Indoor Ponds?

[gcuss]

For me it's time to start thinking about Winter again....

I've heard a couple of different ideas about the best way to over winter your koi. One train of thought is that it is part of the Koi's natural cycle to go through a period of dormancy over winter and is harmful to keep them warm and fed year round through the use of heaters, indoor ponds and such.

I've heard that the females are at a higher risk from egg impaction if they're moved to a warm pond for the winter.

Of course then I wonder how people in Florida, or anywhere that doesn't have a "real" winter cope.....

I moved my fish in this year, and was planning on moving in my better fish in again so they can continue to grow over winter.

My indoor setup is decent, but if I decide it's OK for the fish to come in for the winter again, I'd like to go a lot bigger in terms of water volume, so I need to start planning now.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Grant

[schildkoi]

Well Grant, my koi have just finished their 4 winter inside...for that matter, their 4th year inside. Due to business relocations I had to forgo havng an outdoor, ingorund pond and instead built a modular/portable, 2500 gallon system that some have referred to as a "cardboard box". It has a 4" diffuser bottom drain (pond sits on 2x8 joists) that feeds a Nexus 200 and return to 2 TPRs (4 originally). It has a 4" gravity fed skimmer that feeds a vortex and then pumped to a Challenger bead filter. This returns to a wier water fall with a portion diverted to a DIY foam fractionator. When it Memphis it was in the garage with south facing windows. Here in Illinois it is in the basement with a couple of windows as well. The koi still get their winter (65F and fast) and still get their summer (72 - 75F). Lighting was the biggest concern for me. Even when I had the big pond in Dallas, I still heated in the winter (60F) so the change is not that much different.

Steve

[Flounder]

Quote: Originally Posted by schildkoi Well Grant, my koi have just finished their 4 winter inside...for that matter, their 4th year inside. Due to business relocations I had to forgo havng an outdoor, ingorund pond and instead built a modular/portable, 2500 gallon system that some have referred to as a "cardboard box". It has a 4" diffuser bottom drain (pond sits on 2x8 joists) that feeds a Nexus 200 and return to 2 TPRs (4 originally). It has a 4" gravity fed skimmer that feeds a vortex and then pumped to a Challenger bead filter. This returns to a wier water fall with a portion diverted to a DIY foam fractionator. When it Memphis it was in the garage with south facing windows. Here in Illinois it is in the basement with a couple of windows as well. The koi still get their winter (65F and fast) and still get their summer (72 - 75F). Lighting was the biggest concern for me. Even when I had the big pond in Dallas, I still heated in the winter (60F) so the change is not that much different. Steve

Steve, do you have pics of this setup?

[Eugeneg]

Quote: Originally Posted by gcuss For me it's time to start thinking about Winter again.... I've heard a couple of different ideas about the best way to over winter your koi. One train of thought is that it is part of the Koi's natural cycle to go through a period of dormancy over winter and is harmful to keep them warm and fed year round through the use of heaters, indoor ponds and such. I've heard that the females are at a higher risk from egg impaction if they're moved to a warm pond for the winter. Of course then I wonder how people in Florida, or anywhere that doesn't have a "real" winter cope..... I moved my fish in this year, and was planning on moving in my better fish in again so they can continue to grow over winter. My indoor setup is decent, but if I decide it's OK for the fish to come in for the winter again, I'd like to go a lot bigger in terms of water volume, so I need to start planning now. Thanks for your thoughts. Grant

There are a lot of factors to take into consideration . First of all age sex and size of your koi , what are your winter outdoor temperatures ? Then there is the size of your budget . I tried keeping koi in my basment but not a good idea , then I built a lean to greenhouse structure and that was the perfect solution for wintering my fish . Tem was between 44f and 49 for the whole winter and I kept filters running . These fared a lot better than ones in my heated pond as I had to give numerous salt treatments and cost of heating which now is out of my budget as well as constant filter cleaning .
I do not recommend indoor to anyone unless wife is koi kichi , If you do go indoors one has to have light as well as good ventalation or mould can grow . Mould is so dangerous that just a little has closed down portable classrooms in schools . So carefull costderation should be taken as water creates hummidity and one should look at ones health factor .
I did see one exception where there was vapour barriers in a basment ventelation and a wood stove but as soon as the gentelman stopped useing the wood stove he moved the fish .
Regards
Eugene

[Lam Nguyen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flounder Steve, do you have pics of this setup?

Hi Flounder, here is the link to the thread of my DIY wood-framed QT tank that I built in my garage. It has a few pixs of Steve Childer's gigormous wood-framed pond in his basement.

Wood-framed Quarantine Tank

In addition to receiving advice from Steve, I also received help from Bob Winkler and Auntiesue and a few others. Steven Joneli also wrote a great article on wood-framed QT in a recent KN article. Hope this helps and please do not hesitate to ask.

[Graham]

I have a separate building to over winter the gang. I tried it in the house and in my workshop and the couldn't control the humidity enough. They come in in Oct and are heated to 75* till jan when the heaters are slowly turned down and then off by the end of March. This takes them down to low to mid 60*'s.

They'll go back out in about 2 weeks and the pond temp will be up to the holding tank temps...weather permiting.