keep the water from having such rapid temp changes. In addition hunt down a few king water bed heaters to sandwich between the 3/4 cdx and the liner because they only draw an average of 3 amps which is very low power consumption and you can heat the tank to 70 degrees pretty effectively. Last winter I qt'd 9 little rascals in our 750g tank from Feb thru May and heating the water to 72 degrees with average ambient temp around 35 degrees. Allen

[Merlin]

Hey this is giving me great ideas for my new qt that I am looking to build later this year. No room in the garage so will have to be outside, like the idea of water bed heaters. :)

[ozzyrockman]

Thanks Merlin, if you look at the tag on the temp controller it will tell you how much power consumption it uses and keep in mind I would not suggest trying to heat water in real cold conditions outside because I think this would force the heaters to work too hard and potentially cause the liner or cdx plywwod to burn. However with our air temp and weather conditions we have, I have run two in the past and they work well. One other thing is use caution when installing as to not brake the temp probe and make something on the side of the tank to enclose the temp controllers keeping them out of the weather. Allen

3.3 amp draw 24/7 raises our power bill about $12 per month

[Busy B]

I've mostly got it built but now trying to figure out just how deep/high I want it to be. Right now I can reach in and touch the bottom but I won't be able to if I go higher. If I don't add another level, I lose adding more gallons but more gallons equals more pressure too right?

I'm building it in the small greenhouse which is just an earth floor covered with typar. I'm thinking the weight of the water will settle it into the ground. It worked that way with the tote but it only held 150 gallons.

My idea was to make it the same size as a sheet of plywood cause I still have to use the greenhouse for growing so I need the space. Right now I think it's 33 inches high and I built a framed support for it to sit on. Hubby seems to think (he's at work so he's like a back seat driver :wink:) the pressure is going to blow out the sides, altho I've used the 2 by 6's. Know I have to brace the corners and the middle anyway.

Guess I'll keep going and see what happens. Ordered a Iron Might pump and going to try to figure out Ian's barrel system.

Wish me luck :lol:

[Merlin]

I am going to do it the cheap way :grin: We have some special pallets that the computer cabinets we deliver come in on, 3/4 marine ply on the top and the pallettes are aprox 2' 6" wide by 3' long. 3 pallettes side by side for the bottom will give me 7'x 6" in length. the next lot of palletes will be on their ends to form the sides. There is a 6" gap between the top and bottom of the palletes , so will add some 2 x 4 " lumber though the gap all round to give the sides extra strengh. Then add an outer wall of wood, the gap can be filled with polystyrene or foam to help keep the cold weather out. Still thinking about the heating side of things but this is a start. I am hoping to be able to purchase a box liner to make things a litle easier. :)

[ozzyrockman]

Busy, 4X8X40 will give you about 750g and if you add a sheet of 1 1/2" styrofoam under the floor of the liner it will not brake so you will not loose as much heat to earth and keep temps stablized longer. Straight cut the corners (don't butt joint w/45 degree angle), glue, clamp, pilot drill and screw them. Fit horizontal 2X6's on the corners, glue, drill an angle pilot and screw them in place to prevent the corners from splitting or seperating. Just make sure to grade out the floor so it is smooth and level before putting the strofoam in place and make sure it is tight in the corners and if needed backfill the gaps with sand, gravel or expanded foam to close up the gaps as much as possible.

Merlin, those pallets sound great and marine grade you say. You should be able to pass that one on for generations to come. :) Allen

[Busy B]

Well Allen it's built now so....did get a couple suggestions to make sure I don't have a blowout...I thought it was sturdy but that's what I get for thinking :grin:

[Jackie Ramo]

Busy for sure use the styrofoam on the bottom, makes a big difference in heat loss. We also wrapped ours in fibreglass insulation and covered it at night. Like yours ours was in the greenhouse but smaller only stock tank. Was hard to keep the temps above 50. Now with the inground pond we also lined it with styrofoam bottom and sides under the liner.

[Busy B]

Looks like another trip to ho -de- po....forgot the insulation.