My Winter Water Garden – 60 Koi Fish Under Ice!
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A water garden small or large, indoors or outdoors could be a 24-hour benefit to your health. I’ll cover the potential health benefits later. But first, let me tell you about my lessons-learned concerning my own water garden.
Here are the subjects I’m going to talk about concerning my water garden:
- My Water Garden Is A Mud Hole
- A Dozen Koi Fish Turn Into 60 Koi Fish Overnight
- Preventing Algae Growth – 100% Guaranteed
- Home-Made Water Garden Nets
- Repairing My Nets
- Home-Made Water Filters / Aeriation Water Pumps
- How I Clean My Home-Made Submersible Pumps
- Bringing An Almost Dead Koi Fish Back To Life
- Something You Should NEVER Do To Your Koi Fish
- Winter Water Garden
- Health Benefits Of A Water Garden
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My Water Garden Is A Mud Hole!
Back in October 2007, I moved into an old house on 07.8 acres out in the country. It’s very quiet compared to all the constant non-stop noise in any city big or small.
I’m pretty much surrounded by woods and open country. The wildlife is close-up. I have 06 game trails coming into my property complimented with plenty of deer, opossums, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, birds, non-venomous snakes,…
When I initially looked-over the property before I bought it, there was a 1,000-gallon water garden. I knew NOTHING about a water garden with koi fish. What the heck is a water garden and what the heck are a koi fish?
The water garden is constructed from black-colored cement. It was about 04 ½ feet deep 12-feet long with a smaller water garden just above it that acted as a waterfall. I looked at it and saw no life. There was a cement frog hooked-up to a pump squirting water into the water garden.
When I purchased the house, I took a closer look at the water garden. It was a mud hole. Again, I saw no life and the water was black. Black meaning the 1,000 gallon water garden was full of debris, dirt,…
I decided to let it be and I did absolutely nothing with it till the weather started warming up in March 2008. I was busy moving into my new house and other stuff.
March of 2008, I went to work to clean-up the water garden. I got in the black water and was surprised to count about 06 koi fish swimming around. The previous owner never said there were any koi fish in the water garden.
Since I moved-in, I never did anything to the water garden. I didn’t know there were life koi fish in it. I never added water to it nor fed the fish. How could those koi fish survive in the dirty water with no food for at least 05-months? I did a little research and found that koi fish are DURABLE fish because the come from the catfish family.
Well it was time to figure out how I was going to clean my 1,000 gallon water garden without killing the fish. I was going to pump out all the muddy water and start all over. I got in that cold water and started pulling out small & big branches and buckets of leaves & acorns,… I also used a net with a fine mesh to grab all the smaller debris. I added more water from the garden hose. The water was still black but it didn’t have all that debris.
Over time I kept cleaning the water garden using the net with the fine mesh. And I kept adding more water to it from the garden hose. Eventually the water cleared-up a bit. But as April and May 2008 came around, algae grew non-stop in the water garden. I found out later that direct sunlight into the water helps the algae grow.
Over the next few years I learned several do’s and don’ts about my water garden to include making my own underwater pumps that not only filtered the water but also aeriated the water for crystal clear oxygen-rich water.
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A Dozen Koi Fish Turn Into 60 Koi Fish Overnight!
Back in Spring / Summer of 2009, I left my house to work a graveyard shift (Homeland Security). I came home the next morning and was SHOCKED when I looked into my water garden. I was caring for about a dozen koi fish but now I had 50 more baby koi fish!! I tried counting them and estimated I had a total of about 60 or more koi fish! 60 koi fish to care for!
But since then, there have been no more new baby koi fish because I figure them smart critters know for a 1,000 gallon water garden, there isn’t any more room for any more fish.
By the way, here’s a way you can tell the difference between male and female koi fish. The fins on a male koi fish have angles whereas female koi fish are rounded. And the bodies of female koi fish are more rounded than male koi fish. Koi fish can be purchased at most Walmart stores. Pick out both male and female koi fish for your water garden and one day like me – BAAAAM – you got a bunch of little ones to feed.
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Preventing Algae Growth – 100% Guaranteed!
Let me start with PREVENTING algae growth. I initially purchased chemicals that helped stopped the algae growth but I figured those chemicals weren’t good for the koi fish. I knew algae needed direct sunlight to grow. So what I did, I stopped pruning all the vegetation growing on all sides of the water garden.
Over the next couple of years, besides the oak trees shading the water garden, all that other vegetation (honeysuckle,…) shaded the water garden too. And through the months of April to November, there was no algae growth. It’s that simple. Right now as I write this blog post (19 November 2018), there is absolutely no algae in the water garden. The water is dark because of all the leaves falling into the water. I periodically pull the debris out of the water garden using my nets.
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Home-Made Water Garden Nets!
Now let me tell you about water garden nets. YOU DON’T NEED TO BUY THOSE EXSPENSIVE NETS! I did. I initially bought nets from a water garden company and they broke real quick. My nets are 50-times more durable, last several years and cost 1/10th the price.
I have 04 nets. I purchased 02 nets (white gill net with 01 ½-foot wooden handle) from Walmart where all the fishing tackle is located. One of those nets I use to grab all the big debris in the water garden. The other net, I taped it to a 08-foot pole I purchased at a hardware store. I use this net to grab large debris in the water garden without getting in the water.
The other 02 nets I purchased at PetSmart. They are the large blue nets with metal handles. These nets are used to grab the smaller debris that slips through the bigger nets I just talked about. One net I use by hand when I’m in the water garden and the other I taped to a another 08-foot pole I purchased at a hardware store. I use this blue net to grab the large and finer debris in the water garden. Also, on an average of every 02-years, I might find a dead koi fish and I’ll use one of the nets with poles to grab the fish. See “Bringing a Koi Fish Back To Life!”
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Repairing My Nets!
The nets will eventually tear, mostly along the edges where it’s connected to the wire frame. I easily repair all my nets using a large sewing needle and dental floss. Instead of spending several dollars buying a new net, just sew it up with dental floss. It’s that simple. It has to be dental floss cause it’s 50-times more durable and stronger than regular sewing thread. Yes, you can try fishing line but dental floss is a lot cheaper.
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Home-Made Water Filters / Aeriation Water Pumps!
The first few years, I purchased those water filter pumps and water aeriation units from a water garden company. I got away from those products because they wouldn’t last long and you had to re-purchase them. So I decided to make my own units (03) that filtered the water and aeriated the water. With 60+ koi fish, you need to have some good water filters and water aerators.
I’ve used these home-made units for several years and they have saved me lots of money versus buying those other filters and aerators. Plus, they outperform that other stuff big time.
Here’s a list of the things I use to build each unit:
- Wayne Submersible Pump [WSP] (1/10 Horsepower – 660 GPH)
- Old 01 ½-foot section of garden hose (screws on to WSP)
- 02 ½ gallon plastic bucket with handle
- Filter Media (large)
- Filter Media (small / fine)
- 07 medium size flat rocks
- Black magic marker
- Heavy-duty scissors
The filter media I purchased from The Pond Guy. The large filter media is a bright green plastic-looking mesh designed to grab the larger debris. The small / fine filter media is a dark green foam-looking filter designed to gran the very small debris.
Step 01: Take the large filter media and place it on the table.
Step 02: Place the plastic bucket on the edge of the filter media.
Step 03: We’re going to make the bottom filter that fits the bottom of the bucket. Draw a circle outlining the shape of the bottom of the bucket.
Step 04: Cut out the circle shape with the scissors.
Step 05: Place the round filter at the bottom of the bucket.
Step 06: Place the Wayne Submersible Pump (WSP) in the center of the bottom filter.
Step 07: Screw on the 01 ½-foot section of garden hose onto the WSP.
Step 08: Now we’re going to make our rectangular filters. First, we’ll start with the foam-looking small / fine filters to catch the small debris before it gets to the WSP. Take your scissors and cut the filter media so they’re about 02-inches wide and 04-inches long. After you cut the 1st filter, insert it in the bottom of the bucket. It should feel snug between the WSP and the inner wall of the bucket. If it’s not snug, just adjust the measurements for the follow-on filters.
Step 09: Keep cutting filters and inserting them into the bucket till you have one complete layer of filters around the WSP.
Step 10: Now we’re going to cut a 2nd layer of small / fine filters to lay on top of the 1st layer. If you want you can cut the filters slight larger to get a snug fit or cut them as before, depending on the shape of your plastic bucket. Cut enough filters to make a complete layer around the bottom filters.
Step 11: Now we’re going to cut-out more filters using the larger filter media. These filters are cut slightly larger than the small / fine filters because of the shape of the plastic bucket (gets wider towards the top). So estimate the dimension of the filters and cut several filters to form the 3rd layer of filters.
Step 12: Re-estimate the size for the 4th layer of filters and cut enough filters to form the 4th layer around the WSP.
Cut another square-shaped filter for the top center of the plastic bucket.
Step 13: To insure all the filter media stays in the bucket while under water and in operation, place all 07 flat rocks on all the filter media.
I use three of these home-made units in my water garden. I have an outdoor outlet in my carport that’s hooked-up to a timer. I have a green extension cord which runs to a 04-prong outlet which is secured under a fake hollowed-out grey rock on the side of the water garden that protects the multi-prong outlet.
My timer runs all 03 units for 20-hours a day. It’s set-up to turn off at 2000 hours (8pm) and turn back on at 2400 hours (Midnight).
Depending on the debris in the water and activity of the 60 koi fish, I clean all 03 filters once every 02 to 03-weeks.
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How I Clean My Home-Made Submersible Pumps!
I clean all 03 units while I’m in the water garden. Here are the items I use to clean all 03 units:
- Garden hose with jet sprayer with on/off trigger
- Very large storage container (45-gallon)
- Small plastic container (04 gallon)
- Small plastic container to bail water
- Waders (for cold water temperatures)
- 02 Nets to grab large and fine debris
Step 01: TURN OFF electricity or DISCONNECT power cord from outlet.
Step 02: Turn on water to garden hose with jet sprayer and place the hose in the water garden.
Step 03: Place the 04-gallon plastic container, small plastic container (bailer) and both nets in the very large 45-gallon plastic container and slide it in water garden.
Step 04: Carefully enter the water garden. If the water is cold, wear waders.
Step 05: I use both nets to clean leaves and other debris from the water garden before I start cleaning the submersible pumps.
Step 06: I place the debris in the small 04-gallon plastic container. Once I’m finished, I toss all the debris to the sides of the water garden. The debris acts as natural fertilizer.
Step 07: With my 45-gallon container floating in front of me, I pull the first unit out of the water and place it at the far left of the large 45-gallon container. On the other end (right-side) is the 04-gallon plastic container.
Step 08: I grab my hose with the jet sprayer in my right-hand and grab one of the flat rocks and pull the trigger spraying & cleaning the rock of all debris while all the water & debris is captured and staying within the 45-gallon container. After 05-secobds of spraying the rock, I turn off the jet spray and place the clean rock to the 04-gallon plastic container to the far right.
Step 09: I grab the 2nd rock and clean it and place it in the plastic container. I clean and secure all the flat rocks.
Step 10: Now I grab the first large media filter. I like to hold it near the bottom of 45-gallon container and spray it on one-side and flip it over and spray it and flip it sideways to clean it thoroughly. You can see all the debris being ejected from the filter. Once it’s clean I place it in the 04-gallon container to the right.
Step 11: I grab the 2nd media filter and clean it and place it in the plastic container. I clean and secure all large media filters. You’d be surprised how much debris and dirty water are now in the 45-gallon container.
Step 12: I don’t like the 45-gallon container filling up with dirty water & debris. At this time, I take my small plastic container and bail the dirty water & debris out to the sides of the water garden. The water and debris feed all the plants and honeysuckles. I bail all the water & debris out of the 45-gallo container.
Step 13: Now I grab the first small / fine media filter. Again, I like to hold it near the bottom of 45-gallon container and spray it on one-side and flip it over and spray it and flip it sideways to clean it thoroughly. With the more dense filters, you can see smaller dirt-like debris being ejected from the filter. Once it’s clean I place it in the 04-gallon container to the right.
Step 14: I grab the 2nd small / fine media filter and clean it and place it in the plastic container. I clean and secure all small / fine media filters. Again, you’d be surprised how much dirt-like debris and dirty water are now in the 45-gallon container.
Step 15: I now grab the Wayne Submersible Pump (WSP) and spray it on all sides especially cleaning the bottom of the WSP. Once cleaned-up, secure it in the small 04-gallon container.
Step 16: Secure the last filter, the round-shaped large filter media at the bottom of the bucket. Spray it on both sides and the outer edges till it’s thoroughly cleaned. Place it in the plastic container to the right.
Step 17: Clean the bucket and place it to the right on top of everything in the 04-gallon bucket.
Step 18: Now bail all the dirty water & debris out of the 45-gallon container.
Step 19: Once the 45-gallon container is empty of dirty water & debris, I re-assemble the unit and place everything back in the bucket in reverse. Once assembled, I place the unit off to the side of the water garden.
Step 20: I clean my other 02 units as prescribed in Step 07 – 19.
Step 21: I re-sweep the water garden with my nets, especially the bottom of the water garden for debris.
Step 22: I now place all 03 units in my water garden. Be careful. Insert the units straight down in the water with both hands all the way to the bottom. Since the units have the several flat rocks on top of all the filter media, they are top heavy and can easily flip over. So insert the units straight down in the water with both hands filling-up the units with water.
Step 23: Get out of the water garden with the 45-gallon container and all equipment. Turn off the water.
Step 24: Turn on the electricity and insure the water on all units is shooting straight-up.
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Bringing An Almost Dead Koi Fish Back To Life!
When I only had about a dozen koi fish and before I figured out how to make my own water filter / water aerator units, I’d clean the water garden when it got real dirty by simply draining it, cleaning it and refilling it using the garden hose. I transferred the 12 koi fish from the water garden to an old hot tub that I cleaned-out and filled with water. One koi fish I named Titanic because that baby was huge. It had to weigh-in at least 15 – 20 pounds easy. Anyway, I had all 12 koi fish in the hot tub. They were swimming around and I left to work on draining the water garden, cleaning it out and refilling it with the garden hose.
About a couple hours later I finished-up my with the water garden and I was now filling it up with water from the garden hose.
I went to the hot tub real quick to check on the 12 koi fish. They were just swimming around in the crystal clear water. I went inside the house to take a break and came back out about 20-minutes later. I checked on the water garden filling up and then I turned around and headed for the hot tub which is built into the deck. I took a couple steps and the movement caught my eyes. Titanic was on the dirt flopping around.
I immediately ran to grab Titanic. I ran to Titanic 2nd to come to put him back in the water but 1st to rescue him from the raccoons I treat as pets and the cats I also have as pets. As big as Titanic is, them raccoons or cats would have grabbed him and took him deep under the deck and I couldn’t rescue him in time.
Anyway, I grabbed Titanic and carefully placed him back in the water in the hot tub. Titanic actually hit hard 03-times before I got to him. When he jumped out of the hot tub, he hit the deck on the same level as the hot tub, then hit the lower deck and then fell downward to hit the dirt.
I placed Titanic in the water and he was swimming around OK. After 05-minutes I went back in the house to take another break. Almost an hour later I came back out to check on the water garden and check on the koi fish in the hot tub and especially check on Titanic.
I immediately spotted Titanic. Titanic wasn’t swimming. He was floating sideways. This is a sure sign of dead fish or nearly dead. Titanic’s fins were still moving. I figure Titanic being out of the water and hitting hard 03-times injured and shocked him. So I got an idea.
I ran across my backyard and grabbed a long stick. I ran back to the hot tub and started to gently tap Titanic with the stick to get it to swim normally and stop it from floating sideways. I gently tapped Titanic for nearly an hour and he stopped flipping over on his side and swam normally. Titanic recovered completely. He lived for another 07-years till this area had a complete long-term power outage and all my pumps stopped providing oxygen for my 60 koi fish.
I never heard of this ‘tapping’ technique anywhere before. It just came to me and I tried it. I don’t know why it worked but it does work. Something you ought to know in case one of your koi fish is sick or hurt.
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Something You Should NEVER Do To Your Koi Fish!
I try to tell everybody who reads my Survival Work – NEVER NEVER NEVER, one more time – NEVER drink tap water. And here’s why and then I’ll tell you what happened to one of my koi fish.
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What about chlorinated water? Is it safe to drink?
According to my research, the human body has no need for chlorine. Chlorine used for water purification is a bleaching gas. Almost twenty years ago (1970s), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) detected a number of chlorinated carcinogens (cancer causing substances) in the drinking water of several cities in the United States.
According to a small-scale study by Ronald Pataki of New Jersey City, New Jersey, people over 50 years of age with heart disease drank tap water in quantities correlating with the severity of their heart disease. The more chlorinated water they had drank in the past, corresponded to the seriousness of their heart disease.
He also found that those people over 50 years of age not afflicted with heart disease, drank bottled water, boiled water (boiling water releases the chlorine, which bubbles out as gas in the steam), or mostly other fluids. Dr. Joseph Price of Saginaw General Hospital in Michigan stated to a reporter that “chlorine is the cause of an unprecedented disease epidemic which includes heart attacks and strokes. Chlorine is an insidious poison.
Most medical researchers were led to believe it was safe, but now we are learning the hard way that all the time we thought we were preventing epidemics of one disease, we were creating another. Two decades after the start of chlorinating our drinking water in 1904, the present epidemic of heart trouble and cancer began.”
Dr. Price tested the effects of chlorine on chickens. Chickens receiving chlorinated water showed evidence of either atherosclerosis of the aorta or obstruction of the circulatory system.
Japan abandoned chlorination after the post-World War II occupation by American troops. The Japanese heart disease death rate is one-sixth of the United States (as of 1977, current data concerning chlorine is unavailable). Treating water using the benefits of ozone instead of chlorination is noted to be superior form of purifying water.
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I Almost Killed All My Koi Fish Using Tap Water!
I filled-up my 1,000 gallon water garden and started-up the filters which filtered the water and aeriated the water via all the shooting & splashing of water.
I waited a couple hours before I transferred my 12 koi fish from the hot tub to the water garden because of the chlorine in the water. I figure after a couple hours all that chlorine would have evaporated. I transferred my 12 koi fish back into the water garden. Twenty minutes later one of the koi fish started swimming wildly and popped-up out of the water. Then it stopped fishing wildly and floated sideways. It was dead real quick.
I figured it was the water, the chlorine in the water. I immediately transferred all the other fish back in the hot tub. The water in the water garden was treated with enough chlorine to kill that koi fish in minutes and we all drink chlorinated water every day. If I had been away longer, that chlorinated water would have killed all my koi fish.
With all the pumps going 24-hours (water shooting & splashing), I waited a full 24-hours before I transferred the remaining koi fish back into the water garden. A good lesson learned about toxic chlorine in the water which we all drink and put in our water gardens.
Bottom Line: NEVER place koi fish or any fresh water fish in chlorinated tainted water. Wait at least 24-hours to get the chlorine to evaporate before you add any fish to fresh water. Me, I NEVER drink tap water straight from the faucet. I ALWAYS use a water filter prior to drinking it.
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Winter Water Garden!
During the cold winter months, my water garden freezes over with the ice several inches thick and my 60 koi fish do just fine. Sometimes the pumps shooting water upwards form a thick ice dome and I have to take a hammer to break-up the ice dome because the fish need fresh air that mixes with the shooting water.
The koi fish don’t eat much during the winter months. But every few days, I feed them their koi pellets.
Water levels drop when thick ice forms over the entire water garden. When needed, I slowly add 50 – 100 gallons of water from the house faucet.
Other than the issues I stated above, the koi fish do just fine during the winter months. If the ice melts, I may go into the water garden and clean the 03 units. The water stays clean on its own during the winter months.
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Health Benefits Of A Water Garden!
A water garden big or small, indoors or outdoors may give some healthy benefits and here’s some research to prove it. I’ll cover the following subjects:
- Healing Negative Ions
- Wabisabi Stress Buster
- Sound Therapy
- Feng Shui
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Healing Negative Ions: Water Gardens may be a source of Negative Ions. Here’s some healthy data you might find interesting.
Did you notice when you’re outdoor’s you feel better – you feel good don’t you! You know why? Cause it’s because of negative ions! Negative ions are charged particles of oxygen.
According to Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D., author of The Owner’s Manual For The Brain, multitudes of negative ions can be found near beaches, mountains and moving bodies of water. When negative ions are inhaled, they produce a chemical reaction within our bodies boosting serotonin levels that are instrumental in lifting our mood, making us feel much better.
Doctor Howard goes on to say “The air at the beach contains negative ions, but in homes and offices, there may be only a few hundred – or even zero.” Getting a good helping of negative ions improves our health. Howard goes on to say “The result is that our moods rise, our stress dissolves, we have more energy and we even sleep better at night.”
Ion researcher Michael Terman Ph.D., at Columbia University states, “At the shore, it’s the pounding of the surf on land that creates negative ions in the air. But thunderstorms do the same thing, by pounding the earth with heavy rains.” Terman goes on to say “Negative ions seem to be most plentiful in humid environments. So if you expose yourself to humidity, you’ll likely get an energizing and mood-lifting dose of negative ions.” So if your not out in the wilderness, just step outside on your porch after a thunderstorm has long passed and get a good helping of negative ions – heck open up the windows to get the whole house full of negative ions!
So next time you’re outdoors and are feeling blue, feeling down in the dumps, or a survivor in your group has a bad attitude, – instead of slapping that whacked-out survivor around or securing him 50-meters downwind next to your latrine, GO STATIC near a beach, moving water source, mountains,… or hunker down after a thunderstorm and collect some healing healthy negative ions and carry-on with the 8 Elements of Survival (Fire, Water, Shelter, First-Aid, Signal, Food, Weapons and Navigation).
Negative ions have been studied to have the following positive effects on the body:
- Improve one’s energy
- Improve mood
- Fight depression
- Fight fatigue
- Reduce or eliminate stress
- Improve sleep
But what if I want negative ions in my home right now 24-hours a day? You can purchase a negative ion generator which are found at your local hardware stores.
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Wabisabi Stress Buster: Japanese practice the stress-busting effects of a philosophy called Wabisabi. It’s a practice of appreciating nature. Research has proven that just looking at nature scenes INSTANTLY lowers heartbeat & respiration and calms the nervous system. And a water garden with its pond plants and surround plants around the water garden may act as a Wasabi Stress Buster.
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Sound Therapy: Sound Therapy is based on the idea that sound and music can influence our health through both its calming and energizing effects on the brain hypothalamus and central nervous system. Sound Therapy is used in hospitals, schools, and psychological treatment programs to alleviate pain, improve movement and balance, lower blood pressure, overcome various learning disabilities, promote endurance & strength, and reduce stress!
Water gardens provide the sounds of flowing and splashing water. The sounds promote better moods, counter toxic sounds like loud music, loud traffic, loud motorcycles, barking dogs, loud neighbors,…
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Feng Shui: According to Feng Shui, WATER is the symbol of wealth and prosperity. Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway) is an ancient Chinese Art of Placement. In modern times, placement or lack of placement of house (office buildings, work place…), entrances, furnishings, stairways, walls, windows, plants, walkways, beds, trees, trails, improved roads (asphalt), colors, room shape,… are utilized to achieve a balanced flow of what the Chinese call chi or prana or universal life force.
Feng Shui also called Geomancy is the art of manipulating your fate in your favor by using Feng Shui to invite prosperity, health, and happiness. Feng Shui’s goal is to establish a harmonious balance of chi throughout your house, office, workplace,…
Water flows in the water garden should be facing the entrance into the house.
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