I want to thank the 70 or so members of the Washington Koi and Water Garden Society, the North Idaho Koi Club and the Richland, Washington Club who came to my party. Living an hour and a half out of Seattle, and three and a half from Spokane, I KNEW I would never be on a regular pond tour, but was delighted that so many Koi Kichi make the trek for lunch, and some good pond and fish talk.
Our buddy Dick Benbow could not make it, as he was having emergency dental work. I am fairly certain WE were having more fun--not to besmirch dentistry in THIS forum.
The asagi Dick gave me as a gift a year or so ago looks fantastic in this pond, and I wanted to show "Blue" off to Dick, but he and Joann will have to make a special trip later.
Pond specs: 22 feet long, nine feet wide, twelve feet deep, and as Dan said, built on insulated Polysteel block (the kind with rebar on the inside) filled with concrete. Tim Zuber and crew sprayed the liner.
I put in three bottom drains. Bottom drain #1 goes to a Turbo-vortex, then to a 36" Lim Wave Filter with Japanese matting inside, then back through TPRs.
Drain #2 goes to a turbo-vortex, through a Challenger 140 Bead filter, through another 36" Lim Wave Filter with Japanese matting inside, then through the Delta Pro UV light, into the pond through TPRs.
Drain #3 goes through a turbo-vortex, through my old Challenger 60 Bead filter, through a third 36" Lim Wave Filter with Japanese matting, through my Jandy Lite 2 heater, and into the pond through TPRs.
Turns out this redunancy comes in handy, as I discovered the first time I watered plants above the filter room, and shorted out the pump running system #3......Yikes!
My skimmer at the moment runs through a pump supplying the 24" "Sheer Descent" waterfall (looks like a sheet of water...part of the zen look I was going for) and I think when Rich Street finishes building my trickle tower, it might hook to this system.
Dan is right about the climate here--we get snow in the winter, and hot in the summer, and WIND. So much so, that I make 18,000 KW a year with my own wind turbine. To keep this 15' by 48' greenhouse cool in the summer, I just open the doors at either end, cover the openings with screen doors, and let the wind howl through. (Actually, howl is an overstatement.) Anyway, that is why the lack of humidity.
I have a dehumidifier standing by, in the event it gets too wet in the greenhouse this winter....I will keep you all posted.
So, thanks go to Tim Zuber for the lining, to Gil Gilman of Peaceful ponds for the installation of all of the pond components and the great, easy-for-me-to maintain plumbing, and to Joel Burkhart of Pan Intercorp for the pretty fishes.