Reprinted with permission from Water Gardening Magazine

If you could magically jump onto an airplane bound for Japan and attend a koi show, the majority of the fish entered would be kohaku. If you could then go and visit the ponds of some serious hobbyists, the majority of the fish in their collections would be kohaku.

There are other sought after fish with more elaborate color combinations, red white and black for instance, that are more complex or elaborate, yet the kohaku remains the favorite of both breeders and collectors alike. Dr. Kuroki, the founder of organized koi, suggested that the majority of fish in anyone’s collection should be kohaku. Is this because kohaku are red and white like the flag of Japan? Maybe. It’s more likely, however, that in their apparent simplicity kohaku embody that aspect of the Zen-aesthetic that is found in so many things Japanese. To put it another way, less is often more.

Essentially, a kohaku is a white fish with red blocks of color dispersed on various parts of the body. Whenever a koi has randomly placed chunks of color on its body, we refer to the fish as having a “pattern,” and each of the color groupings is referred to as a “step.” In Japanese, the word for pattern is moyo, and there are several different possibilities.

A kohaku having one large, continuous red pattern is said to have ippon hi, and if that singular pattern is lightning shaped the fish is then described as having an inazuma pattern. If you remember our counting terms from the last issue, the rest is easy. A nidan kohaku is one with two steps of color, a sandan has three, a yondan has four, and a godan has five. I’ve never seen kohaku with six or seven steps, so it is most likely that they are culled out before sale.

Of all the possibilities, serious koi collectors prefer kohaku with sandan and yondan patterns. However, what should the rest of us be looking for when we purchase kohaku? Before attempting to answer this question, I’d like to suggest that you buy your fish with the mind set of a student. Yes, you want to enjoy the fish in your pond, but you should also study them so as to learn and to become a smarter consumer.

First of all, fish are very much like people: some are long, others short; some have great figures, others don’t; some have great skin, others don’t. Then there are those rare individuals who have all the right components in all the right places at just the right time. For example, some actors peak when they are children. A few manage to maintain their looks and careers into adulthood.

So it is with koi. Some are beautiful only when they’re small, others only when they reach mid-life, and then there are the rare ones that achieve and maintain both beauty and quality well into their later years. Again, it’s simplistic, but this helps explain why some kohakus go for only $50 while others can cost as much as $50,000. Let’s see if we can break this all down by parts.

BODY: The body shape of a koi is determined primarily by gender; however, when they are still under two years of age, it can be difficult if not impossible for a non-breeder to determine the sex of a koi. Usually, though, the odds are high that fish selected for sale at this point in the growth cycle will be male. Why? Males have more intense coloring when they’re young and are therefore more attractive. Males usually grow up to be thinner than females, which is not desirable in a fish that the owner hopes to eventually enter into competition. For a pond fish, it makes no difference whatsoever. Remember that most koi come from Japan where the typical consumer is looking for s show-worthy fish; ergo, it makes sense to sell off young males early on. Female koi usually grow longer in length than males and have much more voluptuous bodies. In human terms, we’re not looking for a Barbie doll figure – the ideal koi will have a shape reminiscent of women at the turn of the century. Remember, thin hasn’t always been in.

COLOR & SKIN: If you live near a paint store, go and get as many color swatches for red and white as you can. If you have an art supply store near by as well, consider buying a color wheel or book on color theory. This is one of those areas where the study of kohaku seems simple (it’s just a red and white fish, right?) but can be truly complex.

Let’s start with white. Dr. Kuroki, the man who literally wrote the book on koi appreciation, said that the white of a kohaku should be “snow white.” But what if you don’t live in an area where there’s snow? What if, like me, you live in a big city where the snow is mixed with soot, etc.? How white is snow? If you talk to artists about white, they’ll differentiate between a hard white, which probably has a slight touch of blue in it, and a soft white, which probably has just a little touch of yellow added. One of my teachers, Ron Goforth, suggests looking for a white that matches whole milk. Now there’s something we can all relate to. The quality of a kohaku’s white is extremely important because it is the canvas upon which the red moyo are placed. Imagine a Picasso line drawing done on dirty or cheap yellowy paper. Yuch!

Next comes red, another color that at first seems simple. Imagine being able to get a sample of every kind of red sports car available and lining them up. What are the odds that all of the reds will be the same? None that would entice me to place a bet – that’s for sure! So look at your color samples or your color wheel. Find pure red and then put those that have blue added to the right and those that have varying degrees of yellow added to the left.

As you go to the left, you’ll eventually encounter a tone of red referred to as persimmon. Persimmon is the color of red that the Japanese aesthetic deems beautiful, appealing and desirable. Also be aware that persimmon colored hi or beni will deepen in intensity as the fish ages. This all works out to result in a fish that is peaking when it is older and bigger – not younger and smaller. Bluish red, also referred to as a “hard” red, is less desirable and often ends up being exported. This is not to say that these fish can’t be beautiful. They can and often are quite lovely, and they do appeal to a western aesthetic/appreciation for this kind of red. If you decide to compete in koi shows, however, persimmon is the shade of red to look for.

Finally, we want to consider the koi’s “skin” quality. Think of a child’s skin. Next, think of a middle-aged person’s skin. Finally, think of an old person’s skin. The tissue that we see growing both on a fish’s scales and surrounding them is referred to as its “skin,” and its overall condition plays a great factor in determining its overall beauty. Ideally, the skin of our chosen kohaku should have a noticeable sheen or shine to it. Also referred to as luster, the Japanese call this characteristic tsuya. If you study the skin of a child or young person, you’ll notice that it seems to glow and to do so without the need of cosmetics or creams. This type of youthful glow is what we want to see on the skin of our koi as well.

PATTERN: In selecting kohaku, it is easy to be tempted by the one that has what appears to be the prettiest pattern; however, here’s where patience, study and knowledge can help you win out.

For starters, look for balance. Hold out your hand and use it to cover up your view of the front half of the fish so that you can study the rear portion. Then do the opposite. Are the front and rear balanced? Quite often this not the case. Many of the fish coming to America are front heavy, meaning that the moyo closest to the head is large, but those to the rear are disproportionately smaller.

Also check to see that the red patterning wraps around the sides of the koi, preferably to the lateral line that runs horizontally down the middle of each koi’s side from gill plate to tail. As a kohaku grows, the white area will outpace the red ones, and as the back broadens, a too small red pattern will come to look weak.

Finally, the ideal kohaku will have a small white area between the last red pattern and the tail fin. Known as an odome, this “tail stop” mimics the white nose at the koi’s other end. The key to pattern is to look for one that has overall balance and harmony.

Each of the red moyo should possess uniform sashi and nice crisp kiwa. When forward edge red scales are inserted underneath white scales, the translucency of the white scales will create the illusion of a pink leading edge. This pink edge, or sashi, should be uniform in width and depth. Also, if the first step of the pattern has sashi, so should all the others, so pay special attention to the last pattern. As a fish matures, this pink edge will disappear and result in a crisp edge. When looking at the side and rear edges of each pattern, we want to see clean, sharp edges, a quality referred to as kiwa.

It is important that a kohaku have red on the head, but not too much. In an ideal world, the red on the head will have the rounded shape of a shoehorn (known as a kutsubera pattern) that rests just above, but not passing too far beyond the eyes. If possible, try to avoid red that covers one or both eyes and definitely avoid red that covers the entire face, a condition known as menkaburi.

A white nose and mouth is considered to be extremely important although it’s acceptable to have a little bit of red on the lips or a red dot on the nose.

Try to avoid fish that have random red scales or clusters that are too small to be considered a pattern. The former are called tobi hi and the latter, niban hi, and they are each detractions from the koi’s overall beauty. Another anomaly to avoid is what’s called a shimi, or “volunteer sumi.” These black freckles, which can be as large as an individual scale, often appear in hard water conditions. For some unknown reason, kohaku are far more prone to shimis than any of the other varieties.

CONCLUSIONS: My late wife, Millie, used to say that one can never own too many pairs of shoes. As the more intense koi keeper of the family, I’ve come to feel the same way about kohaku. It’s gotten to the point where my friends in the local koi community tease me about it. Studying and learning to appreciate kohaku is a great way to avoid future mistakes with the purchase of their more expensive cousins, the sanke and showa. These varieties also share kohaku qualities but with the sometimes confusing addition of black patternings as well. As we’ll learn in the next two issues of Water Gardening, good sankes and good showas start with good kohaku patterns.

NEW TERMS

Moyo (moy-oh) – pattern
Ippon hi (ee-pohn hee) – describes a kohaku with one large, continuous red pattern
Inazuma (ee-nah-zoo-mah) – ippon hi in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Nidan (nee-dahn) – having a pattern with two steps/moyo
Sandan (sahn-dahn) – having a pattern with three steps/moyo
Yondan (yohn-dahn) – having a pattern with four steps/moyo
Godan (go-dahn) – having a pattern with five steps/moyo
Kutsubera (kuht-soo-behr-ah) – a shoehorn shaped red pattern on the head
Sashi (sah-shee) – found on the leading edge of a step, sashi describes the pinkish color that occurs
when white scales overlap red ones.
Kiwa (kee-wah) – describes the sharpness and clarity of a step’s trailing edge.
Odome – (oh-doh-may) the white space occurring between the last red step and the beginning of the tail fin
Tobi hi (toh-bee hee) – Random bits of red, usually one or two scales in size, on the white area. Undesirable.
Niban hi (nee-bahn hee) – Small groupings of red scales that aren’t large enough to be considered
blocks of pattern. Undesirable.
Menkaburi (men-kah-boo-ree) – The term translates as mask and refers to gosanke having hi that totally covers the head and face of the fish.
Shimi(s) (shee-mee) – Specks of black that sometimes appear on kohaku. Undesirable.
Tsuya (tsoo-yah) – Describes the sheen or luster seen on good quality koi skin.

©2004 all rights reserved to Bob Brudd and Water Gardening Magazine

Reprinted with permission from Water Gardening Magazine

I know that I’m dating myself here, but when I was back in the first grade, our teacher taught us the basics of reading using a series of primers that told the simple saga of Dick, Jane and a dog named Spot. Many years later when I was taking education courses I learned that the purpose of every primer is to introduce young learners to the Dolch 220 basic sight words. It is essential that these words be learned by rote, not only because they make up a sizable percentage of all print matter, but because they serve as the building blocks that enable us to decipher the rest of the printed word.

The same can be said about the language of koi, namely that it is essential to learn some basic vocabulary words and concepts before moving on to more advanced terminology.

The lingua franca of koi is Japanese in origin, and although that in itself would seem to be intimidating, it really doesn’t have to be. Luckily, the phonetics of Japanese is relatively simple and repeatable. If you ever studied Spanish in school, you know that the each of the vowels has only one pronunciation. Therefore, with a few minutes of practice, anyone can do a passable job of reading Spanish aloud in an understandable manner. You may not understand anything you’re saying, but the point is that it sounds pretty much like Spanish.

Japanese is very much this way as well, so with a little work on your part, you too can sound like a koi veteran in no time. If you decide to get serious about learning these terms, make yourself some flash cards with the words you’re trying to learn on one side and definitions on the other. It works for me.

Pronunciation Guide

In Japanese, our letter “i” is pronounced “ee”
In Japanese, our letter “a” is pronounced “ah”
In Japanese, our letter “e” is pronounced “eh” as in Ed
In Japanese, our letter “u” is pronounced “oo” as in cool or book
In Japanese, our letter “o” is pronounced “oh”

General Fish Terms

It is important to be able to count to five in Japanese when learning to talk the talk of koi. An amazing number of terms utilize these five words so it will be useful to commit them to memory.

Ichi (ee-chee) – One. A breeder often refers to his best fish as “ichiban,” which means number one.

Ni (nee) – Two. A two year old koi is called a nisai (nee-sigh). A one year old, by the way, is called
a tosai (toe-sigh). I don’t know why it isn’t an ichisai.

San (sahn) – Three. Yep, a sansai is a three year old fish.

Yon (yohn) – Four. Yes, yonsai refers to a four year old.

Go (go) – Five. You can figure this one out all by yourself.

Colors

When you consider that wild Japanese carp were either dark brown or deep blue, the multi-colored varieties of koifish that we all enjoy today represent a miracle of genetic mutation and remarkable breeding skills.

Shiro (sheer – oh) – This is the Japanese word for white, and because it acts as the canvas for so many varieties of koi, it is impossible to overstate its importance. When you buy koi that
has shiroji (white ground), the quality of the white sets the standard for all the other
colors, especially reds and blacks. The very best koi have a quality comparable to
to the color of milk.

Hi (hee) – This is a general term for red and probably the most commonly used.

Aka (ah – kah) – Another general term for red.

Beni (beh – knee) – This is a term that not only denotes red, but infers good quality. Toshio Sakai, a great modern breeder, tells students of koi that to identify good beni, one should look at the
red of a fish in the same way you’d look at a paint job on a custom car. The more
coats of paint, the more depth. More depth equates to better beni.

Sumi (soo – mee) – This is the Japanese word for ink. Keep in mind that for thousands of years the people of Asia have ground their own ink and mixed it with water for the purpose of writing
or creating sumi-e (ink paintings). When you buy fish with sumi, you want the black
to have great depth and gloss similar to that of a pool of ink. When combined with
another word, e.g. katazumi, the initial consonant “s” often changes to a “z.”

Ki (kee) – Yellow, as in kigoi.

Midori (mee – dohr – ee) – Green.

Ai (aye) – Indigo blue. This is a blue that is exceptionally dark. There is one type of sumi, for example, that is referred to as ai-zumi because it has a bluish quality to it.

Sora (soh – ruh) – Sky. A soragoi is a koi with a bluish gray color.

Body Parts

As you read various books and magazines about koi, you’ll encounter terms that describe varying aspects of a fish’s body parts.

Kuchi (koo – chee)- Lips. The term kuchibeni, for example, refers to a fish with red lips or “lipstick.”

Te (the) – In Japanese, this word means hand, as in karate. On a koi it refers to the fish’s pectoral fins, which are used in a hand-like manner for fine maneuvering.

Hana (hah – nah) – Nose. Hanabeni or hanazumi describes a red or black marking, often dot shaped, found on the tip of a koi’s nose.

Men (men) – Face. When we eventually get to an article about the showa variety of koi, we’ll spend more time discussing this feature of a koi’s anatomy.

Kata (kah – tah)Shoulder. When buying koi of the sanke variety, it’s important to look for katazumi, which is a black marking on the shoulder of the fish. The shoulder is the area directly behind the head and above the pectorals (te).

Ozutsu (oh – zoot -sue) Tail tube. As you look at a mature koi from front to rear you’ll notice that the fish is widest at the shoulder. As you move your eye towards the rear, the fish tapers down and narrows until it reaches the tail fin itself. In good quality fish it is important that the last few inches of the fish’s body, the ozutsu, be thick and well developed because it reflects strength and power.

Our next three articles will deal with kohaku, showa and sanke. In Japan this group of koi is referred to as gosanke, which means “big three.” Between now and then, I hope that you study your new vocabulary terms so that we can continue to build on them and become ever more fluent in the language of koi.

©2004 all rights reserved to Bob Brudd and Water Gardening Magazine

    Preparing fish for a show

    Netting, Tubbing, and Bagging Techniques

    Show Transportation Tips

Preparing fish for a show

There are no secret water or food additives you can use a few months or weeks before the show to greatly enhance your fish. There are many that will spoil your fishes’ appearance.

DO NOT feed color enhancers/high protein foods within two months of a show

DO NOT add medications or give koi treatments within two months of a show

DO NOT feed your fish for 5-7 days before a show

DO provide the highest possible water quality at all times, but especially two months before a show: Increase water changes, pond/filter maintenance, and reduce amount fed two months before the show. Cull collection as early as possible.

DO study, check, and measure your fish for peak condition. Decide which fish you plan to bring to a show: Shoot for peak development, top of size range, and avoid bringing too many fish or fish that will just compete against each other.

Netting, Tubbing, and Bagging Techniques

A proper koi net is necessary to minimize the risk of damage to koi. It should be shallow and the netting smooth and non-abrasive. The koi net should be as large as possible (depending on koi)

The goal is to guide the koi with the net into a tub without touching. Take it slowly and easy. It is easier to catch fish in a pond with corners. Approach the koi with the net from the front getting the net under its head and gently guiding it into a tub. Touch the tail or move quickly and the koi will dart or jump away. Never try to snag a koi that is trying to escape – let it go and start over.

A single person can net/guide koi into a floating tub. The rim of a large koi net is used to submerge the edge of the floating tub. The koi is then guided into the floating tub. This maneuver is easier if a second person submerges the tub. A single individual can also bring the koi in the net adjacent to a floating tank or tub. The net is controlled with one hand which has been advanced on the pole to a position near the net. The floating tank or tub is submerged with the other band and the koi is gently guided into the container. Never lift koi with the koi net!

Koi can be netted from a smaller/narrower pond without obstacles or hiding places easier. In ponds with potted water plants it might be better to remove the plants while catching koi. At times lowering the water level and or wading in the pond will make catching our koi easier. Sometimes a second koi net handler can herd koi into the net of the primary handler.

If your pond is too wide or does not lend itself to any of the above methods, a seine my be used to herd the fish into a smaller area. Koi are not caught with the seine. The mesh of the seine should be knotless and non-abrasive. The seine should be longer than the width of your pond. The width of the seine should be greater than the depth of the pond. The seine will need floats at top and weights on the bottom. Aquatic Ecosystems is a good source for custom made seines and they can help you determine size and type. I suggest getting extra floats and weights.

Koi tubs also need to be properly sized and smooth. Tilt the tub to near vertical position in the pond about half submerged. As the koi is guided into the tub tilt the tub back to horizontal with enough water to completely cover the koi but not so much as to encourage it to jump.

Koi sock nets with fine water retaining mesh are the best way to move koi from the tub into the transport bags. The koi is brought through the opening of the net head first by carefully advancing the net over the head of the koi or by manipulating the head of the koi into the net with your free hand. The koi is positioned in the middle of the net, the end of the net is closed by one hand of the holder, the other end of the net is folded over to retain the koi the hands are held tautly apart as the koi is lifted from the water. A head first exit of the koi from the sock net is preferred to avoid possible fin or scale damage. Some mucus may be lost from the skin.

Use 3 or 4 mil plastic bags for transporting koi. Double plastic bags should always be used for safety. Bag size depends upon the size of the koi. Fish should be carried horizontally. Large koi need to be carried with the bag horizontal and held tautly between two handlers.

The opening of the plastic bags should be rolled over. Use the Koi sock net to move the koi into the bag, or the fish can be moved directly from a tub. (Use one hand to direct the koi head first into the bag.) There should be enough water in the bag to float the koi as the bag is transported to its destination.

Show Transportation Tips

Get the proper equipment: You will need a “real koi catch net”, koi sock net, large plastic bags, rubber bands and a oxygen tank and regulator.

DO NOT FEED your show fish for 5 days prior. This is very important to reduce ammonia stress on your fish during transportation.

Catch your fish very GENTLY as the last thing you do before leaving home.

Transport in cool covered containers (large ice chests are ideal) to maintain constant water temperature and a darkened environment.

Ice packs may be used inside the container but OUTSIDE the fish bags to keep water cooler and fish more relaxed.

Fish should be “double bagged” with pond water and bags inflated with oxygen and securely closed with double rubber bands inside a cooler.

Be sure bags & coolers are large enough for fish to stay relaxed & unbent. No more koi per bag/cooler than can fit comfortably side by side. Usually two large koi “ 24 in. long, or 5-6 medium koi 12 inches long.

Be sure to use enough pond water to COMPLETELY cover your fish.

DO NOT put small fish in same bag/cooler with significantly larger fish.

Orient coolers so that fish ride SIDEWAYS to direction of travel.

DO NOT place coolers directly in the sun or near other sources of heat. ( i.e., over hot spot caused by exhaust side of trunk)

Reduce time of transportation by driving directly to destination.

When you arrive at your destination, open bags and gently release water and fish into the cooler. Use a koi sock net to gently net fish and transfer them into the new pond.

Oh my. Oh dear.

Either the Pond Fairy has struck again in the depths of the night, or you’ve just paid your local landscaper a wad o’ cash to combine the fatal, ineffable trio of water, plants and fish in your very own back yard. You need to know one incredibly important fact. It is central to the entire hobby of water gardening.

THERE IS NO CURE.

Once you have settled down at dusk by the side of your new pond with a glass of fine wine in one hand and a great trashy novel in the other, you become aware of a feeling you were not expecting. No, it isn’t inner peace and serenity. You need a Buddhist monastery for that, and you look lousy in saffron anyway. It’s not pride and satisfaction, either. That lasted just about until you had to pull out and rinse off that mucky filter pad on your submersible pump, and discovered one of those expensive fish the landscaper sold you dead in the skimmer looking like a live grenade. No, what you are feeling is the common malaise and unrest that all ponders feel once their current water feature is installed, paid for and running. It is the eerie and ominous, all-pervasive psychic effect of the Three Laws to which you are now, like all other water gardeners, frog fanciers and koi keepers, immutably subject. You find yourself looking at that prize rose bed and reflecting that it’s getting really tough to keep up with those darn Japanese beetles every year. The lawn is just too much trouble to keep groomed. Those annual beds are just so …tacky, somehow. Wouldn’t a perennial bed be easier? Maybe a more natural setting, with bombproof aquatics and blooming marginals? You find yourself looking at every home you visit and saying to yourself : ” I’d put the pond…there!”. Well, bucko, once The Laws have you, there is no escape, so you might as well know what you are dealing with.

The First Law:

There Is Always A Better Fish.

Yes, I know your original intent was to build a lovely, low-maintenance water feature with a minimum of critters to worry about, but that baby koi at the fish show was so cute and he really isn’t all that big. Surely the filter mat and lava rock will be able to handle the load. Oh! Look at that 2 year old fish on this website…we need something to eat all those mosquito larvae, anyway.

And so it goes. Pond people are natural enthusiasts and incurable optimists. The pond just isn’t right somehow without something to come wriggling up to the surface when you shake the can of fish food. It’s real easy to get overpopulated. And fish grow. Fast. Real fast. Which leads us naturally to…

The Second Law:

There Is Always A Better Filter.

Shortly after buying your umpteenth fish and introducing him into the pond, you realize that the population does not look happy. They are sulky and lethargic. They are not eating and they look unhappy. If you are smart and thinking ahead, you have already bought a good test kit for ammonia and nitrite, and have just found that your pond scores high on both. That lava rock at the top of the falls just isn’t doing it, folks, so it’s time to do your research. There is an answer for every filtration problem, even if you didn’t know that the question even existed. It is important to understand that there are three kinds of filters (chemical, mechanical and biological) and each has its place in The Great Swamp of Ponding.

Chemical filters (charcoal, zeolite and the like) remove chemical impurities and pollutants from the water by binding them to their own chemical structure. They are usually used in short-term or emergency situations, such as sales or show vats, but have no place in the outdoor pond. Most water gardens and koi ponds combine mechanical and bio-conversion filtration in one or more containers of varied design. Pond filtration is one of the most rapidly developing and hotly debated aspects of the hobby. Gravity-fed vs. pressurized. To UV or not to UV. Lava rock or Siporax ( or Tuffy sponges?). The choices are endless, and what may have worked for Cousin Earl in his 25,000 gallon indoor showplace will be a gurgling disaster in your 550 gallon stream and pool.

The solution is to ask questions, and never entirely believe any of the answers until you have seen them work. Find other hobbyists (look for gardening clubs, hobbyist websites like this one (gasp!), koi clubs) and pick their brains. Don’t be shy. Any experienced water gardener and koi fancier has been where you are right now, has done the fix, bought the t-shirt, and then used it to plug the leak in the hose that was supposed to be leakproof. Describe what you’ve got in a gathering of pond people, and you’ll hit 14 “bore-buttons” simultaneously. Ponders love to talk, especially about their disasters and how they fixed them. Your solution is Out There.

A caveat, if you will, before going on. Never believe a filter manufacturer when he tells you what the “capacity” of his filter is. For the safety of your critters (which become family members very quickly), cut the claims by half, and install accordingly. Your goal in filtration is to expose every molecule of water in your pond to your bio-converter at least once an hour. Make sure your pump is up to the strain and your filter and piping can handle the flow.

Oh, too much splash? Fish growing fast? No room for that lily or lotus? Ah, Grasshopper, you have just run afoul of …

The Third Law:

There Is Never Enough Water.

Almost every water gardener starts small, thinking that small size means low maintenance. This is not entirely true. A pond that is shallow will be more susceptible to wide shifts in temperature and pH, and is more subject to catastrophic reactions to pollutants and other toxic events, especially with high fish populations. Ask any ponder; almost without exception, he or she will tell you that the showplace you are viewing in her idyllic back yard is actually the fifth pond on that site (if you count the two water lilies in the muck bucket!), and if they had really been thinking during construction, they would have dug down another foot, at least.

A true pond owner is eternally greedy for gallonage. Big volumes give you stability and room for fish and plants, and if designed right, also can be made routinely almost (note the word “almost”, it’s a killer!) self-maintaining. Ponds are very much like model railroad layouts. There is generally at least one glitch needing repair, and there is always one more improvement that will make it just perfect. If a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into, you can achieve the same sense of accomplishment with a pond, which is a hole in your yard full of water that you pour money into. Your chances of drowning with a pond are marginally smaller, and you don’t have to travel to do it! A true ponder will tell you that if you are still mowing grass, you do not have enough pond.

Never be afraid to look at your current water garden and envision change. It is what this hobby is all about. See you at the next koi show!

DrBob

Pond Detective, here. It was a dark and stormy nigh…er- day, and I’d been been called pondside by a worried koi keeper. One of his fish was dead and the others were clearly distressed. His fish (who weren’t talking) had all been cleared the week before by the local Infection Police, so we both knew it wasn’t an infectious problem. Aside from alien invaders, he had a problem. My job? Detect it (Dum-da-dum-dum).

After obtaining as accurate a history as is possible, including pond cleaning, feeding, water changes, water source, filter maintenance, and testing history, I’ll quietly observe the pond and the behavior of the fish. I’ll look at the appearance of the water, at the flows for rate and direction, at the inlets to the pond and sources of aeration, and take deep sniffs of the air around the pond.
It is a quiet, kidney-shaped bare-liner pond with a small waterfall and a gentle, meandering stream. Minimal in-pond vegetation. It is edged with cobble rock; no limestone flags that I can see. I estimate its volume at about two thousand gallons with a maximum depth of 3.5 feet in the general area of the pond furthest from the falls and stream. The water has a slight green tinge, and the healthy “watermelon aroma” is absent. The 20 large koi are sluggish, and appear unhappy and clamped. They are grouped at the falls end of the pond and are not schooling. Even small noises or disturbances at the edge of the pond seem to stress them. One or two of them flash occasionally.

Hmmm. A water quality issue, eh? Well, the routine is what gets results, as my old beat sergeant used to say (before he took up surrealist bonsai). Observation complete, time for the first test.

First test: Chlorine/Chloramine. Our area relies almost entirely on the Chicago municipal water supply, obtained from Lake Michigan and depending on the season and the whims of the Water Department, heavily chlorinated. It’s a common mistake when doing water changes: a high volume change (replacement of water lost in cleaning or added during bottom cleaning with a hose-powered “vacuum”) introduced directly into the pond without aeration or use of dechlor.

Test : Real pink on Chlorine, less so on Chloramine. Preferred would have been zero (clear).

It’s also easy to fix. If there isn’t an ammonia problem, you can use sodium thiosulfate crystals or Novaqua. Amquel is a better all-round choice. I’ll warn the client that tap water needs to be treated as it goes in or his fish’s gills will look as bad as his lungs do (did I mention that he’s a two pack a day guy?) and for about the same reason.

I’m not gonna act on this one until I get more information, though. Might regret it.

Dimensional warp. Someone must have reversed the polarity of the neutron flow. Either that, or leprechauns have been doctoring my test kits with merthiolate. The area gives an existential hiccup and…

Okay. Chlorine/Chloramine negative. I guess he isn’t totally stupid. Out comes the DO meter and we do a quick read at multiple areas of the pond. A quiet pond is probably an oxygen-poor pond, and there are no air stones anywhere to be seen (our owner feels that too much water movement disturbs the oriental tranquility of the ecology, and air stones don’t look “natural”). The only air-water interfaces I see are the pond surface itself, and the smooth sheet of the gently flowing waterfall.

Test: DO 4mg/L at water temp 75 degrees at the deepest point, 5.5mg/L at the point nearest the falls and stream. We want 7.0 or better.

Restraining the urge to advise our client to take up wolverine-breeding, we send him out to purchase a competent air pump and several large air stones and hose to link them. He is also advised to upgrade his water pump to put a more vigorous flow across his falls, and to interrupt that smooth, serene sheet with a bunch of jagged rock to enhance air-water mixing. Better yet, a home-built Bakki shower hidden in the rampant trumpet vine behind his falls would work even better. Got a set of plans right here.  Serenity be damned. His fish gotta breathe!

Twit.

Blerp. Another dimensional hiccup. Someone is really messing with the time stream around here. As soon as I straighten this guy’s pond out, I am going to prod some serious buttock. Might even have to get medieval on him.( Might have to go with Morris Dancing or three-field crop rotation. If he really gets me mad, it’s the Maypole for him…)

Right. Reset again. He proudly shows me the hidden bioreactor system behind the falls feed, and his DO at 75 F. is 11mg/L. Not the oxygen, then. Pretty classy system, too, and really well-hidden. Alkalinity next. A number of reasons for this. First, he’s got a very common setup as far as basic pond construction is concerned; a bare liner bottom and no source of carbonates. Second, he’s got a flashy, high-end filter system that depends on high-efficiency media in a small space. Third, he, like most koi keepers of my acquaintance, is way overstocked for the absolute volume of his pond and is relying on his space-age bioconverter to keep up with the load. I start to do the titration and he looks at me like I come from Mars. ( his kit consists of teeny-tiny tablets in impervious foil pouches. He’s never heard of Alka-whatzit and gave up trying to test his own water when he broke a tooth trying to open one of the childproof test containers.)

Alkalinity: 12 ppm Wanted: greater than 100. Preferably 140-150. Aaarrrgh. Filter crash! Need a bunch more tests: pH: 6.8 Want: 7.5

Temp: 75 F (about 24 C) (Can’t do anything about this, but it’s important)

Total Ammonia: 5.4 mg/L (Zero would have been nice!)

Unionized ammonia: 0.18 (Yeah, what he said!)

Salt: 1.88 ppt (Whew, finally something good. That’s about 1.5 lbs. 100 gallons and should take some of the stress off the fish. Better yet, I don’t have to mess with that now, and can take direct action.

Right. I’ve got 5.4 ppm ammonia in a 2000 gallon pond. I know that commercial grade amquel will take out about 1 ppm at a dose of 0.5 cc/gallon. I’m gonna need 1000cc x 5.4 ppm= 5400 cc of Amquel into this pond before I do anything else. (I also have powdered Amquel, but the conversions are a little complex, especially since what the manufacturer says it’ll do is not reflected by actual tests. It’s actually about two and a half times more potent than it claims!).

It’s been an hour. Amquel’s had a chance to work. Salicylate method Ammonia tests zero. pH has dropped to 6.6 because of the old-formula Amquel I’m trying not to waste. (The new stuff is supposed to be buffered). In goes a 5 pound box of Arm & Hammer Bicarb. Test after an hour or so and adjust the next bicarb dose to bring the alkalinity up above 125ppm, though we’ll want to go slowly from this point on to minimize stress on the fish as the pH corrects. Water changes will help too, but the salt and bicarb dosing will have to be corrected after each exchange.

The first thing we tell our client is that he may not feed his fish for a good two weeks, until he’s got some ammonia-nitrite bioconversion back, and after that only sparingly for another two weeks until his nitrite-nitrate bugs kick in. His old population checked out during the crash.

The time spent waiting for our chemical fix to work was spent giving our client a crash course in basic chemistry and biology, and then a list of suggested test kits that won’t frighten (or injure) him. Routine testing of Cl, pH, Temp, ammonia, Nitrite, DO and alkalinity on a regular schedule, and the use of salt and buffers as needed to lessen physiologic stress and stabilize pH should keep him out of trouble.

The most difficult thing to grok in this hobby is the blinkin’ awful interrelatedness of everything we do. Our fish interact with the water, the air, the filter, the feed…it goes on and on. Even after years in the hobby, we’re all still learning.

Humph. No more time glitches. Well, on to the next mystery. Pond Detective’s work is never done.

(Dum-de-dum-dum-Daaaaaa)

First: standard disclaimer. We live near Chicago, in Zone 6. If you live in milder or colder zones, adjust accordingly.

Only the most fortunate of us Pond People have the luxury of a year-round season. The rest of us have to put up with Ma Nature at her most unpleasant, otherwise known as winter. Our fish will shut down most of their nonessential systems, including their gut and their immune systems, at water temperatures approaching 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and our bioconverters are shutting down as well. At the same time, any trees and plants around the pond are attempting to dump a ton of biomass in the form of dead leaves.

Our primary job in this case is to begin early in the fall and prevent the eventual problems this combination of events will produce.

First: Cleanout. This is by far the most important thing you will do to protect your fish, especially if your plan is to leave them in the pond during the winter. (This is necessary for all but the smallest of your koi. Koi larger than a couple of inches will quickly overpower any standard aquarium filtration system. Any fish brought in for the winter will need an established large-capacity bioconverter and plenty of water.)

While the air and water are still warm, get into the pond and remove all of the season’s sludge and debris. This will minimize the generation of breakdown gases (primarily hydrogen sulfide) during the months when your pumps are shut down, your water is not moving, and areas of low oxygen content can develop in deeper parts of your pond.

If you have goldfish, you will be pleased to know that the comets, shibunkins, sarassas and other long-bodied types are hardy in this area. Round-bodied fancy golds like lionheads, ranchus, ryukins, are marginal. We take ours in, as our marsh garden is somewhat exposed. Other folks leave theirs out, but we can’t recommend it; our winters have been too unpredictable lately.

Second: Leaf Netting. Once clean, the pond should be protected with netting fine enough to keep leaves out. The netting needs to be supported by a framework high enough to keep it several feet above the water’s surface ( to keep fish from becoming entangled) and strong enough to support not only the net, but also the plastic sheeting you’re going to put over it as air temperatures drop below 40 degrees at night. I’ve found that the best solution to this is a greenhouse or “poly-house” kit, usually formed from pre-bent 1 ¼ inch galvanized pipe. Kits of this type can be had cheaply from Midwest Trading in St. Charles, IL.

Third: Know when to stop feeding. Fish are cold-blooded. When the water temp drops, the fishes’ digestion stops. Food will ferment in the gut and kill them. In cool weather, it may take three days to completely digest a meal, so you need to be reasonably sure the water temperature will stay up for the next 72 hours. They will still beg when it’s sunny, but don’t give in. Fall and spring food should be carefully-chosen. The key seems to be a fat component that stays liquid at lower temperatures and a very low carbohydrate content. Right now, Kenzen seems to be the best out there.

Fourth: Ice Management. You’ll need to keep at least some of your water surface ice-free during the coldest months to allow for gas exchange. Without protection from wind, even the most robust trough heater will be overwhelmed by a really cold Chicago-area winter, leaving you the unenviable task of huddling out by the pond in subzero weather melting your way through several inches of ice with pots of boiling water*. What fun! An airstone set just below the surface of the water and running “wide open” will help, but nothing beats protection from the wind. Use 7-mil plastic over the pond. This gives a strong greenhouse effect on sunny days, blocks the wind, and keeps the pond still and quiet so the fish are calm. For really effective insulation, a double layer of plastic with just enough air pumped in with a fan (1/2 psi) to keep the layers 1-2 inches apart works even better.

There are a number of high-tech solutions to frigid water, mostly in the form of pond heaters of various designs. Electric heaters , especially trough heaters meant for farm use, are energy hogs, usually not up to the job, and rust out quickly, often creating short circuits in your pond and injuring your fish**. More elaborate systems involving heating coils filled with a heat-exchange fluid and heated by a modified hot water heater (usually powered by natural gas) can be expensive to install and run. The coils require a basin of circulating water to keep water temperatures up or need to be put into the pond itself. This may require considerable redesign of your pond at a tough time of year.

A flashier and much more compact system based on the instant water heaters becoming popular in newer homes allows reverse exchange flow through a heat exchanger and can be hooked directly into a pond’s main return. It can also be run off propane. This seems to be the best toy out there at present.
In any case, with water heaters, your target temperature at the bottom of the pond is 55 degrees. The fish need the rest they have evolved to expect. If you have a January thaw with bright sunny days, you may need to turn the heater off. At 50 degrees, parasites and harmful bacteria become active. Fish  immune systems will kick off at 50-55 degrees and the water will be warm enough for you to feed sparingly through the winter.

For those of us on the “low-tech” (see “cheapskate” in your Funk & Wagnall’s) end of things, if you have set up your weather cover and secured a layer of 7 mil poly-house covering over it, simply shoving a $30 Home depot oil-filled radiator under the cover in a secure and level area and adjusting the heat level to a setting that keeps the air temperature just above freezing will do the job just as well.

Continuing to run your water system at winter temperatures without overhead protection will “supercool” the water, disturb and eliminate the warmer water stratum at the bottom, and overstress your fish, resulting in a very high mortality rate come spring. If your pond is open to the elements,the less you mess with the pond in the winter, the better your fish will do .As the water temperature approaches 40 degrees, turn off your pumps and filters, and either drain them or protect them from freezing. Frozen water expands significantly and will explode your piping. Pull your airstones up off the bottom and leave one or two running just below the water’s surface. Another risk is the formation of ice dams. Without alternate routing of your pump output, water freezes and can form enough obstruction in your usual flows to dump the entire contents of your pond out into your yard (or your neighbor’s, if you have the high ground), leaving you with an empty hole containing fish-flavor popsicles.

As the water cools, water at around 39 degrees will settle to the bottom of your pond. Your fish will congregate there, since it’ll be the warmest part of the pond. Koi handle temperatures down to 39 degrees without undue stress, and will stooge around near the bottom, nibbling a little algae all winter and living off stored fat. The less they are disturbed, the less fat they will burn and the better their condition will be in the spring. Be aware that this occurs only in deeper ponds, 7-8 feet minimum. Any shallower, the whole “thermocline theory” falls apart. It’ll be equally cold all the way to the bottom.

It’s more than just wind and low air temperature. Precipitation is not a happy-fun gift, especially not snow. Anything falling from the sky picks up whatever is suspended in the air on the way down, and this can include some pretty toxic stuff. Hail and snow can cause sudden temperature shifts and severe fish stress. More important, precipitation does not have the dissolved minerals on board that your usual water sources supply. A heavy cold rain, snow or hailstorm will dilute whatever alkalinity your pond has at the moment and can trigger a pH crash.

Best advice? Find a way to cover the pond in the winter. If you do it right,

* Don’t break the ice! Water is not compressible. The shockwave can kill or injure fish.
** Electrical current through water causes permanently bent backbones in fish.

Bob Passovoy

For a ponder, there is no more dangerous place in the whole world than a really big Trade Show, especially if it happens early in the season.

Minds aflame with seething, unresolved and inchoate yearnings toward the Perfect Pond, we slaves to the hobby (or PondZombies, as a slightly saner friend of mine once called me) stagger through the portals of a Show, fingers twitching with the need to grasp that new net, salivating over koi foods, lusting after the newest and sexiest pumps and filter arrays, weeping in frustration because our spouses, in their wisdom, have snitched our wallets and checkbooks and printed on each of our sweating foreheads in indelible marker:”DO NOT SELL ANYTHING TO THIS PERSON. AFTER WHAT HAPPENED HERE LAST YEAR, HE/SHE IS SOOOO GROUNDED!”

Humph. Just because that new MikeWhitewater SuperDynamic UV Projector and Ultimate Bugzapper seriously damaged a 747 on approach to O’Hare. The Homeland Security guys were okay about it after a few beers. Right?

Even fully prepared for the experience by our senseis with The CatShow Mantra (“Ommmmmmmmnotgonnabuyakittennotgonnabuyakitten”) and a set of horse blinkers, we can, in fact, still be backdoored by a particularly seductive gadget. I know. It happened to me. Oddly enough, it worked out rather ridiculously well.

The scene is set. Spring 2005 MPKS Trade Show. Our pond had been brought up to peak efficiency by the addition of a more powerful pump set and a boosted-flow bioreactor the year before. Two bead bioconverters, a Turbo-Vortex, the Illudium Q-238 Pond Modulator and a flux capacitor completed the array and filled every inch of the filter bay. Any more pumpage would shoot the waterfall into the bedroom window, and Anne had put her foot down. I got patted down before the show and my cards, wallet and checkbook were confiscated. Only then was I, a confirmed techno-junkie, allowed to wander into the show.

The pond heater that Koi by Keirin was displaying was tempting, but we’d been through that the year before. There was no way we could set it up in the garage and run it off of the gas supply that wouldn’t have cost twice what the heater itself cost. Our fish were doing well with the setup we had and that was pretty much that. A filter pad here, some koi food there, an in-line dechlorinator over at Mike White’s; it hardly seemed worth it.

Then, I saw it. Tan. Boxy. Above all, big. Well sorta big. Bigger than a breadbox at least. What was neater than all of that was that there was what looked like a Harley engine inside. All shiny and clean, it looked like you could drop it onto two wheels and ride off on it.

Steve, the smiling sandy-haired guy showing the thing explained that with a few simple modifications it could, in the event of a power failure, use our natural gas supply to generate enough electricity to run the pond, the isolation vats, and a few other less-important things around the house like the freezers, the furnace, the computers, the kitchen and my CPAP machine.

If you think about it, that’s how you unequivocally identify a true ponder. A normal homeowner in a community beset by frequent power failures will buy a generator to protect his whole house air conditioner first, his entertainment center and home theater next, maybe the food storage and the kitchen as an afterthought. Anybody with a koi pond will invariably supply his pumps and filters first, with everything else in his life coming in a distant second.

The usual impediment to this plan was the fact that in order for this gadget to be useful, you had to be there to turn it on and feed it. This gadget had all the horns and whistles. Automatic start, automatic switch, automatic off, automatic fuel, and the guy would even install it and service it! And it only cost…uh oh. Oh Anne….?

What followed was not pretty. You have not seen true groveling in its rawest state until you have watched a confirmed techno-geek attempting to convince his skeptical and fiscally conservative spouse that this was the one ultimate toy that will solve everything. It took all weekend and multiple drawings and much convincing, but at the end of it, I had my toy.

Installation was great fun for me, but probably drove poor Steve the Handyman quietly nuts. I admit it now, but I would not leave him alone to do his job. Despite my help and endless questions, he finished on schedule and under budget, and even managed to wrestle my village government to a standstill. We were ready. Lightning strike, tornado, wind, rain, line squall, charging rhinos. Didn’t matter. Bring it on.

Typically, Ma Nature countered with a summer of endless dry, sunny and quiet days. The generator sat and sulked, the power stayed on, and I became nervous. Murphy’s Law states: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” and in this instance ol’Murph was batting a thousand simply by not letting anything go wrong. Understand that our block in our neighborhood is the one that loses power when John Stroger sneezes. Everyone on all sides chunters along happily while we languish in the dark. It had happened again and again, but not the summer of ’05. Arrrrgh. Not to say that there wasn’t the odd moment of fun. The generator has a self-maintenance cycle that turns itself on and runs the engine for ten minutes or so once a week. Startled the neighbors the first time it kicked in. Happily, they all ran over to make sure nothing was wrong. We got nice neighbors.

Vindication came at a time when the pond’s demands were at their lowest. Christmas Eve night, with the house full of overnight guests, the refrigerator and freezers full of holiday food prep. Picturesque heavy snow falling and everybody just dropping off to sleep. Sure enough, Ma Nature and Murphy together again. Paf! And out go the lights. Just on our block. Again.

Suddenly: Vroooooooom! A loud “Clonk” from the switch, and everything important (including the pond’s air pumps!) comes up on line. There we sat, happily glowing in the dark while the rest of our block sat and froze or melted (depending on whether they were folks or food) for eight endless hours while ComEd tried to find a crew to fix anything on Christmas Eve.

I feel better now. No, I feel smug.

Bob Passovoy

The Inherited Pond
-or-“Darling, what’s that hole in the back yard?”

It happens. A lot. You gotta move. New job, new kid, new career, new town. You find it, the perfect house, great construction, man-cave, kitchen full of new appliances, close to transport, roomy garage and a big back yard with a-ulp-pond. With fish. Realtor says “Ain’t it great? So soothing!”
Only one problem. Your total prior ponding experience involved falling into one at age seven while visiting Old Uncle Joe on his farm. Your remaining memories of that experience, including as they did the Attack of the Million Enraged Feral Chickens, fifteen pounds of mixed mud and blanket weed and an unfortunately-placed cow pie are mercifully dim. Suddenly you are the person in charge of a whole new ecology, with lives on the line.  The movers have been and gone. You live here. Now what?
Given the popularity of this hobby, it’s not surprising to find a pond in the back yard of every other house you look at while hunting. What you will do with what will either be an absorbing avocation or a monumental headache needs to be part of the process of deciding before you put your money down.
Think. Do I want a new hobby? Given the complexity of successful water gardening (at the easy end) and koi keeping (at the hard end), are you willing to commit the time and money involved? As pretty as that water feature looks, there’s probably a considerable bunch of infrastructure hidden away somewhere on the property. The prettier the pond, the more complex the works. This hobby tends to eat all your other hobbies.
Do I have the resources to support this hobby? Water gardening is not cheap. It’s been said (by boaters) that a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into. A pond is a hole in the back yard that you throw water and money into, and you probably have to pay for the water. The only advantage that ponding has over boating is that your risk of drowning is slightly lower. Electricity for the pumps and filters. Supplies for water testing. Fish. Food. Plants. Landscaping and re-digging when you find that the pond is just too small. New pumps. New filters. New pipe. Lights. Remember that the closest hobby to ponding in addiction and character is model railroading. Like a model railroad layout, a pond is never, ever actually finished.
Sounds awful, doesn’t it. It is not. This is one of the most absorbing and rewarding activities around, if you let yourself get involved, and your fellow enthusiasts are some of the nicest and most helpful folks you’ll find anywhere. This hobby will stretch your mind and you will never be bored.
So. Set the scene. You want this property. Pond and all. What do you need?

1.    You need some assurance that the pond is in current working order and has not been abandoned since the previous owners left town mysteriously three years ago closely followed by the FBI, NCIS, LSMFT and KGB. If what you see is a stagnant puddle that smells bad, a bulldozer may be your best option. If the pond is in operation and it smells like fresh cantaloupe (assuming that you are house-shopping in the summer), go to step 2. If it is deep winter, and all you can see is seven feet of snow, go to step 2, but with caution.
2.    Talk to the owners. It is still their pond and, most likely, they did most of the design and upkeep work. They know where all the tools, switches, valves and pipes are. They know what leaks and when and where the most common failure points are and what to do about them when they fail. Ask if they are members of a koi club or water gardening society. If they are, join before you move. Go to meetings and ask questions.
3.    Get an operating manual. If the previous owners have not written one, make it a condition of the sale.
4.    Before you move, and before the previous owners split for parts unknown, have them run through the daily, weekly and/or monthly maintenance rituals. Take notes and pictures. Record the conversation. Ask them about visitors to the pond. Not just the neighbors. Ask about the wildlife. Depending on where this pond is, you could be dealing with anything from raccoons to herons to mink to alligators. Or drunks.
5.    Inspect the infrastructure for age, condition and accessibility. Change is the ground state in ponding, but you need to know where you are starting from. A run-through by a competent electrician is a good idea too.
6.    If there are fish, look at them. Are they healthy, active critters or do they look damaged or sick? Are there too many of them in the pond? Does the water look clean? How does it smell?
7.    If you have a friend who is familiar with the hobby, make sure he or she looks at the pond with you. If you have hunted down a koi club before you moved, get one of the members to look things over. Many clubs have at least one or two members who have trained as Koi Health Advisors and can give you advice that is based on fact rather than opinion or hearsay.
8.    Read, read, read. This website has articles and FAQs that cover practically every aspect of the hobby. There are loads of other resources available on the Internet. Do not go into this hobby blind.
9.    No pond is perfect. There were probably design and construction errors made during building and peculiarities that have crept into the system over time. A clean, compact layout is the mark of a professional builder that has not been played with. A chaotically tangled mess of valves, pipes, tanks and motors is the sign of a pond that has been modified multiple times and has-adapted. Both systems probably work. Guess which one needs a Ouija board to operate?

It sounds complex, but if you are prepared for it you’ll never regret getting involved in this fascinating ecological exercise. It is addicting, absorbing and, at the end of a stinky, hot day at work, it is the best thing ever to sit by the pond, reveling in the knowledge that your huntin’, shootin’ and campin’ buddies have to travel 600 miles to find a spot by a body of water with no sanitation which they must share with the bears, cooties and blackflies. You have the falls, the stream and the fish right there. Need a beer? The fridge is just a few steps away. With Wi-Fi!

The Inherited Pond-Part Two

-or- “Wait, what? I didn’t know that was back here!”

Aaaaaand this is the second and way more common scenario. Great house, fantastic yard and nobody mentioned the pond. If they did, it was called a “low maintenance attractive water feature” in the realtor’s blurb. You move into the property in the middle of the worst winter since the IceMonster attack of ’08 and the icecap has receded enough to reveal…THE BLACK LAGOON! It might be inhabited…

The previous owners are long gone leaving no forwarding address and the realtor has either sold out or burned down. Now what?

The decision tree is pretty simple at this point. Do you want to be a ponder or not? Either way, you’ll need to know what’s in there and what’s available from a support standpoint. Are there resident livestock? Is there a pumping facility or perhaps filters hidden somewhere? Are there tools, nets, pumps or pipes? It’s time to look around.

Start with the pond itself. First off, how big is it? I had the privilege of talking to a new ponder this past weekend who had just moved into a rural property in the southern exurbs to find that he was now the proud owner of two 30,000 gallon ponds and several hundred koi (and God knows what else). His learning curve is gonna be really steep, but with those volumes, he’ll have time to get a grip on the problem. Ponds that size mostly run themselves. Most of what we run into is considerably smaller.

Now look around the pond perimeter. What is there in the way of infrastructure? Is this just a hole in the ground, or is there a waterfall and a skimmer? Can you identify pipe runs, and if you can, where do they go and what is on the other end? Is there a shed or a storage structure nearby? What treasure lies within? Maybe filters? Maybe an operating manual? Be careful. There might be a Grue.

Next, how does it smell? If what you get is a distinct aroma of rotten egg, you can be reasonably certain that there will be nothing living beneath the surface. The presence of hydrogen sulfide implies anaerobic breakdown of organic materials, and the dissolved gas is toxic to just about anything except bacteria from the abyssal trench. Water that has no bad odors suggests hope, regardless of how it looks.

In either case, you do not start by poking around with sticks or nets. At best, you’ll frighten or stress any inhabitants that have been lying low all winter. At worst, you’ll stir up whatever muck is lying on the bottom, deposited by winter storms, wind and whatever. Stirring it up releases whatever has been developing in the sludge, and it’ll be toxic. You need to drain that pond.

You’ll need a high-capacity submersible pump for the job, and a Home Despot-equivalent sump pump is a good choice. If you think that the pond harbors live denizens, you’ll need a net and someplace to put them, at least temporarily. A 100-250 gallon Rubbermaid horse trough from Farm ‘n Fleet works well here, especially if you are planning to continue in the hobby. It’ll end up as your isolation tank. Pump out and discard the water, you’ll be replacing it anyway. Or not.

As the water drains, living denizens, if any, will become visible and can be transferred to your holding facility. Anything left on the bottom of a mechanical nature (pumps, pipes, or if you are really lucky, a bottom drain) will begin to give you an idea of how the pond worked and how well it was designed. If you are having the usual Ponder’s Luck (a corollary of Murphy’s Law) what you’ll get is sludge and if you are REALLY unlucky (Murphy was an optimist), the bottom will be covered in gravel, and maybe Jimmy Hoffa. The fact that there was water in the hole suggests that the liner, whatever it is made of, was intact, at least to the top of the water level. Do your best not to damage it.

STOP. Decision time. DO YOU WANT TO BE A PONDER? Are you willing to subjugate yourself to the tyranny of the THREE LAWS of PONDING? If not, install the sump pump in your basement, use the horse trough as a patio water garden and call a landscaper in to remove the liner and fill in the hole. Plant flowers and veggies. Be happy. If you decide that the pond is your future, clean out the bottom, get rid of the mucky gravel, refill, dechlorinate, hook up whatever infrastructure you can find, transfer the livestock, if any, back to the pond and start studyin’ up. The rest of this website is a great place to start. The learning curve can be steep, but it’s worth it.

Oh, the THREE LAWS?

• There is always a better fish.
• There is always a better filter.
• There is NEVER enough water.

Beware.

Bob Passovoy
May, 2016

The following information will help you with determining the total amount of flow you can expect from your pump based on your length of pipe run and elbows.

Here are four pipe run tables courtesy of the Plastics Pipe Institute.

To find your Total Head Loss for your pond plumbing setup (PDF)

Elbow loss and Friction loss in “Feet of Head” for 10 feet of straight schedule 40 pipe (PDF)

Friction loss per 100 feet of plastic pipe (PDF)

Friction Loss in PVC fittings in equivalent feet of straight pipe (PDF)

I Think I Want A Pond…

I really believe it is hard-wired into our brains. There is something about the sound of rapidly moving water that strikes a chord in the deepest parts of our souls. Perhaps it is the (barely) upright ape in us that links that sound with basic survival, a promise of life, coolness on a hot day, and the chance, if we are quick and lucky, of dinner.

Whatever the reason, the desire to have moving water in your immediate living space has hit, and you are beginning to do the research. As you start, there are some questions you should ask.

1) How much time do I want to spend?

This question has implications both as you start up and as you persist in the hobby. If you are not careful, water gardening can easily absorb large portions of your limited leisure time and has the tendency to eat other hobbies if not closely supervised. Folks with two jobs, a young family, housework and a host of social obligations should be very careful here, and limit themselves to a pot garden at most. Those with an aversion to muck and wet should stop reading now and take up knitting. Model railroaders had better have finished work on their layouts and rolling stock, because this hobby is addictive, and their current setup will be their last, unless they can transfer their affections from HO scale to Garden Railway.

2) How much money do I want to spend?

No question here. The bigger it is, the more it costs to build and maintain.

3) How much space do I have?

This is a no-brainer if you live on the 73rd floor of a high-rise in downtown anywhere. You are only at risk if you have enough grass to mow in a protected area around your house. If you have enough grass to require a power mower, you are really in trouble. Rider mower? Uh-oh. Full-time groundskeeper and staff? Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

4) What do I want this water feature to do?

Is it just the sound of moving water you want? Do plants figure into the concept? What about animal life? Fish? Frogs? Possums? Raccoons? Deer? Herons? Neighbors? Building inspectors? Ordinance Control? If you want fish, what kind of fish are you thinking about? Goldfish are small, practically bombproof and easy on the ecology, but are considered by practically every backyard predator to be delicious and easily caught. Koi are big, beautiful and impressive, but also expensive, demanding and sometimes challenging to maintain.

How much time do I want to spend?

This question has implications in both the construction and maintenance phases of pond ownership. In construction, the obvious conclusion is that if you buy something that comes out of the box, fits on a tabletop and plugs into the wall, it’ll have instructions that say “Just add water”. You’ll end up with something that may look nice and goes “burble” (and occasionally “bing”), and won’t take up much of your time at all. It will, however tend to get ignored over time, run dry and burn out. These mini-features come under the “funny once” category of water gardening, and if they support wildlife, it wasn’t the wildlife you were thinking of.

If you are looking for an outdoor feature, but are both time and space-challenged, (Over-employed high-rise dwellers come to mind here.) a satisfactory compromise can be attained with a barrel garden. Half-whiskey barrels and convincing plastic look-alikes can be had at most garden centers, and liners for the wood barrels are also easily found. A small pump and fountain (or falls) arrangement, some rocks and small aquatic plants and even a goldfish or two complete what can be a very satisfying and relatively low-maintenance water feature.

Any advance beyond this point suggests outdoor yard space and a larger commitment of construction and maintenance time. Now is the time to stop, think and decide just what it is that you want this water feature to do.

Decision point one: “I don’t want to deal with critters, I just like the sound of splashing water. I think waterfalls are neat.”

The neatest solution to this situation is an arrangement I saw at the Midwest Pond and Koi Society’s trade show last fall (2004). It combined a liner-based waterfall of the “build-it-yourself” type, cascading down into a bed of coarse rock. This can obviously be anything from limestone landscape rock to carefully hand-chosen Wisconsin cobble rocks. The secret to the arrangement is that the waterfall cascades onto the rocks, which are contained by a large heavy-gauge plastic basin. At the bottom of this basin (about two to three feet deep) is a high-efficiency submersible pump protected by a cover. The basin is buried to its edge below the falls and filled almost to the brim with water, the level stopping just below the top of the rocks. Water cycling over the falls empties into the rocks and vanishes, to be pumped back up to the top of the falls. No open water, no mosquitoes, but plenty of places to stick plants between the rocks, and lots of room for creative rock arrangement in a small space. The small footprint of the feature keeps the amount of digging to a minimum and the major investment of time will be in arranging your waterfall rocks on the liner. Most of your ongoing maintenance time will be directed at maintaining your water level so your pump does not run dry, and fall drainage to prevent water freezing in your pump and water lines.

The key thing to remember here is that you will be digging a hole in your yard of significant depth and width. Even though it will present zero drowning risk to even the clumsiest of neighborhood drunks, it still puts underground structures in the way of your shovel. Call your local Utilities Tracking Service (in the Chicago metropolitan area it is called “Julie”). They will come out, and at no charge, will mark off where all the buried water, gas and electrical lines run. Do this first before beginning any dig.

Decision point two: “I don’t have a lot of time or space, but I’d like something pretty, with fish.”

Check with “Julie” first. Then touch base with your municipality, if you have one. Owners of farms and other rural properties do not have this issue. Most urban and suburban communities have very specific ordinances governing placement, depth and protection of in-ground water features. Many also require building permits. It is much easier on everybody if these details are dealt with before the first shovelful of earth is moved.

The decision to add fish to a water feature puts you into a whole new category of this hobby. Although shallow versions of this type of pond (18 inches or less in depth) are considered by most communities to be “water features” not requiring extraordinary protective measures, the livestock have needs that must be met, and the open water that this feature contains will also require maintenance.

To be very basic, fish eat and excrete. The products that they excrete are toxic to them, and if not disposed of in some way, will eventually kill them. In the wild, fish live in large bodies of water fed constantly by springs, streams or rivers. There are thousands of gallons of water available for each fish present. Your backyard pond offers no such luxury. Most “beginner” ponds range between 50 to 250 gallons (especially if they are of the preformed “dig and go” type) and are closed, recirculating systems. Maintenance of water quality adequate to sustain fish health will require either daily large-volume water changes or some form of biofiltration.

Very simply put, a biofilter is just a box full of something with a large amount of surface area (media) that beneficial bacteria can attach to and do their job. Water from the pond flows through it and the bacteria on the media convert the toxic ammonia produced by the fish to nitrite (also toxic) and then to nitrate (relatively nontoxic, but great fertilizer). Most biofilters also contain mechanical filters (brushes, mats, fine gravel or sand) which remove larger solid waste and floating debris. These can be home-built using food-grade plastic drums or garbage cans as the container, or bought complete with all sorts of horns and whistles from any number of manufacturers. If there is a caution to be raised with regard to any of these manufactured products, it is that the manufacturer will always overstate the filtering capacity of his product. View any statement on the box such as “…for ponds up to xxx gallons” with the gravest suspicion, and divide the “xxx” by at least 2.

Remember also that municipal water is treated to kill bacterial contaminants, usually with chlorine, chloramines or both. While these render the water safe for you to drink, they also will kill off your biological filter and injure your fish’s gills. Any pond with fish and filled from the garden tap will need to be pre-treated with a good dechlorinator.

The decision point “pretty” also implies plants. Aquatic and marginal plants are an essential part of the backyard pond ecosystem, adding shade, cover and beauty to the mix. They also provide a small amount of biofiltration, and will be important in removing ammonia from the water. Ammonia is toxic to fish and creates another problem: algae. Hobbyists deal with both floating algae and hair (or string) algae every season as a matter of course. Both are present everywhere in the pond environment, and grow rapidly in the presence of sunlight and food (ammonia-otherwise known as “fertilizer”). Growth of both types of algae can be limited by the presence of actively growing aquatic and marginal plants, but small ponds can’t support a large enough plant population to do the job and still leave room for the fish. In the case of floating algae, the kind that turns your pond to “pea soup” in late spring, the easiest solution is an ultraviolet light unit placed in your water line between your filter and your inlet to the pond. String algae is another issue, and is dealt with elsewhere.

The most basic, cheapest and easiest to install in-ground ponds are the so-called “pre-formed” type. You can see these for sale at any home and garden outlet. They have the advantage of being easy to install and run, requiring a minimum of digging or piping. They are frequently sold as kits, and may include a pump, a fountain or falls arrangement, and occasionally even a filter. From a time and money standpoint, they are very attractive.

These rarely exceed 200 gallons in capacity and have a number of drawbacks.

•    They come in a limited number of shapes and sizes. This limits your ability to fit it into your landscape plan.
•    The kits are usually under-filtered, and will support only small populations of aquatic life.
•    The pumps are frequently designed to run small fountains and often do not move adequate volumes of water through the filter to allow for proper bioconversion. They also tend to be fairly flimsy, jam easily, and rarely last more than one season. They are inevitably submersible pumps, which present a constant maintenance problem as well, requiring that you pull them out almost daily to clear the inlets.
•    They are necessarily shallow, rarely exceeding 18 inches in depth. This makes them easy targets for predators. Raccoons, possums, herons, bullfrogs and other common predators all love these types of ponds. The fish in them tend to be slow and delicious, and tend to come towards any disturbance in the water, hoping to be fed. It’s better than McDonald’s!
•    The small size of these units limits your options with regard to fish. Goldfish do well. Anything bigger, such as koi, will suffer and die.

More time on the install, but…

For all practical purposes, flexible liner-based ponds are the most adaptable and most easily maintained ponds going. They can be designed to fit into any space, incorporate any feature you want, go to any depth, and if designed with forethought, can be easy to maintain, durable and almost self-sustaining from an ecological standpoint. A wide variety of liner materials are now available ranging from the old reliable (but heavy) butyl rubber to lighter, thinner and very durable space-age plastics and polymers. Since the design and building of this type of pond is entirely your choice, it allows for absolute freedom in your choice of pumps, streams, waterfalls, fountains and filters. For specifics, we refer you to Mike White’s excellent series of articles on pond construction elsewhere on this site.

How much money do I want to spend?
The fact that you are even reading this article implies that you are willing to spend something. How much you will actually unpocket will depend on your imagination, resourcefulness, energy, and the intensity with which this hobby will bite you. At the point at which it transmutes from an interest to a hobby, you begin to spend money. When it goes from hobby to enthusiasm, you can multiply your willingness to spend by a factor of at least five. When you slide from enthusiasm to obsession and become “koi kichi” and your spouse or S.O. is ready to drown you in your ever-expanding construct, you’ll need a lotto hit or two or three new jobs.

The Ebeneezer Scrooge Option
Get a pot out of your cupboard, put a piece of celery, some water, and that hokey plastic goldfish you picked up at that garage sale into it. Done.

One Notch Up
Container water gardening is a popular low-cost and space-thrifty option to ponding that allows cliff and bungalow-dwellers access to at least some of the fun of ponding. While these systems do not have the volume necessary to support koi, they will handle a couple of goldfish and a surprising variety of aquatic plant life for minimal cost. What is essential here is a small but durable pump arrangement with enough output to keep the water in the container circulating briskly. Aeration can be supplied either by a small but turbulent stream bed or an aquarium-grade air pump and stone. These tend to be inexpensive, and your container can be anything that’ll hold water and won’t leak, tip or go crashing through your floorboards. Careful attention to water quality is essential here. The major failing that these systems have is chronic under-filtration.

…and Another Notch!
Preformed ponds can be had at almost any garden supply place these days, and, if cleverly installed, can look quite good. They tend to range between 75 and 200 gallon capacity and rarely exceed 18 inches in depth. They are easy to install, and many come as kits with pump and small biofilter included. Be cautious about these systems. The manufacturer almost always overestimates the capacity of the system to support aquatic life, and even a couple of enthusiastic goldfish can overpower the filter in a couple of spawnings. These systems also are not sufficient to support koi, and worse, are very difficult to defend from predation. Raccoons love them, especially if they have (as most do) plant shelves. They knock the plants into the pond, hunker down on the comfy seat thus provided, and chow down on your fish. Possums and wading birds are also a threat, and the more rural you live, the worse the problem will be.

…One Notch Further…
Liner-based ponds can be any size, shape and depth, and if you are willing to do the work of planning, digging and piping yourself, they can be built for surprisingly little money. An article in Koi USA about three years ago detailed a complete construction plan for a liner pond, including a home-built skimmer, falls and barrel biofilter which cost, at that time, about $1200. Given the design and materials, this cost has not escalated much over the intervening years. As you get into the 800-2000 gallon range, koi keeping becomes possible, and the deeper you go, the better koi will like it. Most experienced hobbyists consider a depth of four feet to be a minimum, and prefer six to eight feet if they are planning on having really big fish. Oddly enough, maintenance and running costs decrease as the pond becomes deeper and larger, mostly due to increasing stability of pond chemistry and temperature. A well-designed deep pond is also much easier to defend against predation. Raccoons can’t fish when they’re dogpaddling, and herons can’t hunt when there is no place for them to wade.

It’s important to remember, however, that your community may have views about your project, and have probably backed them up with ordinances. These are probably easily viewed at the Public Works Office in your local Town Hall, filed under “Stuff” beneath a pile of 1944 calendars in the bottom drawer of a file cabinet in a small alcove in the fourth sub-sub-basement with a sign on the door that says “Beware of the Leopard”. As hard as it may be, staying in compliance with your local rules and regulations from the beginning saves time, energy and heartbreak later on. Remember to call your local Utilities Tracking Service BEFORE you dig. Hitting the neighborhood’s 220-volt service line with your shovel while standing in damp soil is no fun.

Doing the digging, wiring and piping yourself cuts way down on the cost, but remember, all that dirt has to go somewhere, and dug dirt takes up a lot more room than the hole from whence it came. You can use some of it to construct the hill that your stream and falls will cascade down, but neighbors tend to get cranky when the grade level of their veggie garden mysteriously rises two feet in one night. Time to cultivate that “innocent” look. (Mike White’s articles on pond building become required reading about here.)

Bam!
At the high end of this scale is the option of having a professional with heavy digging equipment and a horde of manpower come in and do the gruntwork for you. What becomes important here is in the selection of this kind of help. Ask around at other ponds about the contractors in your area. Many landscapers will offer to dig for you, but if they do not have actual ponding experience, they will screw it up and you will inevitably be disappointed, left with an unworkable, badly designed hole in the ground and no recourse and backup. Your contractor should have experience in pond construction and be willing to give you addresses and phone numbers of prior customers. He should be willing to help you design and build the pond that you want, and not a “cookie cutter” design that happens to be easy for him. He should be familiar with piping and filtration systems, or should know someone who is.

Don’t talk to just one contractor. Get multiple bids and multiple plans. Above all, talk to other water gardeners. Be sure you know what you want your pond to be and to do before you dig. A plant and frog fancier will not be happy with an 8 foot deep formal koi pond, and a certifiably koi-kichi enthusiast can’t use a winding 18-inch deep stream for anything other than eye candy.

If you are going this route, you should be thinking of volumes of 4000 gallons and up, and be planning on spending at least $7000 not counting pumps and filtration. As with any project of this magnitude, there is no upper limit on what it is possible to spend. The best local example of this exists (beautifully!) in a northern suburb of Chicago, where a hobbyist doubled the square footage of his already large and gracious home with a very deep, very large and very well-filtered indoor pond. He takes every advantage of this and scubas with his fish frequently.