Convert old Hot Tub into Koi Pond?

[superfish]

Hi, everyone. Its been awhile.
i recently bought a new house. there is a sun room at the back of the house. In the sun room there is a very old hot tub.
the hot tub is underground and obverisly not in working condition, pervious owner said he havent used it for 20 years... i was thinking of removing it, but it would cost me a few thousands at least to just get it removed. I wont be able to do it, but its super ugly to leave it in my sun room.

Now, my new idea is to convert this old useless hot tub into a fish tank, a large one. becuase of the temperature in sun room, a saltwater wont work, so my only option now is a pond.

anyone experts can give some suggestion before i decide.? is it feasible? what do i have to worry about before i start, or what should i use to seal all the holes in the tub, etc. anything would be helpful.
thanks!!!
View attachment 21559

 

[Fish_wiz2]

Do you have the approximate dimensions? It can work for a koi pond but probably not for long if it is small or you can constantly sell and buy smaller fish. You do not need to cap the jets and you actually want to keep them, the hard part is cleaning out all the piping to get the crud from use with people. You also need filtration, is there space next in or next to the sun room?

 

[superfish]

Thanks Bro.
I'm not sure exact dimension. But the wood cover is 7'x 7'. I'm guessing the tub is somewhere around 6'x 6' and at least 3' +deep. So I'm guessing somewhere between 500-600gal.? Will that be good for a few koi and a few plants?
Another concern is temperature. It's over 100F today in the sun room even with the fan on. Will that be too hot for the koi. However, I'm not too worried about winter as long as I keep in over 32F.
The tub is taking too much space in the sun room already, the only space I can have for filteration is at the back corner (in pic), I have no idea what kind of filter would work for a tub like this. was thinking of just use a fluidized sand filter. What do you think.
As for the jets and drain? Why should I keep them?.should I just seal all of them and use a water pump?

Do you have the approximate dimensions? It can work for a koi pond but probably not for long if it is small or you can constantly sell and buy smaller fish. You do not need to cap the jets and you actually want to keep them, the hard part is cleaning out all the piping to get the crud from use with people. You also need filtration, is there space next in or next to the sun room?

 

[Fish_wiz2]

Thanks Bro.
I'm not sure exact dimension. But the wood cover is 7'x 7'. I'm guessing the tub is somewhere around 6'x 6' and at least 3' +deep. So I'm guessing somewhere between 500-600gal.? Will that be good for a few koi and a few plants?
Another concern is temperature. It's over 100F today in the sun room even with the fan on. Will that be too hot for the koi. However, I'm not too worried about winter as long as I keep in over 32F.
The tub is taking too much space in the sun room already, the only space I can have for filteration is at the back corner (in pic), I have no idea what kind of filter would work for a tub like this. was thinking of just use a fluidized sand filter. What do you think.
As for the jets and drain? Why should I keep them?.should I just seal all of them and use a water pump?

If the koi are small you can fit a few but from personal experience, koi grow with you. Mine will eat out of my hand and it is very very very hard to give them up. So many of mine went from 3" to 20"+ and my pond grew with it.

Temps can be an issue but if you can open the room or run tubing outside/into the ground for geo-cooling you should be okay, just slow feedings when its really hot and cold.

Also yes, you would need a "bead" filter which is a converted sand filter. Sand filters do not work on koi ponds and I have a bead filter myself. Keep the jets and drains just change the pump to something more energy efficient. Koi love current and flowing water.

Although it seems like a fun idea, I would ditch it or switch to fancy goldfish. It would take a lot of investment to properly keep koi, fancy goldfish on the other hand, much easier.

I would post pics but photobucket is killing me with their new sharing policy.

 

[superfish]

pic didnt go through...here is the tub with cover.View attachment 21561

If the koi are small you can fit a few but from personal experience, koi grow with you. Mine will eat out of my hand and it is very very very hard to give them up. So many of mine went from 3" to 20"+ and my pond grew with it.

Temps can be an issue but if you can open the room or run tubing outside/into the ground for geo-cooling you should be okay, just slow feedings when its really hot and cold.

Also yes, you would need a "bead" filter which is a converted sand filter. Sand filters do not work on koi ponds and I have a bead filter myself. Keep the jets and drains just change the pump to something more energy efficient. Koi love current and flowing water.

Although it seems like a fun idea, I would ditch it or switch to fancy goldfish. It would take a lot of investment to properly keep koi, fancy goldfish on the other hand, much easier.

I would post pics but photobucket is killing me with their new sharing policy.

 

[Fish_wiz2]

Looks like you have a lot of space for filtration but now I'm not sure how we would link it to the tub itself.... Do you have more pics of the area? Is there a bottom access to the tub?

 

[superfish]

was thinking of the 'easy way' to just cover all the holes. Place the filteration at the corner, put a pump in the tub, pump water directly up to the filter.

there is equipment space under the living room. but its really low and really hard to get into. thats why i dont really wanna mess up with anything in there...all the old plumbing is still in there by the way.

Looks like you have a lot of space for filtration but now I'm not sure how we would link it to the tub itself.... Do you have more pics of the area? Is there a bottom access to the tub?

 

[#theMatrix]

I would place 2x4 raised floor and tile the whole area and ditch the pound idea. A nice tile floor would make that area usefull

Heres some photos to help picture what im suggesting
In the end you can have either a pond....or a sunroom with tile for sandals and easy cleaning

Pick some nice cali sunroom tile place it over the ply and make it your own
Good luck with your project