Hi hi, sorry for the late reply. I use Spindrfiter bottom drains which have the aerated dome built in. The original was invented by a guy who trades as Alternative Aquatics. They are a bit more expensive than some others but I have never had an issue with one and I've been sing them for about 20 years or more now so I can recommend them.

@@DazzleKoi thanks for responding!

Hi mate, I think its this one support.allpondsolutions.co.uk/helpdesk/attachments/2043082662066

Hi mate, the easiest way is to get a large container of some kind under your return and measure how long it takes to fill up to a known volume such as 20 litres. Any volume will work but the bigger the volume the more accurate it will be. You can then use these numbers to calculate the flow.

Thanks Terry 🍻🍻 I dont to be honest. All the years I've had showers running I've never cleaned one. As long as you have sufficient flow and the correct media it will look after itself.

Grazie mille per le tue gentili parole lo apprezzo davvero 🍺🍻🍺

Hi Alan, if I understand you correctly then that will work fine. I think what you are proposing is basically the same as mine but you are adding another hole rather than using the one I used (waste outlet). Should be all good 👍👍👍

As far as I understand, hikari is the same food from the same manufacturer. The difference is that 'saki' in the name indicates that the product contains 'hikari germ' which is basically a bacteria strain that lives in a koi's gut and aids digestion as well as several other benefits. There is simply no reason to include this in a food designed for cold water feeding as it wont be utilised. As such, for IP reasons their wheatgerm doesn't carry the 'saki' name. The ingredients are still the same high quality and hikari wheatgerm is considered throughout the koi world to be the best cold water food there is. Having seen a friend of mine feed ONLY hikari wheatgerm all year round and grow 2 chag to 1m I followed suit and have honestly never looked back. Feeding 'saki' in cold temperatures is a waste of money. You are paying for 'hikari germ' and it is just dying off.

Very good point mate. As a koi keeper, your money only goes one way, and that is out 😁

Hi Alan, its on one of my videos somewhere but basically it is connected in to the return line just downstream of the tempest. I add it straight from the supply so there is a slight level of chlorine so I dont want it going in to my bio filters before its diluted.

Hi mate, I think you may be referring to a test I planned to do on the effects of clay?? If so, I didn't see any difference at all. I gave up in the end as it felt like the most boring video ever 😁😁

Hi mate and thank you. Its the EA 70 litre pump that comes with the Eazy pod air. In theory its too big for a spindrifter as officially they are only meant to be fed about 25 litres but it works fine. It will occasionally make a vortex shape or blow some big bubbles out but its no problem. I've run pumps this big on spindrifters in the past for many years without it causing any problem 👍👍

Thanks Daz I have the same pump I don’t know what air diffuser is in the bottom drain as I didn’t build the pond, but I think my issue is lack of pressure , as the flexible pipe from the pump terminates into an adapter onto a 1 1/4 pipe that I assume goes all the way to the bottom drain. Even after diverting the air for 5mins or so for cleaning, it takes a good couple of minutes for the air to start coming back up through the bottom drain. I have ordered a 95 air pump to see if that gives me better pressure through the larger pipe

Thanks mate 👍 Gin rin is very cool. Because its a numbers game you dont seen many BIG gin rin but when you do its even more special.

Cheers mate 🍻🍺🍻

Hi mate, to be honest I have never seen one running so I'm not best placed to comment really. Oase are a huge company and generally turn out some good products so I would be surprised if they weren't a good filter. The principle seems sound but it is probably a question of how reliable they are as they seem to be quite complicated with a lot to go wrong. I'd love to test one but I couldn't justify the expense when my system is running perfectly as it is.

Thank you so much for the detailed answer

Hi mate, I throw enough in for the water I am adding only. Chuck it in where the water is being added at the start of the top up. It wont cause any harm if you overdose. The only thing I try to do is make sure the koi are not right there when I throw it in as they are always ravenous and I wouldn't want them to eat the crystals. You can dilute in pond water first and then tip the liquid in to ovoid this if you are worried.

Hi there and thank you very much. I'm in the North West UK, between Liverpool and Manchester 👍👍

Not sure whats wrong there mate. I assume its something on your end though as nobody else has had an issue. I'm no techie but you may be missing a particular codec. Might be worth trying updating your audio drivers.

Hi mate, its good to hear your shower is doing the business. I'm still delighted with mine, haven't touched it since the day I put it on either 👍 Ozone is a subject I studied about 15 years ago when I was getting pretty serious about my koi and the quality of koi I was buying. I decided at the time that while there are some clear benefits to it, most of the benefits can be had in other ways and I didn't think it was worth the expense and the work involved. Maybe if you have show winning koi or very high end tosai with potential to realise it is worth it. I'm very much a fan of keeping things simple and consistent now and ozone doesn't really tick either of those boxes. I do have it on my list of videos though so I will definitely talk about it at some point in the future

Thanks again mate, I really appreciate that 🍻🍺🍻

Hi mate, I'm sorry but a bead filter wont do a better job than a drum. I've run plenty beads in my time and they are good, but they are not even close to drum quality for mechanical filtration. They are also susceptible to bacterial issues if you dont flush them every day so are labour intensive. You dont need to backwash a drum, it does it itself, constantly. I also disagree with how much emphasis you place on contouring a pond bottom. I modelled this many years ago in fluid dynamics mathematical model software. Whilst there is a miniscule improvement in performance from a sloped bottom, this is completely negated by the reduction in reach of the drain pull. If you imagine the pull is a flow and it is basically moving out across the bottom. With a flat bottom it moves unhindered and reaches its maximum distance dictated by the flow down your drain. With a sloped bottom the pull moves out but 'hits' the slope and has to change direction. This damps the pull down and as a result it doesn't reach as far across the bottom. Since I studied this I have built every pond bottom flat and had better results than when I would bench them. On top of this, if you imagine the pond bottom is your carpeted floor at home (algae is similar consistency) and you drop a piece of sweetcorn on there, if the carpet is very slightly sloped it isn't going to make much if any difference to how easy it is to push that sweetcorn along.

Hi mate, I feed hikari wheatgerm all year round, nothing else. I only feed slightly higher protein food if I have young fish, up to 2 years.

Cheers Graham, very much appreciated Sir 🍻🍻🍻

My pleasure, good to hear you found it useful 🍻🥂🥂🍻

Thanks and welcome, good to have you along mate 🍻🥂🍻

Hello there Yvo, that's some great information, I had no idea about the restrictions in China. That could have a big impact on the hobby on many different levels. Next time you are in the UK I'd love to meet up with you at Tim's and have a coffee and a chat. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment 🍻🍻🍺🍻🍻

Thanks a lot 👍👍👍

Cheers pal 🍻🥂🍻

Hi there and thank you very much for taking the time to comment. I cant disagree with anything you say. I was very serious about my koi and it became all encompassing. I spent a fortune on ponds, filters, heating and koi themselves. My circumstances changed and I was out of the hobby for a few years I then built my little pond during lockdown to pass some time and give the garden a bit of interest and I can honestly say I get as much pleasure from this as I did when I had a huge pond full of good quality koi. The difference is I don't have half the stress and I can sleep at night 😁

Thanks mate 👍👍

Hi mate, its hard to say but even just angling it at 45 degrees at the surface helps a lot. If you mean you will have pipework in the water I would recommend using rubber boots as your koi will inevitably bang themselves on it at some point. You could experiment with the return by adding something after your filter that you can see and watch how it moves when it is returned to the pond. Clay is useful for that.

Hi mate, I completely agree with your first and last points. I don't necessarily agree with your point on diy filters though. Over 26 years I've seen and experienced many many disasters from diy filters because people don't understand the importance of preventing waste settling inside and of being able to flush waste out on a daily basis. Some do work well, but many many more end in bacterial disasters and dead koi. And given the price of a second hand pod or nexus its not even always much cheaper to build your own these days.

Cheers mate, I assume you are planning to get yourself some koi soon?

Thank you very much 🍻🥂🥂🍻

Thanks mate, all the best 🍻🍻

Hi mate, yes the wheatgerm is hikari, saki hikari is from the same manufacturer but is even higher quality and contains pre and pro biotics.

Hi mate and thank you, how's things with you?

Hi mate, I use the 3% food grade stuff off ebay. 1 litre of 3% per 1000 gallons of pond water. If you have a bigger pond than me you will be better going for a higher concentration. Just adjust the dose accordingly. Half a litre of 6% etc 👍👍

Thanks Tony, I appreciate that 🍻👍🍻

Cheers mate 🥂🥂

Hi mate, I have a video or two on this subject but basically I feed hikari wheatgerm all year round and I have never stopped feeding in winter for more than a few days over the last 26 years. If they are hungry and eat it within 5 minutes or so then it is fine. Koi and mother nature know what is best.

Hi mate, I've never seen any detriment to the performance of a biological filter. I've read a lot of papers on its impact in water purification and there doesn't seem to be anything out there that directly translates across to a koi pond bio filter. There is even an argument for the oxygen boost being beneficial. I'm happy that there is no issue though mate 👍👍