To keep the koi from getting into the filter, a plate had to be constructed in front of the skimmer.
To make the skimmer’s separation plate, a template and rotozip are used to make the slots in a stainless steel plate for water flow
-Although it looks like Mat is hard at work, he is actually showing James what needs to be done and James spend the next few hours carefully cutting the slots into the plates.
One of the fnished skimmer plates:
Due to a successful breeding year, even with a bad economy, we are forced to expand our keeping area for our tosai.
A few years ago we invested in six 2250 gal fiberglass tanks for an off site project. This project was not able to be completed and the tanks have been waiting to be incorporated into a full system since then.
Over the last 20+ years, Mat has been designing and building filter systems and for the last 10 years have utilized Kaldness K1 as his main bio media with various different mechanical separation techniques prior the kaldness chamber.
This experience, coupled with sales of other manufactures’ off the shelf filters, culminated in the proto type you see in the picture below. This is also the filter going to be used on the fiberglass tanks, seen above.
There are 3 prerequisites for this filter design
1. The dimensional design for this filter is to be fed with a standard 4” pipe, with an incoming water velocity of 2ft per sec or a flow rate of 4700 gal/hr. This is the minimum recommended for self cleaning of a pipe section.
2. The biological capacity for this filter is 1 ½ kilo of food per day with a peak ammonia levels of .025 mg/l
3. The filter must pass thru a 32inch opening
Over the past few weeks, we have been sorting through all of the small koi that were being quarantined in our new Growout Greenhouse. Now that the sorting is done, the real “growing out” has begun. The water temperature is set for a nice, warm 78 degrees. In each of the Polygeyser tanks, the koi have been grouped together based on size, then the koi have been weighed to determine the amount of food for optimal growth. At the beginning of the trial last week, the koi were 6-8″.
Not only are these koi in growout, they are also part of a trial here at the farm. We are testing different types of food to see how the various foods affect the growth of the koi. We are only doing this trial in the Polygeyser systems so that the filtration is not a variable in our trial. Each week these koi are weighed and measured, and then the food quantity is adjusted. Because we are trying to acheive maximum growth through many small feedings throughout the day, it is imperative that the water quality is tested each day.
Below are photos of some of the koi in our growout.
We have been posting about the two different types of filtration in our new Grow-out Greenhouse. Today’s post will explain our Polygeyser setup. For this particular filtration system, we bought an off the shelf filter with no pre-filtration. However, instead of using the suction pressure it is gravity fed. According to the manual, we can feed up to 10lbs of food per day per system. While this is a smaller footprint than the vortex system, the price tag is higher at about $3800. The big advantage to this system is that it automatically backwashes using a small amount of air. Both the vortex system and the Polygeyser are both air driven to dump dirt and water. They are both set to do this automatically six times a day. This is how we attempted to level the playing field between the two different systems.
In an earlier post, we showed the copper tubing running underground from our new Grow-out Greenhouse to our Nisai Greenhouse. We have just finished the installation of the new heat exchanger in the Nisai Greenhouse. Whereas the heat exchangers in the new Grow-out Greenhouse are external to the water, this heat exchanger is set inside the filter pit. It is a series of coils that are filled with the warmed water, which heats the surrounding pond water. We installed it in the filter pit instead of the actual tank just so that the koi would not injure themselves if they brushed up against. The system we are heating contain our BETN koi and our 555 koi.
![Grid[1]](http://www.qualitykoi.com/koi-fish-blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Grid1.jpg "Grid[1]")
As promised, we’d like to share some details about the different filtration systems we are using in our Grow-out Greenhouse. This greenhouse is designed for the growing of our small high-quality koi. These koi were chosen during their harvest this fall. There are 12, 10’ diameter fiberglass tanks, approximately 1800 gallons each. Every set of two tanks has its own filtration. Three sets of two tanks are using our new vortex system and the other three sets of tanks are using Polygeysers. Today’s post will go into more details about the vortex system.
For the filtration, we utilized two vortexes for each system. One is setup as a true gravity fed vortex for settlement (mechanical filtration). We have branched off the waste line to an airlift so that we can do periodic automated dumps of the accumulated solids. This will allow us to do set water changes per day. The other one has been adapted for a central aeration source to mobilize K1 (moving bed, media). This design resulted in a very small amount of air to drive 13 cubic feet of K1. We have learned that a cylinder shape uses the least amount of air to mobilize K1. Lastly, with the 13 cubic feet of K1, we should be able to feed 4lbs of food per day per system.
To summarize, the vortex system allowed us to purchase an off the shelf stand filter and retrofit it to use K1. This was advantageous due to its low cost of approximately $2000. The disadvantage is that it takes up a larger footprint. For your pond setup, space is something important to consider.
Keep an eye out for the post that details our Polygeyser setup…
Since 2002, we have built seven greenhouses here at the farm. Each and every greenhouse is unique in its design and function since we are always looking for ways to become more efficient and productive. Each time we build a greenhouse we learn…we learn the good and the bad from previous designs. In our newest greenhouse, we’ll call it our Grow-out Greenhouse, we designed it as a sort of experiment to test two different types of filtration systems. It’s Vortex vs. Polygeyser!!
There are 12, 10’ diameter tanks in total. Every set of two tanks is its own system with separate filtration. Three sets of two tanks are using the vortex system and the other three sets of tanks are using the Polygeyser system. The water quality will be tested and recorded routinely, along with feeding amounts. We’ll also record the growth of the koi.
The purpose for using two different filtration systems in the same greenhouse is to compare an “off the shelf” system (Polygeyser) to a system that has been modified and retrofitted (vortex). We are very interested to learn the variances between these two systems and of course, we will fill you in along the way! Keep your eye out for posts with more information on these two systems.
Polygeyser System
Vortex System