# Growing on pond with DIY Shower



## Ed Seeley (12 Aug 2008)

Thought I'd share some pics and info on my Growing on/Quaratine set up.  I've just changed the filter to a newish type that is pretty revolutionary as it needs no cleaning.  It's called a shower filter and it's basically a trickle filter on steroids.  The idea is that you chuck lots of water over it and the special filter media (a baked ceramic media not unlike giant Siporax) encourages large bacterial colonies that break everything down.  The cascading nature of the filter also means large quantities of ammonia are gassed off rather than being turned into nitrate.  Before you ask no-one's really sure how it works, but it does.  A guy I know who runs a koi farm has these on his concrete ponds and they are ridiculously over-stocked yet the fish grow like you wouldn't believe.  He has two year old fish well-over 60cm long (I believe the biggest was 80cm) which are phenomenol growth rates.  Anyway onto some pictures,

The pond in the greenhouse with new filter.





Close up of the filter.  I know it doesn't look much, but I saved the money as the media's very, very expensive!!!




For more info on Bakki Showers look at this article, http://www.yumekoi.com/articles/bkks_2003.pdf


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## aaronnorth (12 Aug 2008)

how much is the media?


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## Ed Seeley (12 Aug 2008)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> how much is the media?



Â£140 per 10kg Box.  I've got 20kgs in the filter.    And if it works half as well as I've seen it work on other ponds then It'll be worth every single penny!!!


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## aaronnorth (13 Aug 2008)

geez, no wonder you went DIY!


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## Themuleous (14 Aug 2008)

Whats so special about it that you have to pay that price?!?!?!


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## aaronnorth (14 Aug 2008)

Read the link   



> Why the four tier showers? Well, the
> advantages are numerous. The media
> used in these systems is a man made
> ceramic material that is baked at 130oC,
> ...


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## Themuleous (14 Aug 2008)

Yeh I read the link 

Isn't this what ceramic media does as well, if given enough oxygen?  Crusted pumice might work in the same way?  Hell akadama is extremely porous!

Sam


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## aaronnorth (14 Aug 2008)

this claims to be more porous! If they gave statistics then it would be better


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## Themuleous (14 Aug 2008)

At Â£140 per 10kg thats a hell of a lot of porosity!!!


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## aaronnorth (14 Aug 2008)

If you do a DIY it isnt that bad, considering what size filter you would need. It depends how much 10kg does!


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## Ed Seeley (14 Aug 2008)

I agree Sam and I was highly sceptical before I saw the results.

The manufacturers claim that the very high temperatures the ceramic is fired at produces the highly porous nature of the material but that the media also produces 'Far-red' light that helps break down the waste.  I doubt this claim, but this stuff works like magic.  I've seen it running on ponds where the simply suck the water and koi waste from the bottom of the pond and shove it over these showers and the waste is broken down completely.  You never have to clean them out.  All you do is change some of the water every week and many people have this done automatically as a trickle overflow.  What you end up with is a completely maintenance free pond - except for feeding and enjoying!  What's more the water quality using this is _better_ than with most conventional filters!  The growth of the koi, especially when couple with the soft water koi prefer is amazing.  Some people actually get more growth than the breeders in Japan do in the mud ponds!  

As to the price, when looking at a new build koi pond then these are only slightly more than the main alternative (a filter called a nexus) and this needs cleaning and an air pump running continuously.  You also need more plumbing and UVs and other things with them.  My pond since adding the shower is perfectly clear.  The two main down sides are that it needs a decent pump to get enough water to the height of them and it cools the pond down if left in the open so you can't use it on outside ponds without enclosing it.

Comparing the price to say sintered glass then 1 litre of Ehiem Substrat Pro costs Â£12.95.  10kg of BHM is 35l so that'd be Â£453.25 in sintered glass!  Cheap at half the price!!!!   

Needless to say my next pond will be shower filtered!


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## Themuleous (14 Aug 2008)

Haha when you put it like that, its a bargain!!!

Maintenance free ponds sound quality, if and when I get one. Worth remembering.

Sam


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## Ed Seeley (19 Aug 2009)

Thought it was about time I updated this as I've made a few changes and moved a few fish outside now.

In the Spring I photographed and moved some of the koi out into the main pond.  I must apologise for the horrendous pics.  The pond was very green and this was after a 75% water change!

First of all the ones staying in the QT that I photographed.
Tancho Kohaku.



Hi Showa



Shiro Utsuri




Now the ones that were moved out.
Sanke



Kohaku



Tancho Showa



Shiro Utsuri



Yamabuki Ogon



And finally my favourite, my original Koi-UK showa




This spring it became apparent that my QT system wasn't working as well as it has been.  Tried rearranging the shower boxes to lower the height and improve the flow but I don't still didn't think the flow was good enough.  So at the National I bought an Aquamax 12,000 to treble the flow to just under 12,000lph.

Then it looked like this,




At the start of the holidays though it was clear that while this has really helped (the green water cleared in a couple of days) it hasn't completely solved the problem.

After investigating the filter it was clear that there was a lot of dirt in the shower, especially the bottom tiers where the BHM was just sat on the base of the container.  These bottom containers also sloped backwards so there was some water in there where dirt settled out.  So I needed to make sure that all the BHM was not on a solid base.  How I've done this is to make a couple of new tiers and then the ones I've already made will slot into the base boxes giving me an open space underneath.  I've also used bricks on the frame to tilt the shower trays forwards so the water doesn't collect.

This time I've decided to simply drill 60mm holes rather than make a filter grid base like last time for ease and as the grid tends to collect blanketweed.  It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference.
First hole drilled,




All the holes drilled and waiting for the edges to be trimmed off neatly with a craft knife,




And then all set up again with extra holes drilled in the spray bar too,




And a close-up of the bricks which support the back of the trays much more evenly.




You can see the double tops of the two original tiers now stacked together with the new boxes now maiking up the upper tier.

It's only cost me about Â£10 for 5 boxes to be delivered to my house!  Only problem is I still need another 10kg of BHM!!!!

Finally a few shots of the fish enjoying their refurbished home!


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## vauxhallmark (19 Aug 2009)

Gorgeous fish!!

So what was the growth rate like - were you pleased with it?

Mark


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## Ed Seeley (19 Aug 2009)

vauxhallmark said:
			
		

> Gorgeous fish!!
> 
> So what was the growth rate like - were you pleased with it?
> 
> Mark



Thanks Mark.

The growth rate's been pretty good.  The fish that were transeferred out to the pond ranged from 54cm the sanke) to 33cm (a shusui) with the average about 40cms.

What has been more amazing though is the growth this summer.  I haven't had a measure up yet (and probably won't until the autumn) but some of the smaller fish I've put in seem to have doubled in size this year.  I think the only thing holding their growth back is that I'm not feeding enough!  When I'm here I'm feeding up to 7 times a day and they still want more!  I need an automatic feeder for when I'm working.


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## aaronnorth (19 Aug 2009)

how does the media not fall through the holes?

I love the setup & fish, i am getting more into ponds :?


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## Ed Seeley (19 Aug 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> how does the media not fall through the holes?
> 
> I love the setup & fish, i am getting more into ponds :?



Thanks!  This is nothing much to look at; it's all about function rather than form!  And it functions pretty well!!!!

The Bacteria House Media is way too big to fall through the holes!  Each piece is about 40cms long and about 8-10cms in diameter.  They only just fit into the boxes.  The first few pictures show the shower with K1 filter media in which was only in for a couple of weeks.  I had to use filter matting to keep that in place and it soon got filthy.


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## aaronnorth (20 Aug 2009)

Ed Seeley said:
			
		

> aaronnorth said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



haha, i was thinking of aquarium filter media size (well, a bit larger)


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## Behold (20 Aug 2009)

Why not build this in to a wooden housing and work it in the main pond rather than in a tent? whats the reason/benifit???


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## Ed Seeley (20 Aug 2009)

Behold said:
			
		

> Why not build this in to a wooden housing and work it in the main pond rather than in a tent? whats the reason/benifit???



This is a totally different system to my main pond and functions as a quarantine system.  It also runs about 5 or more degrees higher temperature than my main pond so is far better at growing young fish on than my pond.

The advantages of having it in a greenhouse (the tent-like bits are bubble-wrap on the inside of the greenhouse for extra insulation) is the free heat from the warm greenhouse environment.  This pond runs at 25-30 degrees during the summer and is heated to 18 degrees through the winter.  If you put a growing on pond into a wooden structure then the fish don't get sunlight and their colours will fade/change.  You need a metal halide to counter this, or just hope their colours will come back when they get moved back outside.


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## Behold (22 Aug 2009)

I meant to wooden house the filter to tidy it up so its not an eyesore but if its in the tent its not an issue as noone sees it. 

If thats a Quarantine tank how big is the pond......


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## Ed Seeley (22 Aug 2009)

The main pond's a medium size really, 3,500 gallons.  It's detailed in this thread, http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=105.


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## mr. luke (16 Oct 2009)

Are you finding that this filter lives up to its huge claims?
I imagine that if it does, it will work phenominaly well on a tropical pond


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## Ed Seeley (16 Oct 2009)

mr. luke said:
			
		

> Are you finding that this filter lives up to its huge claims?
> I imagine that if it does, it will work phenominaly well on a tropical pond



All this and more!

I'll give you some examples and some pics!

In June I managed to get 4 young kumonryu (Black and white mirror scaled carp) from Koi-UK to grow on in my pond.  This took my stocking levels to 14 fish in only 600 gallons and the largest were over 40cm at the start of the summer.

The kumonryu were sized from 20 to 26cm in June and by the time I bowled them up and measured them in later September that had all put on 11 or 12cms growth in only 12 weeks!  This meant the largest had reached 37cm and the smallest had made 32cm.  Not bad for a little puddle, lots of food and good temperatures.

As for maintenance, I do a water change at least once a week (That means I open a valve and the waste water is pumped onto the garden, then a float valve tops the pond back up).  The media's much cleaner since I upped the flow rate, but that water is still so murky I can't see the bottom - but that's not a problem as I just want them to grow!

Here's a few before and after pics of the kumonryu,


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## mr. luke (20 Oct 2009)

I dont know pond fish much at all but they seem like phenominal growth rates for any fish!
Maybe coupled with a smaller trickle filter for water clarification would clear the murkiness if its ever an issue =]


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## Dan Crawford (20 Oct 2009)

Nice one Ed, they are stunning and that is some super growth! nice work.

I've filled my new pond so i'll be tapping you up for more advice, 6m x 3m x 1.2m deep and about 21,600 l./4758 gal


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## Ed Seeley (20 Oct 2009)

mr. luke said:
			
		

> I dont know pond fish much at all but they seem like phenominal growth rates for any fish!
> Maybe coupled with a smaller trickle filter for water clarification would clear the murkiness if its ever an issue =]



Showers are designed to pass all the solids over them and purify the water but leave the fines alone.  To be honest if I put a conventional foam or floss filter in I'd need to clean it daily!  I am toying with fitting a static K1 prefilter to it that will clear the water overnight, but then I'd have to clean it!!!  At the moment I only have to change the water every week or so and then the clarity improves.  

Actually there's quite a train of thought with koi that clear water is not the best thing for them; especially when growing them at high temperatures like this.  Their colours can bleach and be damaged if the fish can't get some shade.  On the other hand if they don't get enough sunlight their colours can fade and recede!  With turbid water they can choose how much sunlight they get and keep them looking soft and youthful!



			
				Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> Nice one Ed, they are stunning and that is some super growth! nice work.
> 
> I've filled my new pond so i'll be tapping you up for more advice, 6m x 3m x 1.2m deep and about 21,600 l./4758 gal



Cheers mate.  I'm pleased and their body shapes are looking good too which is great.  

That sounds like a proper pond mate!  Are you going for mixed pond fish or just koi?  I have a design on the drawing board for my new house that can run and keep itself clean automatically if you're interested?!


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