Newbie - Hello!

Hi all - this is my first post here.

Firstly i'd like to thank anubisram for his help!

I have alot of questions, as I am still pretty much a beginner - only been keeping koi for a couple year.

Due to a recent house move, I sold all my koi due to lack of facilities... now in the process of building a pond to be ready end of this summer/early next summer at the worst.

I have a 700g and a 350g tank which I am wanting to put some smaller koi in to grow on through summer ready for my pond.

I am currently looking into filtration and heating options - I have a 6' 4bay filter from my previous pond, however, this would just be impracticle to run the tanks. I also have a pressurised filter, which i'm not sure would be up to the job. What size/make budget filter would you recommend?

I am also looking at heating options. Smallest I can find is 1kw - but unsure if this would be overkill? Also unsure what temp to heat to...

Also unsure what size/how many koi to put in my tanks?

The final question is English, Japanese or Israeli...?

I've been advised that currently Israeli koi are a really good option as long as they have been kept bio secure and not immunised as they are really good quality. This is also attributed to the fact that Jap koi are more expensive now due to the poor exchange rates...

All thoughts, opinions and advice is welcomed!

Thanks

Hi

And welcome to our koi community really nice to have you onboard. I'm sure anubisram will be along soon, he will be able to answer your questions on growing on small koi as I know he has an indoor growing/quarantine setup.

What size outdoor pond are you hoping to build ?

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I'm looking to build one as big as possible. Actually looking to move house for more space for a koi pond...

Wanting to build atleast a 4000 gallon (poss 16' x 8' x 6' deep)

I'm sure more questions will come up in the future as researching fibre glass/g4 paint/box weld liner...

Hi and welcome
I could see you were having some issues getting info on the other site - right I will have a go of answering in my opinion
FILTRATION - for a growing pond of your size you need to keep the filtration simple and effective - your pressure filter on its own would not cope if you are serious about decent growth rates - you could use it as a prefilter leading to your main biological filter. What I have is a compact sieve above a £25 water butt with 50 litres of K1 in it fluidised - extremely effective and I am talking about feeding paste food several times a day at 60% protein !
HEATING - I went the option of using a couple of 300w aquarium heaters and then the 500 watt titanium heater and to be honest they struggle and are on more or less continually. As for overkill don't worry - I have a 3kw Profi on my 500g growing on and it is brilliant hardly ever on and maintains temps - for decent growth you should be looking at temps of above 21c - you can pick up these heaters very cheaply second hand on most forums or ebay
STOCKING - It depends what you want to achieve - if you want good growth and trouble free running I certainly wouldn't put anymore than 6 koi of around the 6inch mark in there and enjoy watching them develop - but of course this is also governed by your filter capacity
The 1,000,000 dollar question - english,jap or israeli
you will find all sorts of weird and wonderful thoughts on forums about this - some are jap purists and a certain amount of snobbery CAN ensue, some are totally paranoid about israeli due to unfounded rumours and scare stories - well here is my two penneth - It is down to what you want from the hobby i.e., whether you want to show your koi or not - or you want to enjoy what you find attractive in your koi. To show then you are more or less talking of strictly japanese. If you just want to look at attractive koi then it is what you want and can afford. As regards english - standards have improved leaps and bounds recently however, you are restricted in varieties as most only breed kohaku,sanke,showa. chagoi and shiro utsuri. The Israeli fish mmm - well if I was to go this route I would only opt for israeli koi that are vaccinated rather than not vaccinated as with the vaccinated koi have the protection and as Israel has a massive KHV problem this is the only way I would go - and they are producing some really nice koi. Which ever way you choose just be sure to use a reputable dealer and not garden centres.
You have not mentioned about what speed you want to turn over your ponds and this can be critical in small volume ponds - basically the faster the better - it helps with body shape as it produces a good flow to exercise against and will quickly remove pollutants from the water such as ammonia
Hope this helps

Thanks for your help!

If you dont mind - could you please expand a bit further on your filter setup? What is K1? Is yours more of a DIY filter?

I have a contact at an aquatics importer - who can import israeli koi for me direct at very good prices from Hazorea Aquatics in Israel.

Can you recommend a good food for growing them on on?

Would i be better going for 2-3" or buying bigger - 5-6" size?

Could i possibly be buying better koi by the time they are 5-6" as it would be more apparent of their colours/quality when culling...?

no problem
K1 is a filter media produced by evolution aqua it is a small plastic cog shaped media that has a neutral buoyancy and a massive surface area
Yes the filter is a DIY one as my growing setup is in the garage and space is at a premium. I needed a filter that could handle the levels of feeding but with a small foot print so this suited perfectly
A good food IMO is Richdon growth with Richdon silk mixed - I also use Kusuri Paste - all these have very low waste levels
very small koi of 2 -3inches are difficult to raise and you would need an experienced eye to see possible potential - I would go for the 6 inch mark as the koi is that much more developed and you will start getting an idea of potential growth and pattern formation

Thanks for that!

You got any diagrams of how you've done your filter?

I'm sure i've got some pics I will have a look and post tomorrow if thats ok

looking forward to it!

could only find this pic unfortunately doesn't show the filter in its entirity but the two return feeds in opposing directions to create a good turbulence for exercise - I will see if i can take some at the weekend

The pisture isnt working...?

it is showing on mine?

its working now thanks