Koi Quarantine Filtration?

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OliveFish05

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Hello. We are getting 24 small 5 ish inch koi for our 1,300 gallon koi pond which will be finished this week. The koi are being shipped to us tomorrow and Thursday, as they are from two separate suppliers. We plan to quarantine for 3 weeks before beginning to introduce them (slowly) to the pond. We are setting up 2 50 gallon totes which will have about 12 koi in each. We will be monitoring water conditions with an API Freshwater Master Test Kit and treating the water with Seachem Prime. The quarantine totes are not cycled, I know they should have been, but we didnā€™t have the totes until today. My questions are

1. How many GPH of filtration do I need?
2. How often and what size water changes?

My mom was planning to put an Aquaclear 50 on each tote OR a Marineland 350 on each tote OR 2 marineland 200 on each tote. Which option would be better? We have not been very impressed with the Marineland 200 so far though.


We ordered 24 koi in case some donā€˜t make it through shipping, in case any die in quarantine, or if any end up being bullies. We are fully prepared to sell some as they outgrow our pond, and we will be monitoring the water conditions, so everyone knows
 
I realize that 12 koi in 50 gallon tote is going to be very squished, but is it alright for just the 3 weeks we are quarantining if we are careful about the water quality?
 
filtration x4 turnover
With water change you want to test the water if nitrates or any toxins are high you would want to do 50% water change then test water repeat water change if test results show any toxins or if nitrates get too high.
once introduced to the pond realistically you would want to do 10-20% weekly instead of 50% once a month.
 
Ideally you would want to house them in something larger so that they are comfortable since 3 weeks is a long time just to reduce stress as stress can cause diseases just as much as poor water quality can.
good luck!
 
filtration x4 turnover
With water change you want to test the water if nitrates or any toxins are high you would want to do 50% water change then test water repeat water change if test results show any toxins or if nitrates get too high.
once introduced to the pond realistically you would want to do 10-20% weekly instead of 50% once a month.
Thank you for the reply! Ok, I will be testing the water every 3 days and will make sure to stay on top of the water quality, and I will test the quality of the pond water regularly too
 
If nitrates reach 80ppm you want to water change but ideally you want to keep nitrates between 40-60ppm I would say.
 
Ideally you would want to house them in something larger so that they are comfortable since 3 weeks is a long time just to reduce stress as stress can cause diseases just as much as poor water quality can.
good luck!
I believe the dimensions of the tote are 40 inches long, 20 inches wide, and 17 inches tall. I will talk to my mom about getting a 3rd tote, but I am not sure if we will be able to find or even fit three. Would it be ok to start moving them 2 or 3 koi at a time to the pond after 2 weeks of quarantine? To free up more space in the totes?
 
As long as the pond is cycled then yes. You want to add a few every week just so that your filtration can cope with the bio load.
 
If the totes arenā€™t cycled you want to test everyday. Ammonia and nitrites will kill
Ok, I will do it daily then
If nitrates reach 80ppm you want to water change but ideally you want to keep nitrates between 40-60ppm I would say.
Ok
As long as the pond is cycled then yes. You want to add a few every week just so that your filtration can cope with the bio load.
Ok, I think we will get it filled and running this week, give it two weeks to start cycling with 2 koi and a goldfish we have now, then add maybe 4 koi each week and stay on top of checking the water parameters, and add less each week if it is undoing the cycle
 
Honestly I would say cycle first since itā€™s a 1300 gallon pond coz if there are ammonia and nitrite spikes doing water changes to get things under control would be horrendous even worse if you have to do more than one water change in a day. Think it over 1300 gallons is a lot of water.
 
Ok then. I was just thinking 2 small koi and a little goldfish wouldnā€™t be too much bio load, at least to start getting it cycled, but I can wait! Thank you for all your advice, I really appreciate it!
 
Itā€™s not the bio load, cycling with fish will induce stress when toxins rise and fall further causing diseases like ich. Treating that volume of water for something like ich will be costly also all that can be avoided if you do a fishless cycle.
 
Itā€™s not the bio load, cycling with fish will induce stress when toxins rise and fall further causing diseases like ich. Treating that volume of water for something like ich will be costly also all that can be avoided if you do a fishless cycle.
Ohhhh ok. Thank you. I donā€™t have a whole lot of experience with cycling, unfortunately. I will do some more research on cycling a pond today. thank you for your help!
 
Yes thatā€™s your best bet there are a lot of people here that will help with that, before you know it your pond will be cycled and youā€™ll be adding your koi.
 

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