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Home: KOI Talk: General Discussion:
Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes

 





 


HWONG
Koi Addict

Jun 20, 2007, 12:09 PM

Post #1 of 8 (622 views)
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Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes Can't Post
Apologies, for lack of a more appropriate title…. General consensus is that for a koi to develop a good muscular body, it must have the space to swim unimpeded; hence the preference for a long pond .. A leading breeder recommends 45 feet!

He and a few others in the industry adviced against fitting an air-dome/ air-ring on top of the bottom drains that are usually at the centre locations of the pond. They say that the airdomes will encourage the kois in huddling around the aridomes and the kois will swim around the airdome and not swim freely the length of the pond as they should. This defeat the purpose of having a long pond.
They adviced that the pond should be free from any obstruction and the airlines should be fitted to the sides. We do not need to worry about solids as the sloped floor and the constant water intake will draw the solids into the bottom drain.

What is your take on this?


koi@kit
Senior Member


Jun 20, 2007, 2:18 PM

Post #2 of 8 (612 views)
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Re: [HWONG] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Mr Wong..

for my pond, my air ring is to create water movement, also making bottom drain more effective collecting waste from kois..

They adviced that the pond should be free from any obstruction and the airlines should be fitted to the sides. We do not need to worry about solids as the sloped floor and the constant water intake will draw the solids into the bottom drain.
i do agree with this statement but never try this.. i think the more important thing is to create movement in the pond as we all know koi like to swim against current, may b a pump to push the water horizontally. without a movement a 45ft long pond will have alot of 'dead spots'.. just my opinion, might b wrong thou.. may b some other member can contribute more..

rgds
kit


sunshinekoi
Member


Jun 20, 2007, 3:03 PM

Post #3 of 8 (607 views)
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Re: [HWONG] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Mr.Wong,
Actually I did some flow test on having the air ring laying longitudinal on the side and another situation is having air stone surrounding the pond that is near the center. The main test is to understand my pond circulation and how it affect the koi growth + how effective the waste removal is for both.
From what I can see is, bottom drain at the center does give effective waste removal but koi tend to slow down when they swim pass the air stone. This could be what you meant by not swimming freely.
If the air ring is laying on one side (the long side), the koi tend to be more relax and swim without much "hesitation" across the long side of the pond. The flow is better, less complication on flow. The effect gets less when the width gets wider. So a bottom flow by means of pumps is essential to assist the push in order to be effective. This is what kit talking about.
The plus point of the air-ring on one side is it allows you to view and play with your koi in a visible way and you dont get much waves on the surface.

Hope this helps.
Sunshine


HWONG
Koi Addict

Jun 20, 2007, 4:41 PM

Post #4 of 8 (594 views)
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Re: [sunshinekoi] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Kit , Sunshine,
Thks for your response and opinion.

In both situations, the bottom drains are in the center, the only exception being the air columns

Kit, you are right to say that with air columns in the center, logically the waste cleaning effect is better. Unless the pond is very wide as well, the bottom drains (if they go into the mechanical chamber) is effective in drawing in solid waste.

Sunshine, You got what I was trying to say. If air ring/dome is situated in the center where the bottom drains are, the kois tend to swim in circles round the air column. They also tend to hang around there while not swimming. In this scenario, the koi does not have much distance to swim before it has to do a turn.

On the right, where the air columns in at the long side or against any side of the walls,the kois will supposedly swim the entire length. It is this swimming pattern that they say will provide the koi a good workout hence grow a strong body.

Hope more members here will give their thoughts or experience on this.


(This post was edited by HWONG on Jun 20, 2007, 5:00 PM)
Attachments: Swim pattern.jpg (17.3 KB)


thiamhwa
Member / Moderator

Jun 21, 2007, 12:48 AM

Post #5 of 8 (576 views)
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Re: [HWONG] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi HWONG,

If one has a big pond, say min. 30 tons of water, I don't think it really matter whether the air-rings are placed
in the center or against the side of the pond walls. In this instance, the large volume of water will always perform
better than a smaller pond as far as growth and body shape of the koi are concerned.

The problem arises only for those with small pond whereby it is necessary to provide a good water current
system to enable koi to develop good growth and good body conformation. I think in your Diagram A,
if the koi is subject to a one directional circular flow in a relatively small surface area, this can sometime produce
significant growth problems to the koi.

According to Peter Waddington in his ' Koi 2 Kichi ' book, if a koi are constantly subjected to either a strong clockwise
or anti-clockwise water flow current, the shoulder muscle on one side of the koi will become visibly larger than that on
the opposite side. For example, if a koi is constantly swimming against a strong clockwise return flow current,
the shoulder muscle on the right hand side of the body ( as its head faces you ) will becomes more pronounced
than the shoulder muscle on the left hand side.

In order to over come this problem, by simply adding a ' reverse-flow' returns to the system and enabling the flow
direction to be easily reversed on a monthly basis ( i.e. clockwise for one month and anti-clockwise the next month ),
the body shape of the koi will soon recover to normal after a few months. So, in future if you have koi with body
deformity, don't just give it away lah. Try this method first.

Sorry, I think I am not directly responding to your questions posted. Anyway, these are just some issues which
may affect those hobbyists with small koi pond.

Best Regards,
Thiam Hwa


(This post was edited by thiamhwa on Jun 21, 2007, 1:11 AM)


sunshinekoi
Member


Jun 21, 2007, 9:29 AM

Post #6 of 8 (552 views)
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Re: [thiamhwa] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello Thiam Hwa,
Nice to hear from you.
I see what you mean. Koi swims in one direction and hence built up muscle on one side. I presume koi can also swim the opposite way (counter clockwise) to built muscle on the other too. So is there really a logic to have the flow reverse? I am getting confused. Crazy

Sunshine


thiamhwa
Member / Moderator

Jun 21, 2007, 2:18 PM

Post #7 of 8 (536 views)
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Re: [sunshinekoi] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Sunshine,

If you have a big pond, I guess it didn't really matter. The reverse water flow option is only
for small pond whereby the pump is placed by the side of the elongated wall for water current flow
in a circular motion in one direction. In this case, it was suggested that one should alter the water
flow direction every monthly to achieve a balance body conformation.
On second thought, if you place the pump at the centre of one end wall for the water flow across
the full length of the pond, I think that will work just as well without having to rely on the reverse
water flow option.
I hope I am making sense here. Thank you.

Regards,
Thiam Hwa


sunshinekoi
Member


Jun 21, 2007, 8:53 PM

Post #8 of 8 (516 views)
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Re: [thiamhwa] Air-domes makes kois couch potatoes [In reply to] Can't Post
Thiam Hwa,
Many Thanks for your clarification. Wink
I guess with small pond is already hard to bring koi to its fullest potential and we can't even dream further of building muscle in that sense.

Take Care,
sunshine Tongue

 
 
 



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