May 2001 Selected Articles
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May 2001 Selected Articles |
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The April meeting was held at the Rutherford’s home in Orange Park. Pat and Joanne went to great lengths to make us comfortable . We all enjoyed ourselves under the nice tent Pat erected for us to provide us shade from the hot sun. We held a silent auction on the Koi purchased in Orlando. Many bids were placed on these little treasures and at the end of the bidding war the Club profited l90.00 dollars.
Our friends, Joe and Sherry White graciously accepted our invitation to judge our Young Fish Show again. We can always count on Joe and Sherry. The results of the show will be announced at the next meeting and be printed in our next newsletter.
Our annual Pond Tour is just around the corner (June 2 & 3) and we are still looking for more club member’s to show their ponds. Members, please consider showing your pond and let’s make this years Pond Tour a great success once again. The tour is the biggest event of the year for gaining new members and also our best source of revenue for the club. This means we need at least l0 ponds and several volunteers to help at the starting points selling tickets and giving out club information. This year’s tour will reach from the beaches to Mandarin and over to Orange Park and Middleburg.
Our next month’s meeting will be at Gene and Tina Stogsdill’s on May l3. Please try to attend. Fred
Many thanks to Pat & JoAnne Rutherford for hosting the April club meeting. They have a lovely above ground pond with many beautiful koi. I loved the waterfall flowing into it. Thank goodness they have it covered, as we experienced the first heat wave of spring. However, it felt more like a typical, summer day. The tent for the meeting was also a blessing.
The meeting started off with an exciting update on the AFKAPS Show. We should
all be proud of how well our club did at the show. Congratulations to all those winners!!
The meeting progressed to the next order of business, which was the Young Fish Show.
Volunteers were asked to help with setting it up, filling the tanks, running the hot dog
concession, cleaning up, etc. Hands were raised and volunteers were found & given
tasks. Many questions were answered about the show. Fred Leib passed out an advertising
bulletin for the members to
hand out to friends.
Next, was a discussion about the NFKC Annual Pond Tour. Fred asked that those interested
in having their pond on the tour, to please make a final decision because we need to start
making the tour brochure. Tickets will again be selling for $5.00 prepaid in advance and
$6.00 the day of the tour.
An announcement was then made about a course that Todo and Sandee Todorsky have
volunteered to take to benefit the club. When the course is developed, it will be through
AKCA. When they have completed the course, they will be Koi Health Technicians. They will
be able to help club members with water quality. Our hats are off to them with many thanks
for volunteering.
The meeting ended with a presentation about koi identification given by Fred Leib.
Beautiful visuals were used to enhance the identification of the 13 main varieties.
Finally, after everyone had finished eating, Jim Roberts announced the winners of the
silent fish auction. The auction contained the seven koi purchased for the club at the
AFKPS. Well done to those winners because those were some very nice fish.
I look forward to seeing you at the next club meeting! Linda Hagan
Pump Head The proper pump is the heartbeat of an effective pond system!
Before you can pick the best pump for your pond, you need to determine what flow rate and total dynamic head (TDH) you need. Since the flow rate is reduced by the head it is working against, you must know both of these parameters as well as others to properly select a pump
Flow : The exact flow you will need depends on many factors including the size of your pond and waterfall, as well as the amount of fish, plants and sunlight. In general, most ponds will operate nicely if you turn the water over approximately once an hour. This means if you have a 4000 gallon pond, you want about 4000 gallons per hour, or 67 gallons per minute.
Head :Head is a measure of resistance to flow. If a pump has a maximum output of 20 head feet, it means it can pump water 20' straight in the air. If a pump is rated at 50 gallons per minute at 10 feet it means it can overcome 10 feet of head (TDH) and still deliver 50 GPM. As you increase the head, you decrease the flow rate, and increase your operating costs. To maximize your flow, you must minimize your head, which also minimizes your operating costs. For pond applications the 3 main sources of head are:
Static Head : This is the vertical distance you raise the water. To determine your static head, measure from the surface of the pond (vertically), to the highest point in the discharge line where the water is discharged to the atmosphere. This is usually the top of your biological filter, fountain, or waterfall.
Friction Head : As water flows through pipe and fittings there is resistance. The higher the flow and/or the smaller the pipe, the higher the resistance. Determine your overall pipe length, including adding in the equivalent length for your fittings. Consult the friction loss chart. Find where the column for your pipe diameter intersects the row for your flow rate and read the friction loss per 100' pipe. Use large enough pipe to minimize friction loss. It is usually best to keep your friction loss (per 100 feet of pipe) to less than 6 feet. In other words, once you know the desired flow rate, pick a pipe diameter, or schedule, that will give you less than 6 feet of friction loss per 100 feet of pipe. See Pg 4
Friction Loss: This char gives friction losses for your given flow rate per 100 feet of pipe. Example: if you want 60 gallons per minute, and you’re using 2 inch schedule 80 pipe, and you have a 160 feet of pipe, your friction loss is 8.12 x 1.6 = 12.99 feet of head. So we would either want to use schedule 40 pipe, or go to 3" schedule 80 pipe.
Fittings Loss : Now go to the bottom of the Friction Loss page and pick out the number and type of fittings you are using (use the worst case scenario if you have a bypass): Example; a 2" 90° elbow is the equivalent of an extra 6 feet of 2" pipe, so if you have ten 2" 90° elbows you would add 60 feet to your pipe length. After adding the extra feet for all your fittings you recalculate your total feet of head. In this case it would add 60 feet to 160 feet for a total of 220 feet or 2.2 x 8.12 = 17.9 feet of head.
Pressure Head : Any additional pressure required by sand filters, spray nozzles, etc. must be calculated. The conversion is 1 PSI = 2.31 head feet. If our sand filter runs at 10 PSI, that would add 23.1 feet of head to the 17.9 feet required to overcome the friction loss of our pipe and fittings. So now the total pump head is 41 feet without considering the static head. (Notice that the pump head will increase as the sand filter gets dirty and increases the back pressure.)
Total dynamic head ( TDH) : Add your static head, friction loss head, fittings loss head, and pressure head. Don't forget to add up the equivalent feet of pipe for all the fittings. Now that you know your flow and head, you can select a pump that provides this performance, and does so efficiently.
Type of head Source Calculation PH
Static Head Waterfall 10' - above surface of water 10.0
Pipe Loss 2" Pipe 8.12' per 100 feet of pipe 13.0
Fittings Loss 6' per elbow 10 2" 90° elbows = 60 ft 4.9
Pressure Head Sand Filter running at 10 psi x 2.31 23.1
Total Pump head in feet 51.
Performance Curves: Now we know that we need a pump that can handle 67 gallons per minute at 51 feet of head. This information can be found on the performance curves for the pumps.
Maximum Efficiency Area: We want to select a pump that has these results inside of the maximum efficiency curve area.
Lowest Operating Cost:If we have more than one pump that meets all these requirements we can then select the pump with the lowest operating cost, I.e., lowest amps or watts.Remember, a 230 volt motor will run at half the amperage of a 115 volt motor, but wattage is the amps times the voltage, so we have not gained any cost savings because we doubled the voltage. A 2 horsepower motor can cost $2,000 per year to operate.
Lowest Noise: We also want a pump that is quiet enough to allow us to enjoy our pond. Most manufacturers can supply a noise number in decibels (dB) at 3 feet from the pump. We want the lowest dB possible. We can also mount the motor on rubber noise isolation pads, or shield it with noise attenuating "walls". http://www.KoiFishPond.com
Consider the Lowly Duckweed by TodoBack in March we make that trip to Kanapaho Gardens. As Jan, Anne and I got there we checked out the plants they had for sale, planning to get a few as we left. In the very back of the plants stood an old concrete urn full of rain water, old dead leaves, foul smelly dirt and the most luxurious growth of duckweed (Lemna minor) in the state.
We marveled at it so when bought plants later on, Anne asked about the duckweed and found it was not for sale. Turned out the garden folks knew nothing about the duckweed and said we could have it. What joy! In a plastic grocery bag I put five big handfuls of the wondrous greens and when I left, the urn looked just as weedy as when we first saw it.
We split the proceeds and at home I put half of mine into the bog attached to my pond. The other half went into a kiddies’ wading pool full of dead leaves, rancid dirt and mosquito larvae that had been sitting in my back yard for years. Not the most fastidious gardener, me.
The duckweed in the bog did poorly, did not multiply well. In short, it flopped and to this day it’s thin and sparse. This is the same result I have had with this plant for years. My fish love it and so I keep trying to grow it, but my pond does not support it. Meanwhile, back at the wading pool, there floated the second best crop of duckweed in the state. Hurray! Hurray!
Could it be the foul, leaf-laden water was better for the miraculous weed than the clear pond water that flows through the bog? Obviously so, which got me off on studying duckweed.
It turns out that this plant is a marvel of the vegetable kingdom. Given the right conditions, it can double its biomass in 24-48 hours, one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It propagates by budding so all plants in one population are clones or sister plants. Some Australian and African species have the smallest flowers and smallest fruits in the world. Smaller even than a grain of salt. It travels around stuck to the feet and feathers of birds. It also survives drying to the point of desiccation for weeks to months on end.
A voracious consumer of nutrients, duckweed is used to treat sewage and as a test plant for eco-toxicity. In short, if it is in the water the weed sucks it up. Which explains my problem with trying to grow it in the bog. My pond water flows through a 250 gal. up flow filter, an 8’x 8’x 3’ veggie filter with hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes) and parrots feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) and some of that water goes to a 10’x 4’x 10” bog with Anacharis (Elodea), more parrots feather and many other macro plants. The reason for all the foliage is to defeat green water. However, this is the same reason the duckweed does not grow in my bog. There are not enough free nutrients. Of course in the wading pool there is nothing but nutrients and no competition. Decaying plant matter and Florida sun make for a duckweed smorgasbord.
Then again, any body of still or slow moving water with sufficiently high nutrient levels will support a colony of the weed. And here we get another meaning of the word weed, a troublesome plant. Duckweed blooms plague many waterways about the country during summer months. These infestations foul the water, the shorelines and deplete oxygen levels.
Removing duckweed from lakes and ponds is either done with herbicides or by mechanical means. The herbicides do nothing about the nutrients in the water so repeated blooms are common. Not to mention the effect of chemicals on other plants and animals in the system.
Mechanical removal is a better choice as it also removes the nutrients. The weed can then be composted and fed to livestock. Duckweed is high in protein. Some studies show that one hectare of duckweed can supply enough food for over 4000 chickens and ducks. 10 acres of duckweed could supply over half the nutrients needed for 100 dairy cows. Then the cow manure can be used to fertilize more duckweed. Don’t you just love how nature works?
So let us consider the lowly duckweed. It toils plenty and propagates like nothing on earth. A perennial in many parts of the country, it survives on and improves some of the worst water and allows us to treat our koi to wholesome fresh high protein food.
Are you equipped for koi keeping? So what sort of equipment do you need? Although it is not possible to draw up a list that covers every contingency, we can list some basic equipment that every hobbyist needs to handle routine tasks and most common problems.Water testing: Water testing is an essential part of healthy koi-keeping and general fish-keeping. Regardless of what type of water test-kit is used, it is important that testing is undertaken regularly. It is also important to keep a record of the readings. This gives a documented history of the pond, showing up seasonal fluctuations, any anomalies and the possible causes of any problems. As well as the results of each test, record the date and time of day they were carried out. Testing should be carried out weekly and more often if the pond is new, medicated or disturbed in any way. The basic tests that all koi-keepers should carry out are for temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrite, dissolved oxygen, hardness and nitrate. It is worth also noting any pond treatments or introductions of fish and entering that with your measurement results into a record book.
Capture and treatment: It is amazing how many koi keepers do not own a proper net. We all need to catch our fish at some time. Taking a fish out of a pond is potentially hazardous and everything possible should be done to reduce the risk of stress and damage. I am all for economies where possible but whatever you do don't try to economize when buying a net, buy the best. The wrong type (too small, flexible or of poor quality materials or design) makes catching koi a stressful exercise - for both you and your fish. Worse still, it can lead to serious physical damage if fish are knocked or fins and scales are caught. The net should be a shallow-pan type of at least 24-inch diameter, with a long, firm handle that doesn't flex when the net is moved through the water. Koi should not be lifted out of the pond in a net - it is to be used for confining and guiding them to the side of the pond where they should be encouraged to swim into a floating bowl or basket. These can be bought from specialist koi outlets although I have seen some effective home-made ones. A floating basket confines the koi, allowing examination without having to remove it from the pond. A koi sock-net, a long narrow net with an open bottom, makes koi handling safe and easy! If the koi has to be removed from the pond for treatment it is important to have at least two large treatment bowls. Again, these can be bought from koi specialists or, alternatively, round 25-gallon cold-water tanks can be obtained from a plumbers' merchant. An air-pump is essential as aeration is needed with most medications. A small aquarium pump that can serve two air-stones is fine. It is bad practice to use other people's nets and bowls as this brings with it the risk of infection.
First aid: Even with the best-designed and managed pond there will be the occasional problem. It is no good waiting until the problem arises and then desperately running about trying to get hold of equipment and treatments. Every koi-keeper should have a basic first-aid kit, which should be kept out of reach of children. See pg 8
A baby's changing mat makes an ideal treatment surface for koi, being soft and less likely to remove mucus than a damp towel. You will also need cotton buds, cotton wool, towel or napkins, paper towels, a small and large pair of sharp scissors and a pair of tweezers or forceps. Some situations may require the use of an anaesthetic such as MS222 (tricaine methane sulphonate). The first-aid kit should also contain an iodine-based topical antiseptic (eg Vetark Tamodine), a wound dressing e.g. Boots Orabase) and Marinol Blue or Roccal for cleaning out wounds. There are other products that are also suitable. It is worth considering the purchase of a good magnifying glass for close inspection of wounds. Last but not least is the good old stand-by, a big bag (usually 25 kg) of cooking salt. Thanks to Fish Doc at http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/koi/koiequip.htm
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