New Test Tank

[Birdman]

just finished a new indoor wooden tank. I built this for several reason, most to prove or disprove some common theories. The tank is 4' wide, 4' high and 25 feet long. It is a "River Flow" design with massive current all from one end. Two bottom drains at the "Dead" end supply two Evolution ES 8500 pumps each feeding a set of my fiberglass showers with feather rock. At 2 feet of head these pumps should be good for close to 10,000 gph each, all shooting out from the "Live" end.
A skimmer at the dead end feeds a Evolution ES 4500 pump feeding two of my sand/gravel filters. This will give me a total flow of around 25,000 gph, all from one end.
The showers will provide the bio and the S/G filters will provide fines filtration.

I used one of my custom "Drop in Liners" for this which made liner installation a breeze.

My "Tests" are
How fast and well with the feather rock showers cycle?
How much do the Koi actually like fighting the current?

What I have found out so far is using bottled ammonia @ 3ppm I had nitrites at 4 days and nitrates at 6 days.
I can also see the current breaking the surface about 12 feet from the live end. I won't be putting my fish in here until this fall so the swimming test will have to wait a while.

[Birdman]

The finished tank.

[lfreem]

nice. what exactly do you plan on using this tank for, Steve? You mention to disprove/prove theories. Sounds very Frankenstein. LOL! Is this where you will take the head of a koi and stick it onto the body of a Sarassa and see if it survives? LOL!

Can you elaborate on how you will use it?

[Birdman]

nice. what exactly do you plan on using this tank for, Steve? You mention to disprove/prove theories. Sounds very Frankenstein. LOL! Is this where you will take the head of a koi and stick it onto the body of a Sarassa and see if it survives? LOL!

Can you elaborate on how you will use it?

Normally I heat my pond in the winter, but this year I will bring them in and house them in this test tank.
I need to acid wash my flagstone and seal it and can't do that with Koi in the pond as there's no way I can be tidy enough to not get any acid in the pond.
Also I will be doing a pretty major up grade to my filtration so will have the main pond shut down for quite a while.
I also want to see what the Koi do, how they react, and use the strong current from the end. Will they play in it? Will they grow bigger, faster,?
And I want to prove my thoughts about showers.

[lfreem]

I look forward to hearing your results when you get 'em....and your plans for bigger filtration. Sounds like the birdman is at it again...

most interesting.

[PapaBear]

Great looking setup Steve. I'll be following this closely when you get things rolling along to see what your observations are.

A few questions for you if I may.
What temperature do you intend to maintain?
Is the "resting area" going to be pretty much beneath the showers?
What size Koi do you plan to put in there?
How heavily will you be able to feed them?
How long did the "bottled ammonia" test take to process to zero nitrite and minimal nitrate?

[Birdman]

Great looking setup Steve. I'll be following this closely when you get things rolling along to see what your observations are.

A few questions for you if I may.
What temperature do you intend to maintain?
Is the "resting area" going to be pretty much beneath the showers?
What size Koi do you plan to put in there?
How heavily will you be able to feed them?
How long did the "bottled ammonia" test take to process to zero nitrite and minimal nitrate?

I want to maintain high 60s, low 70s
The resting area is oppsite end from the showers.
My personal koi, 18 of them from 16" to 26"
As much food as they will eat.
It took 4 days to see nitrites, 6 days to see nitrates. It took about 3 days for nitrites to go to 0 once I quite adding ammonia.

[Birdman]

I look forward to hearing your results when you get 'em....and your plans for bigger filtration. Sounds like the birdman is at it again...

most interesting.

For 4 or 5 years I have been running my main 6700 gallon pond on one set of showers with 4 trays and 16 cubic feet of feather rock. And four moving bed filters with 20 cubic feet of media. So far my moving bed media is still as white as the day it was new, which tells me all the bactera has colonized the shower. So if the moving beds are useless, why have them?
SO
I am planing on removing my fluid bed filters and just going with the shower. And I am tearing out my Vortex and microscreen and going with two Cetus Sieves. So new BD circuit will be two 4" BDs to two cetus sieves to one ES 8500 pump to three 100 gallon sand/gravel filters flowing 2000 gph each to my three TPRs.

Skimmer circuit will remain the same, skimmer to ES 8500 pump to shower to waterfall.

[PapaBear]

I want to maintain high 60s, low 70s
The resting area is oppsite end from the showers.
My personal koi, 18 of them from 16" to 26"
As much food as they will eat.
It took 4 days to see nitrites, 6 days to see nitrates. It took about 3 days for nitrites to go to 0 once I quite adding ammonia.

Rapid fire results on the ammonia cycle, and pretty much as I was hoping from the showers. I wish feather rock was easier to come by in my part of the country...
It will really be interesting to see what kind of development you get on the Koi in terms of growth and bulk. Their swimming/resting behavior as well. One of the things I've enjoyed with our pond has been watching them go from one area to another depending on their mood. Resting in the deep water, lazily swimming around the surface in the calmer areas, swimming against the moderate currents from the water falls, and then lining up like salmon going upstream to fight the strong currents from our stream, going as far up stream as their bodies would permit in the shallows.
We've done away with the long stream bed as it just catches too much yard debris, etc... and I'm really kicking myself for not shooting video of them going at it first...

[Paultergeist]

Hey Steve,

The next time you snap pictures, can you take one of the "feather rock?" I do not know what this stuff is?