Alabama Koi Pond Progress

[koiguy1969]

the skippy WILL do the job,be it the 55 gal drum or a stock tank or even a good sturdy plastic outdoor trash can like the BRUTE 44 gal. i used scrubbies in mine, but i was at home depot and found some blue filter pads for the furnace that i bought for bottom layer of media(plastic coarse more loose weave); then to the dollar store scrubbnies, then to the 3M scrubbies wich are a tighter weave (finer mesh) than the dollar store ones. so the media gets finer torwards the top and outlet
the filter pads are flanders brand 20"x25" x1"thick and are $4.50 sams club for the 3Ms and obiously dollar store for the others

 

[BlakeA]

Again the rundown on my fish, i posted somewhere, but to keep it organized...

Ordered from flkoi.com Philip young, he also helped me alot with the setting up of my pond...
3 kohaku
1 ki matsuba
1 yamabuki ogon?
2 showa
2 shiro utsuri
1 tancho

Bought from petsmart

2 15 cent goldfish which are almost as big as the koi now...

Bought from walmart

2 fish which if someone could clarify for me, have a red spot on their head, but have a smokey black color running down their back, allowing alot of their white to show. What are these called?

Also, the ki matsuba, and the tancho, are by far the most sociable, and least scared of the bunch, and 2 of the kohakus were about 4" upon arriving and are nearly 6" now, and really fat.

I feed them twice, sometimes 3 times, if they look hungry towards nighttime, and i give them a good helping of floating pellets and a pinch of goldfish flakes, simply because im afraid 1 of the goldfish is too small for the pellets, and may not be eating them.

 

[DrDave]

Did all 10 arrive in the same container? How much water were they in? With the high oxygen requirement, I have wondered how the shippers do it. I bet the shipping cost as much as the fish.

You have a nice assortment. Yamabuki Ogon means "Yellow solid" The last 2 from Walmart are a variety of Tancho if they have the lone red spot on thier heads.

 

[BlakeA]

Did all 10 arrive in the same container? How much water were they in? With the high oxygen requirement, I have wondered how the shippers do it. I bet the shipping cost as much as the fish.

You have a nice assortment. Yamabuki Ogon means "Yellow solid" The last 2 from Walmart are a variety of Tancho if they have the lone red spot on thier heads.

yes, the shipping was the same price as the fish, and they came in maybe 2-3 gallons? not sure, and they were in a bag>bag>box lol. not sure of the oxygen, but i know they weren't fed for about 3-4 days before shipping, so the bag wouldn't be filled with ammonia during shipping.

 

[BlakeA]

the skippy WILL do the job,be it the 55 gal drum or a stock tank or even a good sturdy plastic outdoor trash can like the BRUTE 44 gal. i used scrubbies in mine, but i was at home depot and found some blue filter pads for the furnace that i bought for bottom layer of media(plastic coarse more loose weave); then to the dollar store scrubbnies, then to the 3M scrubbies wich are a tighter weave (finer mesh) than the dollar store ones. so the media gets finer torwards the top and outlet
the filter pads are flanders brand 20"x25" x1"thick and are $4.50 sams club for the 3Ms and obiously dollar store for the others

Do you think this will actually clear the water up? If so, about how long before i start to see a difference.

 

[BlakeA]

Haha, you guys are going to like this, and i actually need some ideas here... I'll post some pics in a few hours when the sun comes out.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed the ratehr large above ground pool we have pretty close to my pond, but in this pool, i counted over 10 frogs, and they have aid ALOT of eggs in the pool. We were in the process of cleaning the pool out, and our vacuum broke, so we got delayed, but now we really don't want to, and alot of consideration has been made about turning the pool into a koi pond for the winter, or when we expand the pond or whatnot. Also oddly enough, the frogs don't hang out near the pond. I tested the water in the pool, and everything is about the same.

 

[koiguy1969]

absolutely a good bio filter will keep all the unerlying factors that cause green, cloudy,or brackish water in check. you should see a difference in a few days, in a week or so you'll know!! use the microbe lift pl gel filter innoculant.. brush it on your filter media(dry), let it sit for 2 hours, put it in your filter,fill the filter with pond water, let it sit for 2 hours in water, then fire up the filter. this stuff is fantastic youll have a fully active filter in no time.

 

[BlakeA]

absolutely a good bio filter will keep all the unerlying factors that cause green, cloudy,or brackish water in check. you should see a difference in a few days, in a week or so you'll know!! use the microbe lift pl gel filter innoculant.. brush it on your filter media(dry), let it sit for 2 hours, put it in your filter,fill the filter with pond water, let it sit for 2 hours in water, then fire up the filter. this stuff is fantastic youll have a fully active filter in no time.

Ah yea! i was gonna ask, should i transfer some of the media, or bio balls from my current filter, with the bio activity already on it into the new filter? If not, i still have a good bit of the PL gel that you referred me to.

 

[koiguy1969]

yeah... put them in, it will help! you can always pull them out later should you decide to replace them with more scrubbies or whatever. make sure you fill the filter as much as possible. the more media the better.

 

[BlakeA]

Haha, you guys are going to like this, and i actually need some ideas here... I'll post some pics in a few hours when the sun comes out.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed the ratehr large above ground pool we have pretty close to my pond, but in this pool, i counted over 10 frogs, and they have aid ALOT of eggs in the pool. We were in the process of cleaning the pool out, and our vacuum broke, so we got delayed, but now we really don't want to, and alot of consideration has been made about turning the pool into a koi pond for the winter, or when we expand the pond or whatnot. Also oddly enough, the frogs don't hang out near the pond. I tested the water in the pool, and everything is about the same.

sorry but the pics didnt show much of the pool, and almost all of the frog eggs have hatched, and the tadpoles swimming in the bottom of it. also just cleaned out my filter, and it was COVERED! a couple hundred at least, with bloodworms. these are ok for my fish too eat right? because i think i saw them nibbling at a few of them, and if it's like a snack to them, i could give them more.

 

[koiguy1969]

they will love the blood worms, and they are very nutritious,

 

[luvmyasagis]

very nice, I am in Alabama also N.W. of Bham.I will have plenty of baby koi in the near future if you are close enough and looking for freebies.

 

[BlakeA]

very nice, I am in Alabama also N.W. of Bham.I will have plenty of baby koi in the near future if you are close enough and looking for freebies.

We are also NW of Bham, Adamsville Graysville area, I would definately like some more koi. Keep in touch and keep me up to date about the baby koi.

~Blake

 

[luvmyasagis]

I am in the Jasper are so we are only minutes from each other. I will give you a shout when the babies come into play.

 

[koiguy1969]

my family is from Boaz!! i think i spelled that right.