Did the lady at the store say you needed to drain the pond and clean the gravel up to two times a year?
My pond is going on year 6 and has never been drained to clean. I do small (1-200 gals.) water changes in spring and fall and regular maintenance. I may do a little larger water change in the fall to give the fish fresh water for the winter, but nothing serious. I have to also say I have never used a UV or had green water. The gravel is a huge componet in creating a closed ecosystem. It contains so many BB and enzymes that I can only think fresh, clorinated water and air will nuke some of the work done to cycle it. Small water changes are a good thing if bio-load is up, but those can be very minimal and easily preformed. Overfiltering is my middle name, and plants are like jell-o, always room for more.
Resale of Koi will be hard if you don't know the lineage or parents of the fish for sale. They do help make friends in the local Koi/pond clubs, but that is up to you. To get fry to survive with other fish in the pond is tricky. All other Koi or goldfish will love to get the protein from roe and fry. Once the final gallonage is determined, a final choice as to weather or not house Koi will be easy to do. I would recomend metering the total volume of water from the start so you know exact gals. in the event you need to dose w/meds. down the road.
My pond is going on year 6 and has never been drained to clean. I do small (1-200 gals.) water changes in spring and fall and regular maintenance. I may do a little larger water change in the fall to give the fish fresh water for the winter, but nothing serious. I have to also say I have never used a UV or had green water. The gravel is a huge componet in creating a closed ecosystem. It contains so many BB and enzymes that I can only think fresh, clorinated water and air will nuke some of the work done to cycle it. Small water changes are a good thing if bio-load is up, but those can be very minimal and easily preformed. Overfiltering is my middle name, and plants are like jell-o, always room for more.
Resale of Koi will be hard if you don't know the lineage or parents of the fish for sale. They do help make friends in the local Koi/pond clubs, but that is up to you. To get fry to survive with other fish in the pond is tricky. All other Koi or goldfish will love to get the protein from roe and fry. Once the final gallonage is determined, a final choice as to weather or not house Koi will be easy to do. I would recomend metering the total volume of water from the start so you know exact gals. in the event you need to dose w/meds. down the road.
Here is what happened today & yesterday (shopping)...
