Launch of Koi-Bito Magazine Online - Your Thoughts...

[Akai-San]

Mike,

I believe my first stage pond planning is done. For this first pond, I pretty much maximized the area that would be considered my front yard...It is now labeled pond yard...hahaha. I'll try and translate my AutoCad drawings to something postable on another thread. I would very much like feed back from all you experts. Thanks.

[Mike T]

Akai san:

Before I forget...put meters in your budget...At a minimum, you should have an ORP and pH... Get the ones with 10' probe cords so that you can have constant readings...They cost about the same as the hand held ones... PinPoint has very inexpensive but good meters...

Another good option is a flow meter... can get a good one for $85.00.. Good for determining your exact pond volume, for determining if you have a leak, and if you opt for a flow through system you can regulate your discharge by the amount of water you replace each hour...

You can email or call me if you need a source...

Another great option for the pond is a hot tub right next to it on your deck... As soon as I send this, I'm off to our furo which is next to our pond...talk about relaxing to the max...hot water, hinoki vapors, and koi....

Aloha! Mike

[Akai-San]

Mike,

Funny you should mention that amenity. I infact have tried to design the pond for quick conversion to a swimming pool (pond) and adjacent Hot tub (Q-tank). Each with surrounding hardwood seating around the perimeters. I just priced the teak wood for all the seating areas and Q-tank cover. I nearly fainted. Hahaha...And I thought I was nuts...I still can remember my great grandparents country property near Hana Maui with the wood burning furo house...ahhhh those were the hot buns days.

I was just online looking for monitoring equipment that I can mount on an adjacent wall that will give me regular interval readings while maintaining an electronic historical log of readings. Is there such a thing? In regards to the meters, at what location would one locate within the piping. I'm assuming that the tap water should run through the system prior to entering pond. Thanks.

[bekko]

Sure there is such a thing. How much do you want to spend?

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...d/1037/cid/194

If you want, you can have the option of pulling up the current readings from your cell phone and/or have a dialer call you if a parameter is outside acceptable limits. You can also have feedback controllers which will adjust pH or alkalinity, increase aeration, backwash the filter, etc if a parameter goes outside the preset limits. Then, you will need the koi cam so you can visually check on the fish when you are not at home.

The remote monitoring technology has improved a lot since I used it - but I certainly don't miss it. The trouble with all of this stuff is:
1) It tends to make folks obsessive/compulsive about their "numbers" and invites too much manipulation. If well-designed the system will be very stable once it matures and you do not want to screw around with it too much.
2) All the gadgetry requires calibration, repair/replacement of parts, software debugging, etc. and the time required for monitoring system maintenance can exceed the time required to do it manually at a reasonable interval with a test kit.

My suggestion would be to get something like this

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...iid/549/cid/98 or http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/...iid/549/cid/98

The tests take a few minutes to complete, but as your system matures and stabilizes you will need to test less and less. You can always add the high-tech monitoring later if you need a new hobby.

One problem with the test kits is that many of them contain small amounts of reagents which are considered hazardous materials (HazMat). On the mainland, they send these via UPS ground. Having HazMat items sent to Hawaii can add $100 to the shipping cost. I've been talking to other fish people about a system to pool HazMat orders to reduce shipping costs. By the way, if you pay $35 to join the Hawaii Aquaculture Association and have a Hawaii shipping address, Aquatic Ecosystems will give you a 10% discount on all purchases.

I don't measure ORP (would be afraid to) but can see why Mike and others swear by it. It sort of summarizes how things are doing.

[Mike T]

Akai san:

Steve H. addressed the high tech stuff... If you have'nt already done so you should visit his place near Chinaman's Hat...
re: meters...ORP and pH would be located in the pond within easy reach so that you can clean the probes every few weeks...

Our flow meter is located on a dedicated circuit just before a hudson auto refill valve... when you get to this part of your build, give me a call or email and I'll give you the sources with the best prices...

Re: Decking...On you way home, drop off at Wayne's lumber and check out the EON composit decking material, the yard is located at the back of Yamashiro's Ace hardware between the Likilike Hwy. and H-3... just past Koolau Farmers... Wayne has a booth at the BIA show this weekend so you can see it there also...

Aloha! Mike

[erwinsan]

Sounds good, I'm in

[xiaohuang7]

Brian,

Please make the picture resolution higher than in the current electronic Rinko; substantively the pics are nice, but detail-wise, when you try to see zoom in for little for detail, they suck... maybe it's a bandwidth problem.

John

[Theron]

As a disabled veteran trying to make it on a pension, I have long lusted after a subscription to your magazine. An on line version at the proposed price could be worked into the budget without cutting to many corners. I'm all for it.

[ChrisC]

Brian, I would just suggest that your online articles be shorter than your magazine articles. I love those, but would find it hard to read material that dense and long on a vertical computer screen.


Love the idea, bring it on!

[luke frisbee]

brian,
I would love for the articles in the magazine to be expanded even further in the online version....since it wouldn't need to fit within the printing budget nor page length costraints.....WITH PHOTOS GALORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris C try reading just the captions. The rest of us want More information. Not less.