I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Doing a slow burn

Dave

Hi Dave,

I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS

And a line of FP (fish poo).
I know others will have better answers but I agree, this 'contractor' doesn't
know a koi pond from a mud puddle.
For the health of the fish a koi pond should have 1,000 gallons just to start
with and -then- 100 gallons for each fish.
As for feeding them. Just common sense should answer that one. Fish survive
without external feeding in Mother Nature's pond. But her stocking level is
very, very, very low compared to the stocking level of an ornamental garden
pond especially with koi.

And this *closed loop bio-pond*??
What the heck is that?
Did this fellow mention filtering at all?

Collect a bunch of our answers and you'll probably save your neighbor a
fortune! Better yet send him here and we shall set him on the path to serene
ponding.


k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

a stone pond.. really? we all use liners. duho. and most of us use limestone which
adds the benefit of adding calcium and magnesium carbonate which buffers the water.
I think what we find is people who build "ponds" usually dont know anything about
fish. fish need to be fed in ponds to maintain good health. not to mention feeding
is a fun thing to do. Ingrid

(KoiDave) wrote:

I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Doing a slow burn

Dave



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

(KoiDave) writes:

I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae.

Probably, a few koi could survive in such a pond. They won't grow very
fast and that's ok for some people.

The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water.

'No feed' is a philosophy of ponding. It's a matter of preference
not right or wrong.

I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune.

Listen to him and copy his sales techniques :-)

Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH.

This guy could sell ice boxes to eskimos.

My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

He's right, lucky for you!

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Sure, absolutely possible! In fact, it's just like this highly successful
closed-loop scheme described below:

Glorious Opportunity To Get Rich!!! -- We are starting a cat ranch in Lacon
with 100,000 cats. Each cat will average 12 kittens a year. The cat skins
will sell for 30 cents each. One hundred men can skin 5,000 cats a day. We
figure a daily net profit of over $10,000. Now what shall we feed the cats?
We will start a rat farm next door with 1,000,000 rats. The rats breed 12
times faster than the cats. So we will have four rats to feed each day to
each cat. Now what shall we feed the rats? We will feed the rats the
carcasses of the cats after they have been skinned. Now Get This! We feed
the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats and get the cat skins for
nothing!

There are apparently a lotta people around with more money than brains. But
at least it's his money - it ought to cost a not-so-small fortune to build
an all-granite pond, even if it's only 1000 gallons - which is about right
for ONE Koi! I say, tell him to go for it, who wants to listen to all these
know-it-all porgs on rec.ponds!

Happy Ponding,
Tim
900 gallon open-loop goldfish pond

Take a look at Alan's post (8/17/03 3:18 PM): 22 yr self-sustaining pond.
Wonder what stocking level?

J

--
____________________________________________
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per jogger) at:
www.jogathon.net
See our pond at: http://www.home.bellsouth.net/p/pwp-jameshurley
"KoiDave" wrote in message
m...
I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Doing a slow burn

Dave

Hmmmmmm. Maybe let him spend a fortune, screw it up, and then I can
save him! But, I will print up business cards first, "Dave's
Professional Pond Salvage". Then he will listen to me and I can
charge him big bucks!!

On another note. I have been very bad and not tested my water for a
very very long time. Seemed like no reason to. Was nicely surprised
that all parameters were near perfect. KH was a little low at 80.
With this heat, the biofilter must be working overtime.

Thanks,
Dave

"KoiDave" wrote in message
m...
I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Was this professional's name, Gary?

BV.

Dave,

I suggest you save yourself the "agita" and acknowledge that you deserve to
have your pond the way you want it, and your neighbor deserves to make his
own mistakes -- or not. (I do understand that there is the moral issue of
overstocking the Koi, however, but I don't have any basis for commenting on
that.)

Besides, by the time you neighbor shells out the money for granite(!), he
probably would not have any money to buy Koi food anyway.

As far as "closed-cycle," might that just mean that there's no need for
constant replenishment of the water, that the water is recycled?

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC

"KoiDave" wrote in message
m...
I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Doing a slow burn

Dave

Hey BV, the idea of not feeding the fish isn't a new one at all, I only feed
for treat maybe once a week, have done this for 2 years now, no problems.
Fish are fine but are very slow growing, which is good for me....I wonder if
he is refering to a closed loop as in no filter or what, I would think we
all have closed loop setups by filtering the water and recirculating
it....Honestly though what did ya expect the contractor to say....you pond
was better than the $$$$ pond he was going to build....not a chance....enjoy
what you have.....life is to short to listen to salespeople...


"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
...
Dave,

I suggest you save yourself the "agita" and acknowledge that you deserve
to
have your pond the way you want it, and your neighbor deserves to make his
own mistakes -- or not. (I do understand that there is the moral issue
of
overstocking the Koi, however, but I don't have any basis for commenting
on
that.)

Besides, by the time you neighbor shells out the money for granite(!), he
probably would not have any money to buy Koi food anyway.

As far as "closed-cycle," might that just mean that there's no need for
constant replenishment of the water, that the water is recycled?

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC

"KoiDave" wrote in message
m...
I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Doing a slow burn

Dave

They say that the fish eat the plants and algae but I thing it is a good dea
to feed they they are pets you know.Make certain to have a good filter for
the water system.A rubber liner is a good type to use.they don't
crack.E-mail me if you want too.
"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"KoiDave" wrote in message
m...
I got in a big arguement with my neighbor last night. He has seen my
Koi pond and has decided that he wants one too. He found a contractor
who tells him he can install a 1000 gallon Koi pond and waterfall that
can support Koi without the need to feed them. The Koi will live off
the plants and algae. The contractor told him my pond was all wrong
because I had to feed my Koi and this led to occassional mildly cloudy
water. I think my neighbor is getting fed a line of BS. The
contractor charges a fortune. Oh yea, the contractor told him he
would have to make the pond out of granite, it is the only stone with
stable PH. My neighbor says that he hired a "professional" and I did
my pond myself.

Is there any truth at all in a 1000 gallon closed loop bio-pond for
Koi??

Was this professional's name, Gary?

BV.