wayneb wrote:

Not really a koi related question...but what camera are you using as the images are very clear and crisp. Are you adjusting it with software or is this as it was taken?

I use mostly a Canon 400D with 17-85 EFS lense on.

Naturally I do some post processing (PP) to get the best out of the shot.

Admin wrote:

It is looking damn good, must say, I am jealous

I would do a good water change before adding fish. You always have some toxins in a new pond(created by the sealer), and the initial effect of new cement on the PH is often quite high. With some paint sealers, you actually have to flush the whole pond once.

Did you test your PH?

All the dams and waterways are sealed with Coprox and I have been told by the supplier that has no effect on the fish ... especially if 4 to 6 weeks pass before adding fish.

My battle with the flow control means I am adding quite a lot of new water too.

I am suffering from a shortage of material currently and hope to get Pond #1 finished next week.

I have done no testing to the water yet and will do that once the whole system is running. I might have underestimated the sump capacity will need to expand that.

Today I am in a foul mood. The smallest component on the project, the sump. is giving me a hard time. This component was done while I was in Kuwait and it seems that the guys took short cuts and screwed up. The damn thing leaks like a sif

So come Monday it will be first a few well placed "comments" and then the hunt for the problem.

I have also realised yesterday that I have misjudged the capacity needed in the sump that must handle the run-off once the pumps goes down.

In any case ... I knew that there would be practical snags once things starts firing up. All of this just makes the project that much more interesting.

It looks like the problem is in the drain holes in the separation wall. The topside of some holes have not been plastered.



Today is cool and clouded but hopefully no rain. This snag is now spoiling a lot of the work and nothing can go forward until this is resolved.

I had the same problem before. It is so difficult to waterproof those type of holes that was done with bricks properly. That is why I did my last pond's filter chamber with a few PVC pipes going through the seperating walls instead of creating holes with the bricks.

If you wish to regulate the flow to the next chamber, you can easily put pvc ends on some of the pipes going through the wall. With the holes created by seperating bricks, you can not.

Yep ... that is what we have done now ... place PVC pipes in there.

That is what I wanted to suggest. Fortunately it will be quite easy to change it at this stage.


Here is a glimpse of mine but you should maybe consider bigger than 50 mm

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Thanks Paul ... I will post some shots tomorrow of the fix.

Today was a better day ... seems like the leak is fixed and I have resolved the flow problem from the filters back to the ponds.

Good reason to have a dop

Ok it is official ... I screwed up with the sump capacity in a big way ... I am now pumping directly from pond #3 while we are calculating a decent sump volume.

Ok the issue with the leaking sump has been solved and the problem with the future bio-filters overflowing has been sorted out.

I have covered the bottoms of the streams with some rock and one pump is running basically full time daily now without any issues in the bio filter tanks and the connecting streams.

My biggest toothache now is the fact that I miscalculated the sump and I have measured out the expansion for it. The primary water inlet is also under construction. With the Soccer Stadium running in scheduling problems there is a chronic shortage of cement in Nelspruit and my cement arrived an hour ago. Tomorrow Pond #1's floor will be plastered and then the bulk of the wetwork should be finished.

Here are a few shots of some of the latest progress.

Well things are going as planned ... the final pond is busy getting it's floor

I also see quite a explosion in algae ... but for now I will not worry too much about it.

Can any one tell ... the salt that you add to the water ... is it some special type or can normal bulk coarse salt from the Co-op do the trick ?

Why do you want to add salt?
There is no need to.

Colyn wrote:

Can any one tell ... the salt that you add to the water ... is it some special type or can normal bulk coarse salt from the Co-op do the trick ?

Hi Colyn,
Normal bulk coarse salt will do.

Read the entry under medication

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Dit is een van daai onderwerpe waaroor seker die meeste gestry word. Verskeie opinies word bespreek onder [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Ek hou nie permanent sout in my damme nie, slegs wanneer ek 'n nuwe dam begin, nuwe visse toevoeg, gesondheidsprobleme ondervind of voorsien en aan die begin van die somer.

Die redes waarom ek sout in 'n nuwe dam gooi is tweeledig. Enersyds is die visse gestrees weens die nuwe omstandighede. Sout maak hulle vatbaar vir minder infeksies en parasiete wat sal probeer toeslaan weens die lae immuniteit weens stress.

Andersyds is jou filters nog nuut en hoe Nitriete is waarskynlik. Sout verminder die negatiewe effek van Nitriet vergiftinging in 'n groot mate.

Thank you very much ... I will keep you guys posted.

Thank you all for the support in this project ... support without which I would have suffered a few more stress attacks

Ok ... the sun has gone down and it is now night in Mpumalanga. The last pond, Pond #1 is done as far as wetwork is concerned.

This calls for drink

This "transito" volume of water is busy smuggling with my brain ... damn ... everyday I learn something more about it.

Today I have some shots and more stories about this project. I have encountered some really bad water losses in the stream going down to pond #3. We found the problem and it is being repaired now as I type here.

Pond #2 and #3 as well as the sump/weir has been filled to the brim and left standing for 3 days and the there is no water losses noticed. So I am happy that this part of the project is now secure.

As I said earlier the "transit" volume of water was more than I expected and my sump turned out to be too small. The sump is now in the process of being enlarged to hold another 3,000 liters of water of which only around 150 liters will not be available for "transit" capacity.



Today the Coprox for Pond #1 arrived so hopefully that job will get done on Monday.

On another topic. I have had offers of Koi from a few friends but I am thinking about all the risks involved in introducing fish to ponds and I am leaning towards this ...

There is an exporter near Nelspruit that is friends with my brother. He has offered me 150mm Koi at R90.00 per Koi. Is this a fair price ?

I think I will only put 30 fish per pond. I am of the opinion that by buying all the fish in one batch from one source and then let them grow here I am minimising risks of contamination.

What do you think ?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Colyn, whats your aim with the ponds?

My feeling was always that if i spend like in my case R 100 000 on a pond, i would like some decent koi in it but everyone is different.

If you want show quality koi then you will roughly pay R 1000 per 15cm koi but if you just want some colourfull fish in your pond then the R 90 per koi option sounds fine.

Wayne

I agree with you Wayne ... but my realities are that I have a huge risk of predation and that makes me reluctant to place expensive fish in here.

Next point is that I will obviously have to get to grips with the realities of Koi keeping and will most probably make mistakes in the beginning. There is also the matter of the system getting into balance and maturing which I believe can take a year.

So with the above in mind I think it will be more prudent to start of with colourful rather than quality.

What do you think ?

Hi Colyn

I agree, i started with gold fish and cut my teeth on them and then moved over to koi...the problem with starting with cheapish kois are that they eat and take up the same amount of space as quality koi and you struggel to sell them later as no one wants ugly koi..but i agree first put some cheap koi or gold fish in to see what happens, especially with all those birds around your pond.

Hi Colyn,

Your setup looks great, wish I had your space.

Once your wife falls in love with the cheaper ones you can never get rid of them
But I agree your decision is the right one.
We all started that way and we all lost some koi due to ignorance.
But then any big koi is a nice koi in my opinion.

Dankie Jaco ... ja ek is al 'n ou ballie en het op die harde manier geleer dis gewoonlik goedkoper om versigtig te wees

Ek hat offers van a paar pelle vir grotes wat in hulle plaasdamme rondswem maar ek is hel bang ek bring siflis in die sisteem in en dan sit ek met die lyke