- Видео 26
- Просмотров 71 729
The Koi lab
Добавлен 6 авг 2020
I've been looking after tropical and marine fish for over 30 years. I started looking after Koi in my pond 4 years ago and found them much more challenging than any other fish I have kept.
Unlike goldfish and other aquarium fish, it is inevitable that koi will get unwell at some point, as a result of fluctuating temperatures, pathogens from nature and filters that have fluctuating loads with the seasons and very hungry fish!
How do you stop them getting sick? How can you treat them if they do get unwell? How can you make your pond as effortless as possible so that it is easy to keep it in tip top condition?
It's a very scientific hobby involving lots of biology and chemistry and I'm keen to use science to look after my fish better.
Here's my videos to share what I've learned so far and come on the journey as I learn more.
Unlike goldfish and other aquarium fish, it is inevitable that koi will get unwell at some point, as a result of fluctuating temperatures, pathogens from nature and filters that have fluctuating loads with the seasons and very hungry fish!
How do you stop them getting sick? How can you treat them if they do get unwell? How can you make your pond as effortless as possible so that it is easy to keep it in tip top condition?
It's a very scientific hobby involving lots of biology and chemistry and I'm keen to use science to look after my fish better.
Here's my videos to share what I've learned so far and come on the journey as I learn more.
Keeping a koi pond through the seasons
Having now kept koi for 6 years I’ve got into a regular pattern in terms of things to do at different times of the year.
I had to work this out for myself so I thought I’d share some of the thing I do and I’d be interested to hear what other people do that works well for them.
I particularly like doing the PP treatments as it cleans the water up nicely and seems to be quite effective at keeping parasite levels down. It’s easy to forget that ponds are out in nature so even if you don’t introduce new fish there are lots of sources of new parasites that need keeping on top of.
The other thing is using KH buffer in summer to ensure that the carbonate levels don’t get depleted. This is something...
I had to work this out for myself so I thought I’d share some of the thing I do and I’d be interested to hear what other people do that works well for them.
I particularly like doing the PP treatments as it cleans the water up nicely and seems to be quite effective at keeping parasite levels down. It’s easy to forget that ponds are out in nature so even if you don’t introduce new fish there are lots of sources of new parasites that need keeping on top of.
The other thing is using KH buffer in summer to ensure that the carbonate levels don’t get depleted. This is something...
Просмотров: 699
Видео
What size water changes does my koi pond need?
Просмотров 66811 месяцев назад
We all know we need to do water changes to keep our ponds healthy. But how much exactly? In this video I make a case for basing the minimum amount of water changes required on the amount of food you are feeding, directly linked to the amount of carbonate than is used up by the action of the biological filter. This is a pretty technical video but hopefully of interest to science driven koi keepers.
How much do koi grow during winter?
Просмотров 309Год назад
I see how much some koi that I bought as Tosai last year grew over winter having seen how quickly they grew during summer last year which I showed in a separate video.
How fast do koi grow in one summer season?
Просмотров 5 тыс.2 года назад
This is an experiment to see how quickly some tosai grow between May and September in my pond. It’s shows how it is very dependent on the fish.
Does Virkon affect your biological filter?
Просмотров 1,7 тыс.2 года назад
This is all about testing if and how much Virkon ‘knocks’ your filter given it is a generalist disinfectant. In the experiment I find that a dosing of 5G per 5000 litres it has a similar effect as a single dose of 1.5mg of potassium permanganate slowing the filter from 3 days to 5 days to convert a set amount of ammonia to nitrate
What’s worse - nitrate build up or carbonate depletion in a pond?
Просмотров 2312 года назад
I always understood that it was nitrate build up that was the reason we do water changes,but actually I’ve come to understand that it’s much more important to manage the carbonate hardness level of the water and nitrate will largely look after itself.
Review: Superfish Koi Pro automatic feeder
Просмотров 4,9 тыс.2 года назад
I’ve been very pleased with this Superfish automatic feeder and thought it be worth posting a review to help people decide if it’s right for them
How fast do koi actually grow?
Просмотров 14 тыс.2 года назад
This is an experiment to see how quickly Koi can grow when conditions are pretty optimal. I was interested because I’ve been surprised with how long it’s taken some of my fish to grow which I put down to living in a relatively moderate climate in the UK where half the year the temperature is quite low. This experiment confirms that fish to grow pretty quickly when the water is warm!
Can you artificially keep your Koi filter alive over winter?
Просмотров 1702 года назад
In previous experiments I’ve found that filter bacteria die back by about 80% in winter. This year I needed to keep my filter in prime condition to look after my fish in a temporary pond when the spring came so set up an experiment to see if I could keep the biological filter alive over winter
Does KH hardness matter when keeping koi?
Просмотров 1,1 тыс.2 года назад
The nitrogen cycle is well known to fish keepers but many will not be aware of the extent that the nitrogen cycle relies upon there being sufficient Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the water. The biological filter uses this when converting ammonia to nitrate and depletes what’s left in the water. If this goes on without regular water changes you run out of carbonate and the filter stops working, t...
How much better is evolution aqua’s K1 compared to K3 media?
Просмотров 4,6 тыс.2 года назад
It makes sense that smaller media work better but exactly how much better? Here I test k1 against k3 and find the difference in total surface area explains the difference in performance very closely. But just as important - directly aerating the media doubles it’s performance.
Does PUREPOND actually speed up the maturing of your filter?
Просмотров 3,4 тыс.3 года назад
I’ve already tested to see if the bacteria that are claimed to be in purepond can convert ammonia to nitrate and found little evidence it does. However, it might be that what pure pond actually does is facilitate a faster maturing of a filter by giving bacteria all the nutrients they need to grow as fast as possible. So that's what I'm testing here..
Why you should never test for ammonia immediately after using dechlorinator
Просмотров 5153 года назад
Ammonia test kits don’t work when there is excess dechlorinator in the water. It will look like there’s no ammonia irrespective of how much ammonia there actually is. This took me weeks to work out and several new test kits as I assumed they were past their best.
Does your biological filter die off over winter? If so how much?
Просмотров 8053 года назад
Koi ponds often struggle with high nitrite in spring. But why is this? Does a biological filter die off in winter meaning you start from scratch every year? Or is it just them operating more slowly in the lower temperatures? The answer depends on which bacteria we look at but it’s essential to keep the filter running over winter. This video will help you understand what’s going on
How much K3 media do you need to filter your pond?
Просмотров 6 тыс.4 года назад
Getting reliable information on your koi pond’s filter requirements is difficult as there are so many factors to consider. Crucially it is not the size of the pond that matters when it comes to the amount of biological media you need, rather it is the number and size of fish you keep. Most filter manufacturers quote the upper limit of the size of pond their filters are capable of but in truth f...
How much ammonia is too much when maturing your filter?
Просмотров 3444 года назад
How much ammonia is too much when maturing your filter?
What is the best way to remove chlorine from tap water?
Просмотров 2,4 тыс.4 года назад
What is the best way to remove chlorine from tap water?
How to identify skin flukes, trichodina and costia under a microscope
Просмотров 4,8 тыс.4 года назад
How to identify skin flukes, trichodina and costia under a microscope
Can you gas-off ammonia directly from your pond water using just air?
Просмотров 7364 года назад
Can you gas-off ammonia directly from your pond water using just air?
How to use a microscope to diagnose diseases in your koi
Просмотров 1,4 тыс.4 года назад
How to use a microscope to diagnose diseases in your koi
How much do disease treatments affect your biological filter?
Просмотров 1664 года назад
How much do disease treatments affect your biological filter?
Guide to different topical koi treatments
Просмотров 2124 года назад
Guide to different topical koi treatments
How to clear blanket weed from your pond
Просмотров 3934 года назад
How to clear blanket weed from your pond
How to treat koi with topical potassium permanganate safely
Просмотров 1 тыс.4 года назад
How to treat koi with topical potassium permanganate safely
Do you still have the same microscope ?
A mature filter media is clearly best but obviously not a ‘rescue’ option
How big is your main pond please? I have a 2000 litre and the guy at my local koicentre said 7 is the max capacity for a 2000litre pond but his main pond is smaller than my pond and theres about 50 in there, theres more fish than water, and in the vats
My main pond is 5000 litres and there’s 17 medium sized fish in there. Ranging between 30 and 40 cm. Roughly the same as your 7 in 2000. In mine there’s too many really but in my view it comes down to three main factors: 1. maintaining carbonate levels - smaller pond relative to weight of fish means less absolute level of CO3 buffer so you need to be watching carbonate hardness closely in summer and must use a chalk buffer or do massive water changes to maintain it. 2. The filter needs to be big enough for the fish not the pond. This means when over stocked your filter needs to be big relative to the size of pond and plenty of circulation in the pond using air. 3. Diseases will spread more quickly, and as it is outdoors you can’t stop diseases being introduced, so from April you need to vigilant and treating promptly. I get multiple breakouts every year. Hope that’s helpful, I’m sure there are additional things I’ve missed. I think your koi centre is giving you great advice
that is real expensive and time consuming experiment. underrated channel. thanks so much!
nice video keep them coming
How does hel x 13 compare to k1?
Don't really need to sedate to do a simple scrape surely. Apart from that I love your content, so helpful
Thanks. I’ve found that in order to get a decent sample the sharp edge of the slide works well but given how fish thrash around I’d much prefer to sedate a bit to avoid them hurting themselves on it. However I think what you are suggesting would make it a lot quicker and means you can do it at lower temperatures but I think then it’s a question of skill!
Great video. I am looking to make my first fluidized filter on a 550 gallon cichlid tank. This is the exact kinda of data I have been looking for.
Excellent.. thank you..
Hi. Just came across your channel. Very helpful video thank you. iam thinking of using K3 on my indoor predator pond iam just about to start building. 👍👌 + New subscriber 👍
Great video, Thank you!
Tq so much sir 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great vid of through the seasons, thank you for sharing, happy new year, best wishes, Tony, Farmoor Koi.😀
I enjoy your Koi lab videos and chapeau to your efforts to bring proper practical science into the arena of koi keeping. I wonder why you don't consider adding food grade bicarbonate of soda to help with KH. Many of us in the frozen North have extremely soft water at KH 1-2 and so water changes / run through actually degrade the KH status of the pond, rather than increasing it. At the moment, I am using 500g per week to balance 240g food daily at 13.5C water. Bought in a 25kg box, it is economical and I just tip the cups into my airlifts and let the bubbles break it up and dissolve it.
It’s a good suggestion and I did use bicarbonate of soda in one of my experiments keeping my filter going during the winter in a barrel in the garage, although not sure I mentioned it in the video. It does dissolve more easily than calcium carbonate, I wonder if there are any drawbacks as it seems less used here in the UK? I was a bit concerned about a build up of sodium in the water compared to calcium. Thanks for sharing
can you do a test between traditional sponge filter vs K1?
I've never seen a comparison like that before. It's really quite fascinating to see the biology of water working like that. It both shows the importance of taking care of your biological filter, but also the role that an air pump/bubbler plays in all of this as well. Excellent work!
Thank you
Hi Thanks for the effort. A suggestion for a experiment. If you put crushed oystershells in exess of what would bee a reasonable amount. Would this drive up KH and or pH (or other unforseen effect) or would the amount of disolving correlate to the amount of CO2 etc beeing produced. Would there be any negative effects of having a surplus amount of crushed oystershells in the water. Eirik
From a quick google it looks like 9-10 is the equilibrium for calcium carbonate in excess which would be too high for koi. However I would expect that a pond would remain some way off this level with a lower pH even if there’s plenty of oyster shells as I don’t think oyster shells are particularly fast at offering up their calcium carbonate due to a lower surface area compared to powdered chalk. I know from previous experiments that you can get the KH to over 20 degrees with an excess of chalk powder, I didn’t measure the pH though. You’d need a massive dose to do this in a pond though, which I wouldn’t advise!
Yes but there will be benneficial to stay on the positive side of kh buffering. The unansvered question is. Will there be exess buffering with a large amount of crushed oystershells. I have put in a 10kg bag of crushed shells in 40-50m3 and i messured 1 degree of kh. Eirik
Due to a mistaken choice of cat litter (do not use Catsan) in some anoxic baskets I was using, the lime caused a huge increase in GH and pH. It topped out at 36GH before I took them out and remade them with Moler Clay (Kittyfriend). The fish were unconcerned by that and by me doing a daily run through of 10% until I was down at GH10 and no longer adding vinegar to maintain a decent pH. I have lots of Oyster Shells in the side ponds in my system. They don't dissolve very much in my water which sits just short of PH8 but they do provide some more growing space for beneficial bacteria and if I fail to notice a deteriorating KH and falling pH, they will dissolve more quickly and hopefully give me a better chance of avoiding a catastrophe.
Hi. What about trickle in trickle out?
Warm water for virkon
Sounds like you need to set up a dosing system.
Love the tests and documentation. I've been looking for something like this. Can you do a test for Nitrate? Which media, if any, removes nitrates?
It’s a great question. I’ve really struggled to think of any experiment to do with nitrates as the test kits are very inaccurate and quite temperamental in my experience. Also I’ve not tended to have any issue with nitrates as plants, algae and water changes seem to keep it in check. I’ve found maintaining sufficient KH to be the more pressing constraint meaning I do plenty of water changes in managing that.
Fantastic bro, you are a star ❤
Excellent research - really helpful. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks great video
Thank you, great video
A channel worth following, thank you.
Nice video. To the point. Keep up with the good work 👍
Nice koi
Nice one 👍
Cracking video dude 🧁👍👍👍
hello sir how much k1 i need to put in 1000 liter pond ( by kg please)
Thank you for taking time to make this video. Really appreciate it.
I can’t see Tric on x40 it’s just a blare even after trying to focus. See it clearly though on x 100.
Are these level of ammonia or KO which is diluted?
Hi - not sure what you mean by KO? Did you mean KH? Having learned a bit since doing this experiment I’m now inclined to think the reason the higher ammonia levels didn’t work as fast was because the KH was all used up. I’d need to re run the experiment with a load of calcium buffer but my gut feel is that this would probably mean higher levels of ammonia could be used without issues.
I use septic tank enzymes and bacteria in my pond. I use it all Summer long too. Especially after water changes.
That sounds really interesting. What specific product do you use? I might test it but it would be essential to know the exact product to know it’s safe with fish! Thanks
So I wonder if you should heat your media/containers rather than your pond, although you still have cold water passing through the media so I’m not sure how effective that would be.
It’s an interesting idea - you could either isolate it from the pond and heat it which is effectively what I did, or have some sort of heat exchanger to cool the water down as it leaves the filter, and heat the water up as it enters- but that would pretty elaborate!
Great video , very useful , theres been a lot of questions on this in the koi social media world , now we now
Do you think it is possible to jumpstart your koi fish aquarium media by using it in an aquarium first? I'm just wondering if you could get the media started in a heated aquarium and then transfer it slowly into pond filtration for Koi. 😊
Yes definitely but you need to bear in mind a couple of key things. Whilst you will speed up the growth of the bacteria in the heated aquarium, once they are cooled down in the pond they will work much more slowly than they did on the aquarium so it will still take a long time to build up the necessary level of bacteria ready for the pond - but it will certainly help, particularly over winter where they would otherwise be dormant or dying back. You will need to do water changes or alternatively regularly add calcium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate to give the bacteria enough carbonate to feed their growth as well as ammonia. From my own experience I’d say you’d need grow them to for about 2-3 months to be making a noticeable impact. I found even having kept my established bacteria warm and fed over winter I still had a nitrite pickup in May time - koi eat obscene amounts of food!
Great growth bud well done 👍
Thanks for your videos and your time Are you familiar with the anoxic filtration ? And if you do?What do you think about the anoxic system Thanks David
Hi - I’ve read about the concept but haven’t put into practice. Sounds interesting though. May be one for a future experiment!
Very intresting video thanks for sharing 👍🐟
You use boiling water to dissolve verkon then add pond water to it and let it cool
Cracking video 🧁💯👌👍👍👍
Excellent video. These types of experiments do help to build up a picture exactly what these products do. I really like your approach.
It's definitely carbonate depletion. Nitrate can be built up in very high concentration before it's dangerous for fish. I remember I used to struggle with nitrite due to carbonate depletion, so now I add baking soba every 2 days or so. I know high concentration of nitrate also affect my koi feeding behavior so that's also another safety switch for nitrate. Another note with adding buffer is the pH will only stay at 8.3 if there is calcium in the water too, so you have to do water change to replace the minerals, too.
just subscribed
Hi , can you count how much k3 i needed if daily feed is 8kg food and 2.8kg protein
Hi - that’s a pretty big operation you’ve got going on there. At face value the experiment I ran would suggest 11,000 litres of k3 - which sounds excessive. However something that I’ve subsequently been working on is the scope for food to be incorporated into the fish and so food consumed doesn’t equal waste produced. From my wider reading this can be as little as 10% in high growth species such as salmon. So if you are feeding at that rate and the fish are all growing strongly, as opposed to simply maintaining their size, the amount of k3 needed could be as little as 1,100litres. Would need to be very heavily arrested too. As it sounds like a professional arrangement you have I would suggest going with k1 which is twice as effective per volume and also consider using other high surface media such as siporax along side.
my tosai grow 4-5cm in a month..feed with high protein
Interestingly the kujaku, which grew about 2cm has continued to grow at a pace since I put it in the main pond, at least 2cm per month since and the temp has been 18/19. I can imagine that Increasing temp and pure growth food could deliver 4-5cms. Good work on getting that sort of success with you fish. Thanks
Sadly the design of this experiment doesn't actually tell us anything about the relationship of koi growth and temperature. I'm very curious to see an experiment designed with several groups of similar fish (same starting age, breed, type, length etc) and then having them grow on in different temperatures (16, 18, 20, 22, 24).
Yes very fair point
Nice review 🧁👍👍👍