# My Koi Collection



## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Before these pictures were taken my pond water was like a pea soup and you can not see the Kois unless they come up to surface
These pictures were taken after 2 weeks use of my two 36 watts UVC. I had to wait for these bulbs to arrive in the mail. The local nurseries sell these 36 watts bulbs for around $135 each but I got my on eBay for $12.50 each but I had to buy 6 bulbs to get this deal 
At this time I can see the Kois at 2 feet deep.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

These pictures were taken 4 weeks use of my two 36 watts UVC.
Now I can see them at 4 feet
I just pickup a free high pressure sand filter from a GTA member and will set it up to further polish the water and hopefully I can see at 7.5 feet.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Omg I need a backyard!!! D: They are just lovely!


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## Grane (Jun 14, 2011)

What do you do with them in the winter? Are they still out there? and if so do they go into hibernation? I'm assuming you don't need to worry about feeding in the winter and what about water quality in the winter as well? 

I'm just curious about it because it might be something I'd be willing to try out. Also if you have some good sights for koi ponds I'd appreciate it.


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## Sinerviz (Apr 2, 2011)

Grane said:


> What do you do with them in the winter? Are they still out there? and if so do they go into hibernation? I'm assuming you don't need to worry about feeding in the winter and what about water quality in the winter as well?
> 
> I'm just curious about it because it might be something I'd be willing to try out. Also if you have some good sights for koi ponds I'd appreciate it.


Koi, goldfish, shubunkins etc. will go into a hibernation like state in the winter where they hardly move at all and require no feedings. There will be things in the water that will pollute the water as they break down but if you keep a hole open all winter, the gases produced from organic matter decomposing can escape and the fish will be ok. The best way to achieve this is a heavy duty air pump with a bubbling disc. The air pumps use hardly any power (compared to heaters that use lots of power) and I use one pump that keeps two ponds going all winter. Another option is to mount a 60 watt light inside a rubbermaid tub and put the tub upside down on the water. You attach a "ring" of ABS pipe around the rim of the tub to keep it floating. This also works well and uses less power than the pond heaters but more than the air pump....

If you want to look into pond construction, check out one of the best builders in the Toronto area, Clarke Koi Ponds. He has a lot of pictures on his website which will give you an idea of how to build a really nice pond from scratch.

http://www.clarkekoi.com/


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

wow so nice!  do you do any water changes at all? or just once before and once after summer/fall? do you just clean the filter then? also, how big is your pond and what filter are you using? we (family and I) are in the midst of setting a pond as well!


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> Omg I need a backyard!!! D: They are just lovely!


Thanks



Grane said:


> What do you do with them in the winter? Are they still out there? and if so do they go into hibernation? I'm assuming you don't need to worry about feeding in the winter and what about water quality in the winter as well?
> 
> I'm just curious about it because it might be something I'd be willing to try out. Also if you have some good sights for koi ponds I'd appreciate it.


They stay outside all year round since no room inside to house all those Kois. The biggest one is 24". My 33" Koi die last year and she was 20 years old. The winter is the easiest and much less work. I can't wait until the pond freeze over so the pond don't have to face the wind chill factor but there are things to do before winter sets in. In the fall I feed them more before winter arrives and do a large WC change beside the regular maintenance. Before the pond freezes over I install a floating 100 watts heater with a small air pump and air stone to keep a hole open for gas exchange. I also put in a 60 feet of roofing wire heater in the pond. You can not feed the Kois below 50F or 10C since they can not digest the food. Kois go into semi-hibernation in winter.
Spring time has the most work since the Koi's immune system don't kick in until the temperature goes above 55F or 12.5C and the full immune at around 75F or 23.9C and some bad bugs will be active around 45F or 7.2C. In spring I will do another large WC and add salt to make the water at 3% to fight of some of these bad bugs. With the regular WC the salt level will come down.
Pond water at 1% salt is ideal for the Kois since it will reduce the osmotic pressure.


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## freddymp (Jan 15, 2010)

Dave,
Those are some nice kois!
Freddy


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

iBetta said:


> wow so nice!  do you do any water changes at all? or just once before and once after summer/fall? do you just clean the filter then? also, how big is your pond and what filter are you using? we (family and I) are in the midst of setting a pond as well!


Thanks...My pond is over 10,000gal and measure 30 feet long and the widest part is 18 feet and the deepest part with the bottom drain is 7.5 feet deep. I built my own filters out of 7x 55gal drums with 4" toilet flange as the bulkheads and 2" shower drain for the filters to drain the dirty water.
The first drum is the vortex filter where the water enters via gravity from the bottom drain. Lots of crap settle in the bottom of the vortex. I flush the vortex 2 or 3 times a week. And the second drum is full of K1 kaldnes media moving bed driven by a large air pump. The next 4 drums are full of bio-balls and mattings. The 7th drum is at the other end and this filter is my trickle tower filter full of bio-balls, matting and floss. This filter is drive by a submersible pump in the little pond that is attached to the main pond and this little pond acts as my surface skimmer and also attached with 2 36 watts UVC. Soon I will attach a high pressure sand filter to polish the water more.
I try and do weekly or bi-weekly WC since I have to dump the dirty water out of each drum. The filters don't get clean just flush. I only clean the filters when I shutdown the filteration.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

freddymp said:


> Dave,
> Those are some nice kois!
> Freddy


Thanks Freddy...long time no see


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

wow...intense!  thanks for all the info! and you have some really nice kois there *.* as well


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## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

Gorgeous koi, I'm jealous. 

I dont think I'll ever have a koi pond living downtown, my dad used to them in large aquariums but nothing beats a pond where you have that ariel view!


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Kerohime said:


> Gorgeous koi, I'm jealous.
> 
> I dont think I'll ever have a koi pond living downtown, my dad used to them in large aquariums but nothing beats a pond where you have that ariel view!


Thanks, IMO the only way to view Kois is ariel view


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## freddymp (Jan 15, 2010)

Yes, kois are not as pretty from the sides 

I have tried shallow and deep large pots, however these get very big (2-3 ft across, 1-3 ft deep, still not big enough), heavy and the fish needs to move indoors during winter.

Dave, do you ever loose any Koi to the wildlife?


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

freddymp said:


> Yes, kois are not as pretty from the sides
> 
> I have tried shallow and deep large pots, however these get very big (2-3 ft across, 1-3 ft deep, still not big enough), heavy and the fish needs to move indoors during winter.
> 
> Dave, do you ever loose any Koi to the wildlife?


No I never loose any to wildlife since my pond does not have any shallow parts and all the side of the pond have steep inclines and the deepest part is over 7 feet deep.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Last fall my friend give me some of his fish from his small pond due to a move. So I got 3 Kois and a pond goldfish from him. This spring it looks like my Kois and the pond goldfish has spawned. I saw them 6 weeks ago and they were under 1" very hard to see now they are 3" to 4" with some nice color and pattern and I think there is about 15 to 20 frys. Very hard to take pictures of these frys since they like to stay near the bottom and they move very fast too. The pictures from the OP shows the spawn from last year. The ones that are black and dark brown and grey about 8 survived and now they are 7" to 13".
Have to see what these hybrids look like when they get bigger


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