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and just like that, summer is gone

Posted by lorivertin on

Once again too busy to properly blog. You’ll just have to read photo captions.

Two weekends ago, we donated koi to a local community college with a japanese garden. The garden is very nice and the pond is about nine feet deep. I worry a little bit if our koi will survive since they are normally pampered in the winter but I hope to be surprised when I check on them next spring. We donated four koi – two males and two females.

Waiting to be released.

This is a little video clip of the pond builder releasing our koi donation. A little girl next to me thought we should name the karashigoi “Lori”.

Their new home – looks lovely…

 

 

slightly boring video GoPro videos of the koi underwater

Lower pond, underwater
Lower pond, underwater

Lower Pond

Upper pond, underwater

Upper Pond Part 1

Upper Pond Part 2

Upper Pond Part 3

 

 

Geeky information for anyone interested in the winter pool for our koi…a few changes from last year.

Normally our koi come in at the end of October but this year we will be in Japan. We have been busy starting to put the garden to bed. The weather seemed to turn into fall on the dot. Our outdoor water temperatures are hovering around 54 degrees and all the trees are starting to lose their leaves. All of the koi seemed to slow down. Since our indoor pool was ready we went ahead and brought in all the koi from the upper pond. They acted as if they were at a spa. I really do like them nearby and being able to see them up close so easily.

Our indoor system is pretty easy to maintain and between a hot water drip and the garage heater, the temperatures stay around sixty degrees. A little close to aeromonas alley temperatures but we just keep a close eye on the koi. Knock on wood we only had one sick koi last winter.

We purchased a little profidrum last year. The original idea was to take the filtration equipment off of the lower pond and use it in the winter inside the garage. We all know that moving equipment like that is not really easy and in the long run just having this little guy set up is way easier. The auto feeder will need to be set up.
Two of the 4 inch lines are for the aerated bottom drains and one is midwater.
Our pond has an overflow system which changes 17-18% of the water each week. The waste from the RDF also runs out to the utility sink.
Last year the return from the bakki system was under water. we had two koi ding their heads on something so this year we took as much pipe stuff out of the water and wrapped up every little possible point of potential scratching. We like the aeration and the way this return will keep the corner water moving.
this is a little bakki shower system which keeps seeded media most of the year.
The small bead filter under the bakki shower boxes is new. The other two bead filters came from somewhere. I think we had four bead filters on the outside ponds and two come into the garage. These two bead filters pump water back into two rain bars at the far end of the pool.
Two rain bars – once again to keep as much of the returns our of the pool.
happy girls
enjoying the stable 60 degrees

In a few days we will be bringing in the smaller koi from the lower pond. Seems like summer was too short this year!