Secrets of Japan Koi

JAPAN KOI FISH -- Japan Koi has become an icon around the world. Beauty of Japanese Koi is an atraction for koi lover . Quality of Japan Koi are difficult to obtain in other states. This is because raising koi have been made since the last decades consistently. Japanese are the true masters and have made important discoveries that link good koi health, excellent growth and superior hi development to many aspects of koi keeping, including the subject of water hardness, and TDS levels.



Hi (red color) will become thicker, the shine of the skin (Tsuya) will improve, and last but not least, the health of the Koi will be stimulated and greatly enhanced, hence less problems.In Japan some water quality parameters is maintained really well.

KH Carbonate Hardness or Alkalinity

Carbonate hardness is essential for the buffering effect it has on the pH of water within a pond. If a recorded pH of a given volume of water is 7.5 and an amount of acid is added, it is commonly
expected that the pH value should drop by the corresponding amount of acid added. If there were little or no KH value to the water, this would be the case, but the purpose of KH is to act as a buffer, so rather than the acid directly influencing the pH value, the acid is spent on the carbonate ions in the KH value, and only when the carbonate of 7.0. But, if left unattended, the pH will fall to dangerous levels, and quickly crash the system, resulting in acidic water, and a pond full of either very unhappy or dead koi.

A good KH level should be somewhere in the region of 2 to 6dH, with my preference being 3dH. There is
no point in running a higher level than six, as this will often result in a rise of the pH. The Japanese consider a pH of between 6.8 and 7.4 to be ideal.

GH General Hardness

This is a measure of the amount of dissolved solids (mineral content), for example, calcium and magnesium. GH has nothing directly to do with the KH buffering effects of water. A GH measurement is no indication of the KH value as the two are totally separate independent readings.

Japanese Nishikigoi professionals desire low GH values. GH can be measured as ppm or dH, (German Degrees of Hardness). A typical tap water reading in the Bristol area is around 14dH (250ppm, or parts per million). In Japan this would be considered extremely high! The general guide as an optimum GH in
Japan is about 50ppm (2.9 dH), with many people feeling that if a reading is at or above 2 dH (34ppm), it should be lowered.

TDS Total Dissolved Solids

A TDS reading represents anything that is dissolved in the water being tested. This includes GH, KH, fish waste, uneaten food and chemicals. It is often said that koi will only grow to the size of the pond, but in truth, the koi will grow according to the TDS level in the pond. A heavily stocked pond, with lack of
water maintenance will result in a TDS level that will continuously escalate, hence slowing koi growth as they get older, (consuming more food, and creating more waste).

Japan Koi Pond Case Studies

Typical Japanese case studies are as follows; these figures are for various Japanese breeders mud ponds in the Hiroshima area. All of the readings are TDS readings, and hence represent a total of GH and KH levels combined. A 'PPM' figure should be divided by 17.9 to obtain a dH reading.
Wakabayashi 65 to 78ppm,
Takumi 76 to 85ppm,
Takigawa 105 to 108ppm,
Imai 35 to 48ppm, Inoue 35 to 48ppm,
Momotaro 75 to 85ppm.

Naturally, all of these ponds have growth rates equal to but mainly greater than the pond in Swansea! But, temperature in Japan also plays a large part, as do the many additional insects etc, that breed in the clay base to the ponds.



Source:

http://www.yumekoi.com/images/stories/pdfs/april_2003.pdf