Bette E. wrote:

It's getting late in the season and I have way too many goldfish to
winter over in my 16 by 8 by 2 foot deep pond, here in mid Ohio. They
are cunning and have so far, have mostly escaped my attempts to catch
them.
I have 8 lg. 10 inch fish, and 40 or so, somewhere between fry and 5
inches.
# 1. Is it too late to drain down to 6 or 8 inches of water and try to
net them?
# 2. Will this upset the biological balance of the pond for the winter
months, when I refill it?
With all the rainfall and numerous health problems this summer, it got
away from me.
Thanks for any info.
Bette

Go to your local Wall mart. k-mart or any discount store that has
pool supplies and find your self a CHEAP self supporting kiddie pool.
( non-inflatable) They should be on "clearance " now.

I bought a 8' X 18" kiddie pool at Wal-Mart for $15.83. (regular price)
it holds about 500 gal.

A 10' diameter. tank holds about 850 gal. and a 12' diameter holds about
1250 gal.

It's also cheap and easy insurance if something goes wrong with the main
pond.

I 'm using mine to temp. keep 4 - 14"-16" butterfly koi and 7 - 6"-10"
reg. koi,
while I get the new 8000 gal. pond finished. I will store it, and use
it as a back up pond,


I Know, I Know: I'm "over stocked"

Lots of plants: 6 Canna, 2 pond rush, sweater algae. Anacharis,
duckweed, azola,
string algae on TT, 5 waterlillies, 15+ cattails.
Filter system:
Pump Chamber: 1800GPH pump, 1.5 cu.ft bio-media
Vortex chamber/ VF: 4sq.ft surface covered w/ 6-30" tall WH + 8 smaller WH
w/over the side, fed, bottom filter
Bio-Mech Filter: Tetra TF-3 @ 600 GPH
Bio - VF up flow Filter: 3cu.ft. Bio-Media topped by 3sq. ft. of Iris @
500GPH
TT w/dome fountain head @ 300GPH w/ 6 cu.ft. hiding area for the koi.

YES! all this in a 500 gal. kiddie pool !!!


Chagoi