1st. Asia Matsunosuke Grow-out Event 2009

The First Asia Matsunosuke Grow-out Event 2009 is being initiated at Malaysia Koi Forum. If you are a lover of Matsunosuke Koi and keen to join the Grow Out Event, do join the Grow Out Event here.

It is definitely going to be a great and exciting Grow Up Event in Asia. A great opportunity to try out your koi keeping skill in comparison to others.

The Grow Out Event will have participants from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and more.

Tsurumi Pump, the best pump for koi pond

I have been using a vortex filter for my koi pond for quite a while and in recent time, the efficiency of water filtration of this vortex filter drop substantially as a result of poorer performance of my old Tsurumi Pump that feed water to the filter. I have since install a new Tsurumi Pump for the vortex and the new pump is much bigger than the older one and the flow rate is higher too. It surely move more than 2000 gallon of water per hour.

Good to know that after the installation process, the water flow rate is fast and yet there is no need for me to use a reducing valve to cut down the flow rate to prevent water overflowing out of the filter. The water settled down with the water level in the first settlement chamber of the first vortex at less than a inch from the cover of the vortex. This mean to say that I need to ensure that the settlement chamber of the first vortex is not clogged or else the water may have to rise to achieve a water head big enough to push the water to the 2nd chamber. This will cause water overflow and hence regular maintenance of the first chamber need to be done at a much closer interval.


Tsurumi Pump, OM2 Model

Juan Pablo Montoya off to Nascar next season

Juan Pablo Montoya will join Chip Ganassi Racing for next year. It has been reported that it is Juan who asked Chip Ganassi Racing for the race seat and otherwise but it is imaterial. Most important of all, Juan got to confirm that he will race again next year, after several not so successful seasons at F1. Mc Laren has also confirmed that Juan will be released immediately and his remaining F1 races will be replaced by Mc Laren test driver Pedro de la Rosa.

To me, it is rather a good move by Juan. As a F1 driver , you want to continue to race without having to stop for a year or two. Getting a race seat these day is not easy. Good that Juan grap one quick when it is available.

With Juan leaving Mc Claren, it looks like Kimi seat with Mc Laren is secured. But then is there a point for Kimi to stay at Mc Laren ? It would be better off for Kimi to join better team like Renault where he may stand a chance to win a title. It has been a disappointing season for Mc Laren so far.

Koi Forum is 7 years old

Malaysia Koi Forum

The Koi Forum which was setup in December 1998 is now seven years old. The forum has growth steadily throughout the last seven years and so is my knowledge in koi keeping. Me together with many members of the forum have learnt so much from the discussion and many have gone back to help new koi keepers.

My pond was built more than 10 years ago by a pond contractor at a time I had little knowledge in pond management. Still remember that the first batch of few koi purchased at RM 2000 a piece perished after barely a few weeks which I later came to conclusion that those koi died due to lack of oxygen. Today, many can avoid the mistake and get to learn a lot even before the pond was constructed. To bad that Internet was still pretty new 10 years back and we had limited access to information then.

www.koi.com.my

New Chagois

With the water quality improving after the installation of Vortex Filter, 2 new Chagois were added to my pond. Both at about 10″ length purchased at RM 300 a piece. With my 5ft deep pond, the Chagois will have no problem growing to a length of 70cm in 1.5 years.

Chagoi

Chagois will be netted from the pond and measure every two months to monitor their grow.

Use of Sand Filter in Koi Pond System

Sand Filter is commonly used for swimming pool for keeping the pool water clean and clear. There are some koi pond owners use Sand Filter in the final stage of filtration process to polish their pond water. In my ten years of keeping koi, I have also installed a sand filter for my pond system but I have merely ran it for six months. The sand filter and the centrifugal pump that is required to feed the sand filter has since idled.

I must agree that Sand Filter is excellent in polishing the pond water and the end result is a crystal clear pond water which allow me to see the base of my 5ft deep pond easily. The sand filter that I used was filled with sand and some zeolite and to push the water through the filter, a 1HP centrifugal pump is used to pump the water from the last stage of filtration and the water return to the pond after the polishing process.

1 Horse Power or 750watt equal to the power consumption of 5 Tsurumi pump and that is a lot. The use of Sand Filter immediately pump up my electricity bill substantially and that is one main reason that discourage me from using it further.

After using the Sand Fitler for one day, you will notice that the presure built up in the piping system leading to the sand filter increased substantially and there is always a need to backwash the filter once a day to clear the clog and reduce pumping presure. Having to do that is quite troublesome and in the process of backwashing, you will lost quite a lot of pond water as well.

Overall, the Sand Filter is easy to install. The PVC pipe require for the installation are that of greater thickness that are able to withstand high operating presure of the sand filter.

After using the sand filter for a few months, you will notice that the backwash action will not reduce operating pressure very much and that indicate that the sand has clog up quite alot and there is a need to open up the sand filter chamber to clean the sand inside.

A filter that require too much maintenance is not fun in koi keeping hobby and finally I gave up the use of sand filter after only six months of use.

Trickle Tower for Aquarium

While Trickle Tower has been widely used for Koi Pond, many have also included a trickle tower in large aquarium where the water is overflow through a trickle tower to a bio filter located below the aquarium. I have however installed a simple Trickle Tower for my small aquarium and it is equally as effective as it cousin that we used for koi pond. The rule is again to have the water trickle slowly. Some of the pictures are as below:-

trickle tower

trickle tower

trickle tower

Previous post on Trickle Tower for Koi Pond :-
https://www.khoo.name.my/2005/11/21/removal-of-nitrate-from-pond-water-system-koi-pond/

Removal of Nitrate from Pond Water System – Koi Pond

Any bio filter in a koi pond system that is matured after been colonized by nitrifying bacteria will sure produce a lot of nitrate in the pond water system as a result of the following process:-

Fish Waste (Ammonia) => Nitrite => Nitrate

While Nitrite and Ammonia are very toxic to fishes, Koi are able to tolerate Nitrate to a certain extend but nevertheless, it is still very important to remove Nitrate from the Koi Pond system to ensure overall health of Koi Fish and no green water.

Generally, Nitrate level in the Koi Pond can be reduced by the following methods:-

1) Regular water change
2) Installing vegetable filter
3) Installing Trickle Filter

Of all the three methods mentioned above, the easiest way to remove Nitrate is by regular water change. Rule of thumb is to change at least 20 ~ 30% of pond water weekly. For small koi pond, this method can be implemented effectively and economically. For larger koi pond, this method will turn out to be very costly to pond owner as substantial volume of water replacement is required.

The 2nd method is to install a vegetable filter. Pond water that passed through the bio filter can be lead to a series of long water way planted with water plant. The purpose of the water plant is to absorb nitrate from pond water as fertilizer. This method require a lot of space for the construction of water way and the plant need to be maintained regularly as you will see that the plant will grow very fast with plenty of nitrate to absorb. To save space, I once planted a yam tree in the final stage of my filter system and mind you, the yam tree grow extremely fast and a lot of trimming is needed at very close interval.

Yam Tree

To me, the best , method is to install a Trickle Tower as it require very little maintenance and yet it is extremely effective. A simple diagram showing the trickle tower is as below:-

Trickle Tower
Drawing taken from Koi Kichi, a popular book on Koi by Mr. Peter Waddington

bio ball

I have constructed my trickle tower using plastic tray and with a lot of small holes drilled at the base of the tray so that water can drip down to the next tray.

Bio Ball Tray

Four trays are stacked together in the vertical position to form the trickle tower. Water from the last stage of filtration are pumped into the top of the tower at very slow flow rate so that water can trickle slowly through the tower. The water that are collected at the bottom tray are then diverted back to the first stage of filtration.

We have tested the trickle tower with different flow rate and found that slow flow rate tend to be much more effective and efficient.

Koi Kichi

Tsurumi Water Pump – simply the best submersible pump for koi pond

My pond will turn 10 years old soon and during the last 10 years, I have used a total of 3 Tsurumi pump for my koi pond. 2 of the three pumps have since retired from service but third one is still going strong serving my Vortex Filter

Tsurumi Pump

I must say that the Tsurumi pump is extremely lasting and as long as you ensure that the pump is submerged all the time, it should last you for 7 or 8 years without any problem, serving you 24 hours a day. The best feature of the Tsurumi is its low power consumption of only 150watt and that ensure low power bill even running two pump at the same time. The original pump installed by my pond contractor was the DAB pump with 375watt rating and I soon replaced that with Tsurumi pump.

Quick facts om Tsurumi pump :-

The most dependable, longest lasting pumps! Designed for 60,000 hours of
continuous operation – that’s almost seven years without ever shutting off!

  • High efficiency, air filled motors – operates at lower temperature which
    extends motor life.
  • Double mechanical seals – protects against water leakage which shorts out
    motor.
  • Constructed of stainless steel and space-resins for superior strength.
  • Less Clogging comes from a vortex designed impeller
  • Fits in most skimmer boxes
  • Built in Thermal Protection
  • 2 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty

Hi-Blow 80 Watt Air Compressor

After serving the koi pond for about three years, the latest unit of Hi-Blow 80 watt finally break down. A new replacement unit was purchased at RM 820.00 per unit. The prices of Hi-Blow has increase quite a bit. Considering it 24/7 operation for solid three years, the Hi-Blow is still on of the best compressor around for koi pond. The broke down unit will be sent for repair and to be used as stand by unit.

An update on Vortex Filter for koi pond

The Vortex Filter that I have installed on my koi pond is now more than 3 months old. I have since shut down other filter system and solely relying on the Vortex. The pond water remain clear with moderate feeding. Maintenance on the prefilter or settlement chamber is being done at 2 months interval that invoice flushing the brushes with pond water. There has not been any blockage so far and the result is good considering the fact that the filter is above ground with pond water feed to the filter via submersible pump.

Koi Kichi and Koi2Kichi

Many years after Peter Waddington of Infiltration written the popular Koi Kichi, the second Koi2Kichi was launched.

Koi Kichi

Koi2Kichi come in two books instead of one and total package offered consist of the following:-

  • Book 1 – The Path to Understanding
  • Book 2 – The Path to Yamakoshi
  • Village & Breeders Tour Maps
  • Yamakoshi Nishikigoi Map
  • DVD of the tours (complete with an outtake segment that is priceless!)

Brief description of the two books are:-

The First Book – The Path to Understanding – from Mistake to Mystique
Deals with every aspect of Koi. From a detailed work about how Koi and the Koi industry emerged, water, an incredibly detailed segment on state of the art pond design, to health aspects, Koi shows and The Definitive Work on Tategoi. This aspect especially has been laboured over by Peter for years – the understanding of a lifetime in Koi.

koi2kichi

The Second Book – The Path to Yamakoshi – the Highways and the Byways
Takes us on four basic journeys through the mountains of Yamakoshi. Starting from Nagaoka/Ojiya it takes an the reader on an incredible journey through the legendary villages of Niigata and visits literally hundreds of the leading breeders. It not only shows you where they are and how to find them, it actually takes you there! It reveals incredible details about many of the world leading breeders.

Koi Kichi is one of the best Koi Book that I have read. The book is interesting to read and extremely informative. It is that book that lead me to build my first Trickle Tower and later learnt that slow flow rate of water through the Trickle Tower offer the best efficiency in nitrate removal from pond water.

Koi2Kichi will definitely be a good buy for koi lovers.

Read more at Koi Kichi

Koi Kichi Koi: Living Jewels of the Orient Koi Appreciation: The First Step

Power backup for Koi Pond and Aquarium

After keeping koi for a while and invested thousands on koi, ensuring continuous supply of oxygen to koi pond and aquarium water become extremely important. Otherwise, your investment may perish after a power breakdown that cut off the supply of electricity to compress air pump. Apart from occasional power breakdown due to TNB problem, there is always a possibility that the main circuit breaker may trip after a heavy thunder storm.

Running a 120 watt and a 40 watt Hi-Blow compressed air pump to supply compressed air the the main pond drain a lot of electricity. To cope with the possible power failure, my first investment was a backup system that is connected to two giant battery that we normal use for big lorry. During normal time, the backup unit will keep the battery charged and in the event of power failure, the power reserve in the battery unit will be used to power the 2 Hi-Blow that serve the koi pond.

We soon realize that such power backup system is only good enough if you will not be away from home for more than 2 days. Even if the backup system is used to power only the 40watt Hi-blow, it can barely last for one day. For longer period of absense, such backup system is no longer good enough for ensuring continuous supply of electricity.

Finally, we concluded that the best way to counter such problem is to rely on neighbour or friends who are willing to come to your home to turn on the power supply if the circuit breaker trip. Having to have friends of neighbour come to your house everyday is quite troublesome. We solve this installing a fax machine at home.Whenever we are away from home and wish to confirm that the power supply is alive, we will just call our fax number to see if the fax machine respond. In the event that the fax machine fail to respond, we will then call our friends or neighbour to check the power supply physically and turn it on if necessary. I have been replying on this simple, cheap and effective method to ensure that compressed air is alway available for our pond and aquarium water.

In the end of the day, the question is do we really need a power backup system ? My answer to this question is my do not need one at all. The reason being any power supply failure caused by TNB rarely last more than a few hours these days. In my absense, my koi are not fed at all and even without any oxygen supply, they should be able to survive by at least half a day.

October 14, 2005 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia