bakki towers

[Doug Ward]

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM There are so many positive reports on Bakki Showers that I'm getting convinced; BUT more than ever I think there has to be mechanical pre-filtration in most outdoor settings, simply because having leaves etc shredded through a pump and dumped on the media is not going to be a good thing. I'm still waiting for further updates from SMG on her experiment. Meanwhile, I got a kick out of a recent issue of Rinko where a new product called the "Minus Ion Ball" is touted by its inventor/manufacturer as being a ceramic airstone that emits far infrared rays and negative ions. Plus, later in the article it suggests these ceramic airstones also emit Radon rays [I always understood Radon to be a gas, so some translation problems perhaps]. It is recommended that one be used for each 2-5 tons in a pond and the result is increased disease resistance. In fact, ulcers can be cured by starting to use the Minus Ion Balls! ... the manufacturer says so. In fact the manufacturer says his koi were always suffering from ulcers, thin bodies, nervousness "etc." until his invention of the Minus Ion Ball cured everything. No more problems. Plus, his fish grow faster and even though he could not win at shows before, he has won 2 GCs at Gifu prefecture shows since using his invention. WOW. From constant illness and ulcers to 2 GCs! Must be true ... it's in Rinko! Guess I'm just going to have to re-learn everything I ever thought I knew about fishkeeping. Need to study FIR, moonbeams and pixie dust. ... although I am wondering if the guy just needed some aeration?

moonSHINE is what you'll need to absorb all that LOL

[Doug Ward]

Quote: Originally Posted by JR Well, no one listens to JR but I'll say it again- Don't shoot the panio player! Maeda runs these systems with a freshwater feed. The big pond is lightly stocked and, Maurice can verify this if he wants, I doubt the koi are kept in the other fish house in those crowded pond all year round? I'll be over there again in January and look forward to clearing up some questions that still linger in my mind. UNtil then I rely on guys like Maurice who were very early onto the concept. Doug, I didn't know you were running them?! I don't think it is a matter of this report or that report. I think instead, it will be an body of information we accumulate from experiences in all countries and in all applications that will vet out the truth as to how realistic it is to run a bakki shower solo and exclusively in a closed system like a hobbyist back yard pond. JR

Jimbo... You know better than that ! DING DING LOL...
I built a 3900 gallon rig for a fellow that HAD to have Momo fish, Momo food and a Bakki. I built the thing in ??? Late Jan. and Keirin had his industrial water treatmentplant media a few weeks later.
Were talkin water at 75-85 year round.
The rig has a cooleroo over it so its fairly well shaded.
He told Keirin he wanted enough shower for 5,500 gallons.
$2200 later (media only LOL) and a couple of months of looking at the Okeechobee swamp water an aquabead was installed before it.
2 bottom drains, 8800 GPH wave(well before the bead went on) just like "the master" said.

After complaining Daisuke:
Hello Mr Dan
Please dont have many fish
We dont keep too many fish in tank...etc..etc..
The guy is way overstocked... so are 80%, or more, of the hobbyest.
I told the guy I thought it was nonsense, need a settlement rig, bead, trickler etc..etc... Old school.
He says :
"Every one says" "Momotaro says" "The Brits say" " I read "
I'll not use another one.
I'm not a believer in the product.

Gimme an AS biofall, a bag of little green soldiers and a 55 gallon drum of PP and I'll show ya clear water !!!


:twisted:

[Mike T]

JR:

Doug's customer sound's like the guy who emailed me with his negative experience w/the bakki showers...I emailed him recently and he said he was going to get in touch with Maurice directly with the parameters of his pond...

Since Maeda san's 1500 ton (396,000 gallon) pond only has 35-40 koi in it...I guess everyone else is overstocked... I guess I'm back to one very small guppy in my 900 gallon pond :twisted:

Aloha! Mike

[shiromujigirl]

Me too Doug. My Bakki tests look like swamps with out a fairly substantual water flush or change. How much water is the guy's system flushing through?

[Doug Ward]

Quote: Originally Posted by shiromujigirl Me too Doug. My Bakki tests look like swamps with out a fairly substantual water flush or change. How much water is the guy's system flushing through?

None M.
That wasn't part of "the deal"
This fellow was told you run from bottom drains to pump to shower and the far out infrared handles everything else. Nothing was said about pre-filtration, fresh water input, MINISCULE stocking rates, or any of that, at the time, of course all of that changes as the "heat" comes on.
Now he backwashes the Aquadyne daily and does about 25% water changes every other day, I believe.. He's a firefighter.
His water clarity still sucks.
Makes sense if you have to BW the bead filter every day !
Its 3935 USG.
I'll guess at the stocking.
3 16-21 inch fish.
12 fish from 10-14
and maybe 12 various tosai.
Allot of fish but I've seen heavier loads with conventional filtration have clarity..
ORP close to 360-380 (consistant averages).
Hardness of the graph.
PH7.7
Water temps 82 ish.
Nasties all zero.

If you're gonna have a flow through just do it and forget all of this filtration nonsense all together.

Sorry guys... I usually somewhat behave over here but....

DING DING
CLICK HERE
NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT
TWEET TWEET
A MODERN DAY MIRACLE !

[Bob Winkler]

Maybe it's just me, but perhaps the load is a fair bit more than the recommended level for this as a stand alone, or even with a BB as an added filter??!!??

Best regards,

Bob Winkler

[Mike T]

Doug:

Long time no see...On question re: your customer...Is he using UVs...

For all the great readings I get in our pond, the water turned murky for a week until I ralized that our UV's transformer went on the blink...Water became clear again when replaced...

Your customer seems to have the same parameters as we do re: filtration and fish load, based on the pond size...

I do however, do a constant (24/7) water change of 100 gallons each day (10%)...

Aloha! Mike

[hudi]

My experience with BS,which I have used for last 10mths...
Previously,my filtration system comprise a settlement chamber,2 pararell vortex ,followed by 2 bio-ceramic chambers,total filter size abt 35% of pond,making total water vol of system approx 50 mt.

I overstocked; system was not working well.Rectified by adding 2 BS as well as replacing the ceramics in the 2 bio chambers with "Bacteria House" ie I am using the BH in fully submerged form as well as in the BS.
Where I am weather is hot year round with water temp ranging bet 25 to 30C. With strong sunlight all day long,year round,algae bloom is a natural if kept unchecked. Fortunately my pond is 90% shaded.
Before rectification,water readings were "acceptable"parameters but there was a smell and water is mildly mulky and will turn greenish if UV are switched off more than 2days.
After rectification,water para have improved;with amm and nitrite non detect and nitrates abt 10ppm. Water is very clear,smell is gone and there was a bluish tint in the first mth after rectifying. I continue to overstock and overfeed..50 koi ranging from 45cm to 90 cm,but mostly abt 70 cm. The smaller ones are jumbo tosai.There is one "freak" that is 55cm and is 2 weeks short of 12 months! Its a kohaku,not chagoi!
With the total biomass in the system growing rapidly,keeping the water quality up is a constant challenge! Fresh water trickle flows changes abt 5% daily and on weekends settlement chamber gets emptied and cleaned which accounts for ano 15% change.
About the BS and the BH!...after 10 mths,the BH in the top tray of the BS are covered with a thick blankrt of algae.I had to take the whole lot out for some heavy flushing to remove the algae. My verdict on the BS and BH,based on my own experience thus far is that it definately helped to improve and handle a growing load system but if you are going to be as crazy as me in overstocking and esp if weather is hot year round,there is no way the BS is going to function effectively and adequately without the assist of settlement or other mechanical filter And UV And some hard work on regular basis!

[shiromujigirl]

Hi Hudi. How good to see you here. Thank you for coming in to talk about these interesting systems. The love of koi does unify the world.

I have a male show fish pond, 4,000 gallons, plus 800 gallons in the filter system, it has a pump stupidly before the settling tank, which flows to an upwell tank containing a case of Springflow and thats it. It has 10 koi in it, three 29 inchers, five 26 inchers, and an 18 inch in it, and the water is gin clear liike floating in air. It is totally shaded, the water temp is 80F. The filter is coming four years old.

The Bakki Shower experiments here at Area 51 in Texas running since March are also totally shaded, same temp, same feed rate, and if I don't flush a lot of water through it is murk water, healthy murkwater but murkwater.

Doug, I am kind of still thinking new pond syndrome. Lets not give up so soon.

Lots of people are using the BS as an add on system. I want to see what they can do by themselves, outside, with "normal" stocking rates.

[dick benbow]

Hi Melissa,
Been following your posts with great interest. My bioball expeiment is a month old and water is far from snapping into shape. 24/7 trickle, no load,
no other filtration save the bubble bead which gets dumped every 3 days.
I'm beginning to think there made not be any hope.
I'm still happy with the one inside with heavy load and 24/7 water and lots of j-mat filtration. other than the increased appetite can see no other
benefit. My new asagi is growing like cracy, so i'm happy about that!