Outdoor pond without filtration

[LillyBlomqvist]

I've never had a pond and english is my second language so bear with me 😆

Is it possible for fish like koi or goldfish to thrive in a big outdoor pond if I don't have any filtration? I've heard that mussels can clean the water really good, I would also have live plants to help keeping good water quality, and there would of course be some water changes because of evaporation.

Is this a good idea or should I just stick to aquariums? Is it possible to get a good water quality this way? I live in northern Sweden and we have +30°C (86°F) in the summer and -30°C (-22°F) in the winter. I don't just want the fish to survive, I want them to thrive 😁

[Ryan S.]

I definitely think it's possible if the pond is big enough and planted well enough.  I ran a heavily stocked and planted small pond with just air and that wasnt on all the time. 

 

I think the big thing will be to make sure the pond is established enough to handle the bio load when the fish go in.  

By the way, your language use was great!

 

 

[LillyBlomqvist]

22 minutes ago, Ryan S. said:

I definitely think it's possible if the pond is big enough and planted well enough.  I ran a heavily stocked and planted small pond with just air and that wasnt on all the time. 

 

I think the big thing will be to make sure the pond is established enough to handle the bio load when the fish go in.  

By the way, your language use was great!

 

 

Thank you! Nice to hear that it worked out for you and that it should work for me too! 😀 Do you have any idea how big the pond should be to pull this off? Any "liters/gallons per fish" suggestion or something? Or how long I should wait before adding the first fish? A few weeks, months or maby a full year?

Thank you very much! 😀

[Ryan S.]

3 hours ago, LillyBlomqvist said:

Thank you! Nice to hear that it worked out for you and that it should work for me too! 😀 Do you have any idea how big the pond should be to pull this off? Any "liters/gallons per fish" suggestion or something? Or how long I should wait before adding the first fish? A few weeks, months or maby a full year?

Thank you very much! 😀

Good question.  Koi get huge but it might take them a year or 3 to get large and while I do have experience with them, I did use filtration in my koi pond so it's not a direct comparison.  I'm not sure on size to recommend, just that it needs to be large.  The smaller it is, the harder the setup will be to manage without filtration and water changes.  I would say if the plants are thriving and growing, you could then add fish and it should take care of any initial water issues.  Just add fish gradually not all at once.  

[Streetwise]

I didn’t use filtration in my White Cloud and shrimp tubs, but I used a lot of plants.

[LillyBlomqvist]

8 minutes ago, Ryan S. said:

Good question.  Koi get huge but it might take them a year or 3 to get large and while I do have experience with them, I did use filtration in my koi pond so it's not a direct comparison.  I'm not sure on size to recommend, just that it needs to be large.  The smaller it is, the harder the setup will be to manage without filtration and water changes.  I would say if the plants are thriving and growing, you could then add fish and it should take care of any initial water issues.  Just add fish gradually not all at once.  

Thank you for your help! 😀 I'll dig a really big and deep pond in the spring and add just a few small kois when I feel like the pond is in balance.

4 minutes ago, Streetwise said:

I didn’t use filtration in my White Cloud and shrimp tubs, but I used a lot of plants.

Nice! 😀 It feels like there is hope for this idea. I'll make sure to get a lot of plants. Thank you!

Also, a off topic question 🙈 I've watched tons of videos for a while now but joined the forum today, and I don't understand how to upload a profile picture? 🤔

[Ryan S.]

I hope you share some pics when you dig out your pond!  

[Streetwise]

@LillyBlomqvist, I documented my tubs on YouTube last summer to escape the loneliness of 2020. This is my first video:

Learning from it, I would not cut the Amazon Sword, and I would make sure that wood or rocks allowed mice to escape the water. I would also save all cuttings in my utility tanks.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Streetwise

[LillyBlomqvist]

12 minutes ago, Ryan S. said:

I hope you share some pics when you dig out your pond!  

Absolutley, I will! 😀

1 minute ago, Streetwise said:

@LillyBlomqvist, I documented my tubs on YouTube last summer to escape the loneliness of 2020. This is my first video:

Learning from it, I would not cut the Amazon Sword, and I would make sure that wood or rocks allowed mice to escape the water.

Thank you, I'll watch your videos 😀 Good thing you mentioned the mice, I never thought of that. I'll make sure to have something to help them out of the water 😁

[devind0446]

The King of DIY on YouTube recently built a large outdoor koi pond. It was filtered however he lives in Canada so temperatures will be kind of close. I would recommend checking out his videos on the pond for some good info.