Since the koi have come into the garage I have been traveling for fun and business. When I do have the chance to check on the koi, they are all looking very good with no signs of stress. This year we have made some improvements to the garage setup. After the floor was resurfaced to be brighter, we reinstalled the grow lights. Last year we abandoned the grow lights because every time we turned them on, one of the koi would exhibit signs of illness. It was most likely coincidence. The big change for the garage was the installation of a new heater.

The new heater is keeping our garage currently at 60 degrees. Last year we dripped warm water in the pool but the water temperature hovered around 48-50. This year, the water is maintaining around 56 degrees. Not sure if we will crank it up any higher. I’d like the water to be warm enough to continue feeding but want to limit the waste load since the pool is only 3700 gallons.

To control our waste load, we purchased a small RDF that drains out into the utility sink. We had considered moving the RDF from the lower pond into the garage but it seemed easier to just get a new one sized for the garage.

The pool water is going through the bead filters on the other side of the pond and being returned through a rain bar and some above surface returns. When the pond builder is not traveling he hopes to make a bakki shower.

The koi are active and we did notice some stinky foam about two days after they came into the winter pool. Didn’t see if anyone had dropped any eggs. I’m hoping to get some photos of the koi when we get home later today. Genius, our little kin ki utsuri is losing sumi and I wanted to see if any other koi are changing.