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First, I'd like to say I'm in NY near NYC and early this year we built a 2,500gal pond. It was more of an addition to her Japanese Garden.(an afterthought)
I went through all sorts of Filtration systems, materials and concepts. Then I came across the BH systems and remembered reading from an old posting on a personal site stating an quote from a very old Koi keeper saying about "The Pounding of the Water".
Now we all know that does help in may areas of the ponds ecological system and we also know all about the benefits of Trickle Towers. So I decided to give the BH system's design a try but constructing my own version.
I use #3 55gal tool storage boxes stacked on grated plastic storage racks. Now I just used Lava rock just to see if there was at least a usable difference from this systems to all the other systems I have created. The Stack is fed by a 5,800gph sequence pump from ValuFlow.
We've been using this setup for 6 1/2 months now with no cleaning of the Lava rocks and I continually test the water for any changes and to this day the levels are perfect! I do do the 10% water changes per week.
We also have 16 Koi ranging from 9" to 14.5" and are fed 3 times a day and also given treats daily of an Orange quartered.
Now, some of the Local pond dealers here in NY have told me that with this setup I'm over stocked and that the Filtration system is inadequate for them. But then I show them the log book showing the dates and water testing and they ask what else am I doing?
One has to remember fishing as a kid with their Father. Walking up and down the streams seeing the water falls and remember how clear the water was and tasted better at them.
Around April of 2006 I am building a much larger pond and system to accommodate any new additions, plus the size will really show them off visually.
Here is what our proposed system dimensions will be:
15' x 38' x 5', 500gal settling tank or dual vortex chambers, Dual #4 stack Bakki showers either I design/build or the real macoys, BHM to stock all 8 trays, #2 5,800gph sequence ValuFlow pumps feeding the towers.
The approximate gallonage is: 10,000gal.
I was sceptical when first trying this BH system, but now I do see the results and hope that others see it as well.
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