Don't try this at home

[jnorth]

Below is an article I wrote for our clubs newsletter. I thought I'd share it with you all. You might laugh at first but trust me Turelle is a heck of a koi keeper and does an amazing job for his space and budget limitations.

The Little Pond That Could.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting members Turelle and Pam Holmes at their house in Manassas Va. Turelle had told me about his pond but seeing is believing. The title of this article is a little misleading. It really should be The Koi Keepers That Can. You see this pond is only 1200 gallons and usually has somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty koi in it. When I say thirty koi I don’t mean thirty 5 inch koi. They range from 8” to 24”. Don’t try that at home folks! For the past several years Turelle and Pam have won numerous awards with their koi. This includes multiple All Around wins at the annual MAKC shows, several best in variety for their stunning shiro bekko and numerous other awards including several at our last show. This kind of track record flies in the face of the traditional koi thinking of bigger is better...or does it? The fact is Turelle and Pam's level of dedication to the hobby is enormous. They have shown over and over that it doesn’t take a big pond with big money and expensive koi to compete and win at koi shows. What it takes is big dedication backed by solid husbandry skills. The photos speak for themselves so I’ll let them do the rest of the talking.

[MikeM]

So.... what's their maintenance routine?

[jnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM So.... what's their maintenance routine?

Lots of water changes! I guess my point though was that it doesn't take cubic dollars (although it helps) to enjoy the hobby and to compete in shows. Dedication and skill will still you get you there.

[aquitori]

Man that reminds me of my pond 12 years ago with a sump pump and bucket filter...hahahahahaha...I think I had 40 fish from 5" to 20"....

[mstrseed]

I think it may have something to do with the filtration or maybe its the filtration or the filtration..........and the water changes

[weesec01]

My goodness...he must be learned it from David Copperfield..anyway, whatever he does, it is a good skill of husbandry.

hemm...Thirty koi is a bit over stock

[Lam Nguyen]

This pond reminds me of my father-in-law's pond. His pond is about 1800 gallons and he has about 25 koi ranging from 8" to 26". It is a very beautifully-lanscaped pond with bonsai everywhere. Depth ranges from about 18" (yes, 18"!!) deep to about 3 feet deep.

Believe it or not, filtration consists of water flowing from the top of the pond (no bottom drain) down a waterfall and into a 150 gallon livestock watering tank that consists of just J-mats (no settling chamber or mechanical filtration; I have been his son-in-law for 3 years now and never once have I seen him clean the filter). The only aeration is the water falling about a foot into the filter tank. The water is then pumped from the bottom of the filter tank via a 1-hp Sequence pump and returned to the pond via a waterfall (turnover has to be at least 2 to 3 times per hour!). He also uses a 40-watt Aqua UV. He does not own any medications, no ORP or salinity or pH or GH or KH or ammonia/nitrite/nitrate meters/kits.

The pond is sloped and the deepest part has a 2" drain with 2" flexible pvc pipe that leads to his garden. Twice a week he opens a valve at the end of the PVC pipe, collects about 20 gal of the dirty water, and uses it to water his bonsai. The autorefill then replaces the lost water. This means he only changes 40 gallons' worth of water every week and yet his water is crystal clear and his koi feed like there's no tomorrow. The sad part to all this is I have 14 koi ranging from 10" to 24" and yet his koi seem to grow faster than mine.

Lessons I learned: (1) good husbandry is one of the commandments of koi keeping; (2) you can't beat old men with experience; (3) there's definitely more than one way to keep koi.

[Steve Nguyen]

150 gals with j-mat is equivalent to less than 1% of the pond total water volume. 40 gals water change per week for 25 koi with feeding like no tomorrow. my years of experience in koi keeping has been down the drain.

seems hard to believe but I take your words for it.

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by Lam Nguyen This pond reminds me of my father-in-law's pond. His pond is about 1800 gallons and he has about 25 koi ranging from 8" to 26". It is a very beautifully-lanscaped pond with bonsai everywhere. Depth ranges from about 18" (yes, 18"!!) deep to about 3 feet deep. Believe it or not, filtration consists of water flowing from the top of the pond (no bottom drain) down a waterfall and into a 150 gallon livestock watering tank that consists of just J-mats (no settling chamber or mechanical filtration; I have been his son-in-law for 3 years now and never once have I seen him clean the filter). The only aeration is the water falling about a foot into the filter tank. The water is then pumped from the bottom of the filter tank via a 1-hp Sequence pump and returned to the pond via a waterfall (turnover has to be at least 2 to 3 times per hour!). He also uses a 40-watt Aqua UV. He does not own any medications, no ORP or salinity or pH or GH or KH or ammonia/nitrite/nitrate meters/kits. The pond is sloped and the deepest part has a 2" drain with 2" flexible pvc pipe that leads to his garden. Twice a week he opens a valve at the end of the PVC pipe, collects about 20 gal of the dirty water, and uses it to water his bonsai. The autorefill then replaces the lost water. This means he only changes 40 gallons' worth of water every week and yet his water is crystal clear and his koi feed like there's no tomorrow. The sad part to all this is I have 14 koi ranging from 10" to 24" and yet his koi seem to grow faster than mine. Lessons I learned: (1) good husbandry is one of the commandments of koi keeping; (2) you can't beat old men with experience; (3) there's definitely more than one way to keep koi.

[Steve Nguyen]

this is incredible. fish look happy. can we get his maintenance routing?

Steve

Quote: Originally Posted by jnorth Below is an article I wrote for our clubs newsletter. I thought I'd share it with you all. You might laugh at first but trust me Turelle is a heck of a koi keeper and does an amazing job for his space and budget limitations. The Little Pond That Could. I recently had the pleasure of visiting members Turelle and Pam Holmes at their house in Manassas Va. Turelle had told me about his pond but seeing is believing. The title of this article is a little misleading. It really should be The Koi Keepers That Can. You see this pond is only 1200 gallons and usually has somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty koi in it. When I say thirty koi I don’t mean thirty 5 inch koi. They range from 8” to 24”. Don’t try that at home folks! For the past several years Turelle and Pam have won numerous awards with their koi. This includes multiple All Around wins at the annual MAKC shows, several best in variety for their stunning shiro bekko and numerous other awards including several at our last show. This kind of track record flies in the face of the traditional koi thinking of bigger is better...or does it? The fact is Turelle and Pam's level of dedication to the hobby is enormous. They have shown over and over that it doesn’t take a big pond with big money and expensive koi to compete and win at koi shows. What it takes is big dedication backed by solid husbandry skills. The photos speak for themselves so I’ll let them do the rest of the talking.

[Lam Nguyen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steve Nguyen 150 gals with j-mat is equivalent to less than 1% of the pond total water volume. 40 gals water change per week for 25 koi with feeding like no tomorrow. my years of experience in koi keeping has been down the drain. seems hard to believe but I take your words for it. Steve

Hi Steve, if I am not mistaken, the 150 gals of filtration is about 8% of the total pond volume (1,800 gal). And thanks for taking my words for it but I hope to have pictures soon to show you. Amazing, isn't it? I still scratch my head when I come over and have tea in his backyard.