quarantine setups

Here in Ontario, during the winter months most of us are yearning for spring to come and worry for the koi outdoors holding out under ice.... For us having a few inside seems to take the edge off! Having an indoor tank, large enough to support a few small koi has one very good advantage - it's a great way to quarantine newly acquired fish... It's been our practice of the past several years to purchase koi in late fall or through the winter and keep them indoors where we are able to enjoy them as well as have a good long quarantine before joining the main pond come the following spring.

The Do-It-Yourself way

Using what's available... do it yourself and do it cheap - even better if it's free! Getting in with the recycle program, most of what we use for any of our projects has come from left over's from past jobs, junk heaps, and recycled wood. When we do spend our money we bargain shop for the best deals we can get. If we can build it, dig it, pour it ourselves, all the better, saving our money to put towards the larger purchases such as pumps and liner.

The laundry sink made a very good filter. It was fitted with a 1" ball valve for easy drainage. The water was pumped from the 45gal rubbermaid tub, where the small Koi were, up into a bucket. Bucket, serving as a pre-filter, contained filter batting and mesh. The basket with the plants had holes drilled into the lower left side and the water trickled out into the sink. The sink was filled with lava rock and nylon kitchen scrubbies along with air stones for water movement. We used a 250gph mag drive pump.

While this served it's purpose it wasn't quite big enough for more than 2 small koi and was only temporary.

Dimensions: 3' x 4' x 3'

Constructed with 2" x 6" frame and 1" plywood. The 2" x 6" planks are "on-end" for additional strength. Used 2" styrofoam board for the base and 1" styrofoam board on interior walls. 10' x10' 45mil EPDM liner. Filter is a 50gallon rubbermaid tote plumbed with 2" pvc pipe return. Media used - nylon scrbbies, floss matting, lava rock. 250gph pump. Lights - fluorescent.

Just finished and filling.

It's an eye-sore but it was functional!

Dimensions: 3'4" x 4'4" x 3' ..... Sure is pretty, huh?

Basically the same as the previous, but added a few inches onto the tank and more filtration. Same 50gallon tote and reusing the 45gallon tub, only this time as a prefilter. They've been plumbed together with a 2" ABS pipe, gravity flow. There's a microscreen mesh placed in front of the overflow. Lighting: 2 4' full spectrum growlite bulbs, 4 4' fluorescent. 250gph pump.

Quarantine Set-ups ...

The Do-It-Yourself way