"We do not keep koi,we keep water".This is very true and all serious koi keepers are constantly striving to improve their ponds/filtration systems in order to maximise their koi's growth/quality.
Some of the most valuable koi in Japan are kept in this private koi house at Sakai Fish Farm.The majority of the koi kept here are extremely high quality and belong to customers throughout the world-most of them being prepared for major koi shows.
I will try and give you an idea of the pond and filtration system.
The 3 ponds are identical- 14m x 5 m x 1,6m deep
Each pond has 2 by 500mm x 500mm stainless steel grid bottom drains.
The 1st settlement chamber with stand pipe.
Under flow to the 1st biological filter-all Japanese matting.Please note,these mats are only cleaned with water from the pond itself and never removed from their position.By washing the mats before medicating,less medication is required.
Over and under flow to the 2nd biological filter.
+to+2nd+bio.JPG)
At the end of the 2nd filter the water goes down and through 2 large pipes to the 3rd biological filter.
UV down lights in 3rd chamber.
From 3rd chamber the water goes down and up through a large tray of oyster bags for PH buffering.
The final chamber houses the heating unit (23-24 degrees C) and 2 large submersible pumps returning the water to the pond.
You can see the 2x 110mm return pipes in the middle and a top up pipe/valve on the right-automatic feeder in the middle.
Each pond has an "oxygen saturizer"- water get sprayed through a tower of pressurised,pure oxygen and returned to the pond-separate pump.In addition oxygen is pumped through conventional air pumps into uni hose air rings in the pond.
Fish are fed a 50/50 mix of floating/sinking pellets.Colour food will be fed accordingly.
What we don't know is the maintenance routine/amount of water changes done-however we can be sure it is high.
