(why is this text gray?)
Anyway, ok, found the color thingy...now OFF with the bold ok, think I've got it working right now....yes, I speak a little english. I learned it growing up in East L.A. along with a few other languages and dialects (heh heh). I just don't always spell as well as I should.
Onward:
We installed the 'device' on a biologist/koi breeder's pond. It has been marketed to the swimming pool industry for 15 years now and she realized it did a few things we didn't recognize specifically for koi and carp breeders (and next we'll address farmed fish industries) and then asked us to find other koi breeders who were willing to collect data such as:
1. The unit primes dry pumps so folks with older systems should monitor if this helped them by not having to re-prime their pumps regularly (a pain...called the pool man dance...garden hose in the pump, close quickly, fire away etc.)
2. The unit bleeds filter air and while her system was very new, almost all filters have this problem (comes from pump action and disolved air in water which is released under the vacuum/pressure cycle) which, as it accumulates, reduces exposed grid surface area which she said would help decrease bacteria and algae counts compared to systems that constantly have trapped air in the filter. Now this one will be a bit tougher to get real data on since most people (if they are wise) bleed their filters regularly...several times a week and bacteria counts (and algae) can come from so many places so we aren't sure if we can determine a net benefit here except it's handy to have the air bled for you so perhaps with enough sampling we will see a trend.
3. The unit installs without scarring the equipment; no digging, drilling or cutting pipe and while some folks simply use a garden hose (bad idea if you forget it's on and not UPC compliant) and others have a horse trough or toilet float style fill valve, (great if it was installed when the pond was built), many people find these things fail and if they want to stay within building and planning ordinances, they either rip out the old units and replace them (expensive) or get one of these...or use a surface mounted toilet float thing. We want data/reports from people who install them and what difficulties they have. While she suggested that most people wouldn't have any difficulty doing this, since we've sold them for 15 years we've seen a few mishaps (such as getting the two fittings backwards even though they are color coded) so a little data here would be nice.
4. The unit oxygenates the water (why she bought one) and we want counts...that is oxygen levels before and after installation over a month or two. We are willing to provide a few free units to folks who are willing to collect all this data to confirm what she said we would find...healtheir fish.
5. Since black algae is anaerobic and the unit adds oxygen we want to find someone with a chronic black algae problem and see if it does what it did to a swimming pool test we ran; knocked it out of the ballpark (how's that for english?) as in 3 months after installing the unit the black algae was reduced to about 1/10th of it's initial coverage. Since many folks already run aerators this may be a tough one to find but...
6. Since the filter is working more efficiently and we suspect many algae problems are related to improper/negligent filter bleeding we also want to find someone with a chronic green algae problem/surface scum etc. and see if there is any effect there.
7. Since the unit allows incoming city water (and recirculating water) to be passed under a high wattage UV light in the unit's clear tubing, we also want to get before/after chlorine measurements as well as bacteria counts (if possible) so we can see what effect the UV light has on killing circulating bacteria, algae and reducing chlorine from the incoming water supply. This test is rather simple (pool kit), but the bacteria counts may require a test subject who is either an MD or has access to someone with a lab locally. Some breeders test their water regularly, some have chronic problems that need to be fixed and some don't worry about it. We are seeking people who do worry about it and are monitoring it.
As the posts aren't meant to 'advertise' a product I won't mention it here and folks who are interested in more details can PM me. The ideal candidates for receiving a free unit would be MDs who are also breeders, folks who write reviews for magazines (yes, we want a few of those) and known breeders and/or a few club presidents since most of them are well known and respected within their groups and on the national/international scene.
Does that answer most of your questions on what we are trying to accomplish with these tests? Basic before/after data collection from a large sample population that has chronic problems.
And yes, according to her, oxygen, reduction of bacteria and chlorine and algae problems all help make your 'whites whiter' as you say and probably even make your koi a bit more chipper and hey...even more sexually active
...but we decided against calling it 'Koiagra' although I suppose there is still time for testing that as well. |