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[Dingbat]

My stock of fish is now settled in and they are eating. As could be expected the after is turning quite green and now I have to wait for the biological process to get up to speed. Obviously one is anxious to get the water clear but truth is that the fish are more comfortable in the green water. The mechanical side of my filtration is now complete but I have lots of room over to add more if needed. All the plants appear to be settled in and I see signs of new growth.

This morning I can see signs of algae going brown in the vegetation pond. Apparently it is the first signs of things that are changing. I am also seeing brown and black streaks appearing in the algae growth on the pond walls and overflows.

Every Koi keeper most probably cherishes the moments of the first fish going into his pond and I am no different. Yesterday I placed to wedges of orange in each pond and the fish in pond #2 cleaned theirs' out and I can see signs of eating on the ones in pond #1. Pond #2 has a healthy algae population on the walls and pond #1 is only now beginning to show signs of growth on the walls. It is as if the fish in pond #1 is also getting more relaxed and I see them nibbling on the walls.

I will have to restrain myself from taking too many shots. The following is a collection of shots showing most of the fish. From now on I will try and get bigger shots of individuals. It will be a new field for me to explore with my camera.

To me the collection looks nice and I have seen a few individuals that looks great to my untrained eye.

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J

The breeder that supplied me with fish visited my ponds yesterday and he is happy with what he saw. We are now doing the Bottom Drains and that should be done by next Friday.

Comments are welcome.

[Dingbat]

Here are a few shots that I did with the 40D and 100-400 ... not there where I want it but in these shots you can see more detail of the fish.

The more I see the fish the more I see in the fish ... there are some really good looking fish amongst the collection and currently my pictures cannot do them justice.

Enjoy.

[Charnelle]

Dit lyk baie mooi Colyn. Nooi ons bietjie vir daai sundowners sodat ons die pragtige werklikheid kan beleef....

[Dingbat]

The algae is currently the winners by far. Water clarity is getting worse by the day and visibility down is around 500mm. Many voices in my head are screaming for me to do something and do something quick. However the soft whisper of sanity is still in control. It is quite obvious that whatever I do now to clear the algae away will mostly be a case of handling and managing a symptom and not the cause.

The fish are looking very healthy and happy and I can see no signs of stress.

That brings me to a point that makes me smile ... as many of you may know, I am a serious photographer and I love long distance riding on my bike. Now the matter of what food for the Koi is like asking on the Photography forum which camera is the best or asking on the bike forum which bike is the best ... 10 guys, ten answers.

Something I noticed this afternoon is that I am seeing a clear reduction in the amount of foam that is generated. I also noticed that all the plants in the pots are showing new growth and new shoots. The hyacinths are all forming lots of new suckers and I guess that by the end of September the whole veggie pond will be covered with a dense mat. I am also seeing lots of brown algae films forming under the stones in the river and on all the spillways.  Some places a mat of green algae is busy forming on the brown and it looks quite healthy.

Today I covered the sumps with shade cloth to keep dust, leaves and sunlight out.

All I am going to do now is concentrate on the bottom drains and let nature go it's way. If the water does not clear up by the end of August I will re-evaluate my position and make a decision then. At this moment I want to stay true to my vision and try and get the whole system to be as low-tech as possible with the veggie pond as the heart of the system.

[Dingbat]

Today another piece of the project was completed ... the garden lights are in ...

Enjoy

[Grizaan]

Nou na al jou moeite - kyk hoe mooi lyk daai liggies in die aand. Met die tuin in plek gaan dit soos 'n paradys lyk.
Sterkte met die werk verder.

[TC]

freaking awesome sal een van die dae vir Colyn kom kuier en kom kyk hoe mooi dit daar is ...........

[Colyn]

Ek sien uit na jou kuier.

[Dingbat]

Well today I integrated the Pond #1 Bottom drain into the system and in the first flush I saw this red worm on the drain grill ... does anybody know what it is ...

At a guess I would say it is around 15mm long.

[Dingbat]

Here are the shots of the Bottom drain and associated filtering components.

The drain was finally integrated around 12h00 by 18h00 it looks like the pond was already changing.

[Colyn]

Pierre het die kommentaar gelewer op MSN ...

Pierre says:
Ek verwys na die plante op die laaste foto. Is dit swart varkore?

Nie te min. Dit lyk wel so. Ek wil jou daarop wys dat die varkoor hybrit 'n bol is (die swart, pienk en ander kleure) en as dit in die water staan gaan hy vrot. Die enigste varkoor wat wel in die water aard is die witte wat 'n wortelstok het en nie 'n bol nie.

Die swart vark oor moet in sanderige grond geplant word en bietjie sonlig elkedag sal goed wees. Sal nie binne die huis oorleef nie

[Dingbat]

With all nonsense of hookworm, algae and low flow rates I almost forgot why I really built the ponds

Here is a shot taken this afternoon ... even the water is looking better ...

Enjoy

[Dingbat]

Tonight I have no pictures ... I will do a good set next week.

On Friday I added another pump into the system and increased my water flow by around 40%. I also flushed the newly commissioned bottom drain filter system on Pond #1 properly. I added plants and some brushes and it is good to see the difference between the entry water and exit water. Obviously the bio side will take time to kick in but I am happy with the filtration side.

All the plants in the veggie pond is showing strong growth and I can see some roots appearing through the holes in some of the pots.

Last week I experimented with some filtration objects and the results are actually quite pleasing ... considering the cost it is actually bloody good. I will show details tomorrow.

I paid my workers overtime to finish the bottom drain filter structure for Pond #2 and I was sure it would be finished. However the weather had other plans. Today was overcast, cool and some drizzle from time to time. The result is that the plastering could not be completed because it was drying too slow.

I am seeing a marked improvement in the water condition and visibility is up to around 800mm with the water colour more blue-gray than pea soup green. I have also noticed strong algae matting forming in the rivers and waterfalls. Some of the filter chambers are also showing good matting and I am happy.

Overall the whole system just looks very healthy and alive. The fish are extremely active and they are all over the ponds.

Hopefully my parcel from Paul will arrive on Tuesday and then I will try and catch that worm carrier

Thanks again for all your advice and contributions to my project.

[Dingbat]

Today I have a lot of shots and need some serious support

I have taken a lot of detail shots of the different elements currently at work in my system and would like to hear comments. I am especially interested in knowing if any of you can see things that can and will lead to problems later. I am also interested to know if you see things that shows the system is on the right route.

If you need more detailed shots please feel free to ask for it.

A.
This is the nylon brushes in the bottom drain system of Pond #1


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Thank you.

[Dingbat]

It is one month since the first fish went into the ponds and it was a month full of events. I had to apply a lot of self control to keep my anxiety in check because the algae was making my life a misery

In this month I upped the pumping capacity by 50% and I installed two UV lights. I also commissioned the two bottom drains and associated filter systems. The plants began to propagate and I could see lots of bio things happening in the ponds but yet the algae was there and visibility was poor.

By Thursday last week things began to change and there was a noticeable improvement in the water clarity. By Friday it became clear that the bio system was beginning to work against the algae but it was also clear that I did not have enough really fine mechanical filtration.

All my pond water passes through this trough before it goes to the pump pit and today I placed to layers of a synthetic wool blanket in this trough.

Within an hour the water in the pump pit cleared up to such an extent that I could see the printing on the pumps. I am happy. I also see a lot of clumps of algae that lifts up from the veggie pond floor from around 10h00 to 16h00. These are all collected in the skimmer trough and I think that the plants is busy killing off the food supply of the algae.

So in conclusion ... it seems as if the bio system is gathering steam now and things are improving rapidly. I expect to have a very differient view by tomorrow.

Here are two shots that is more photographic than koi technical

Enjoy and thanks for all the support.