Yumekoi

Bakki Showers in the UK

The following pages are focussed on Showered ponds that are currently running in the UK, and how the pond owners feel about them. These pages will hopefully inspire in respect of how you can install Bakki Showers onto your existing, or new pond.

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		This 7500 gallon pond belongs to Colin Hughes, and currently has two sets off Bakki Showers fitted. One set is drawn from a vortex, with a Sequence 1/4+, and pumped up over the Showers at about 2900 gallons per hour. The second set is fed by another Sequence 1/4+, that is drawing water directly from the bottoms drains and then to the showers without any settlement. Colin is very much convinced of the advantages of Bakki Showers. He is in a very 'soft water' area, and has always had trouble maintaining a KH level, resulting in having to add a pH buffer to the pond periodically. Since running Showers, his system is so much cleaner, and maintenance is virtually redundant. Also, the KH no longer needs buffering! Colin's own words, "It's absolutely superb! My water is so much better, and my fish are so much hungrier! The food that they used to take 30 minutes to consume, is now gone within 10 minutes! I can't wait to get a third set running!" Colin's pond is very heavily stocked. Apart from 4 Koi that were bought as Nisai (2 year old), every Koi has been purchased as Tosai (less that one year old). Several of these Koi are now 60cm long, and only two and a half years old! Colin has also grown a male Kohaku to over 70cm (now five and a half years old). Switching to Bakki Showers seems to have shown a noticeable increase in growth.
To the right, is the pond of Ian and Jill Graham. The picture on the left shows Ian, Daisuke Maeda (of Momotaro Koi Farm), and myself. Ian is a very dedicated Koi keeper indeed. Ian says, "I spent over £5000 on filtration for my 6500 gallon pond, which included two big vortex based filter systems, sand filters, three trickle towers, a fluidised bed filter, and other revolutionary products. I have removed all of this except two bare vortexes, and have spent a further £3000 to switch to Showers". After meeting Daisuke Maeda in April 2003, Ian was convinced that Bakki Showers were the best way forward". He was the first person in the UK to switch completely to a Bakki Showered system, and is very glad that he did! Ian removed every piece of equipment, including Ozone from his pond. He then reconfigured the pond, so that each of the bottom drains fed into just a vortex, and then a Sequence 1/4+ pump, and over the showers. There is no longer a UV on the pond either. In Ian's case, he saved over 1000 watts by switching to Bakki Showers, and now gets more pleasure than he ever has from Koi. Ian endorses the system by saying, "Water parameters are the best I've ever had. The running costs are very low indeed. Water clarity is as good as it's ever been, and maintenance is really simple... it's brilliant!" Even is so happy that he now only buys Tosai Koi. He can make his Koi grow faster than most of Japan's breeders. As of the end of November 2003, his Spring 2003 Tosai Koi have all grown to between 47 and 55cm. Some of these Koi will become over 60cm before their 2nd Birthday!		Daisuke Maeda visited Ian's pond again in June 2003, and smelling, splashing, and tasting the water, said to Ian, "Your water is so good, that I would not hesitate in putting our best Koi into your pond!".
		Ian's Bakki Showers are situated down the side of his garage, and are enclosed with polycarbonate. The watercress has now been removed. Water falls into a stainless steel tray, and is returned back into the pond adjacent to the Bonsai tree pictured on the left. These two systems are fed by Sequence 1/4+ pumps that pull water from the bottom drains, and through a single vortex for each system. Ian says that there is so little waste collecting, that if he built the pond again, he wouldn't bother with the vortexes at all. His third set of showers pulls water directly from the bottom drains, without settlement. There has been no UV since the Showers were fitted back in April.
The system couldn't be much simpler! Bottom drain, vortex, pump, Shower! X2 The third set is the same, but no vortex. Ian is so happy, that he has now built a second pond of 3800 gallons. This pond has two Sequence 1/4+ pumps connected directly to the bottom drains, and pumped directly to the showers. The pond was designed specially for this system, so that every aspect was optimised to create a pond that would never need any maintenance... ever!!! All that is needed is to top up with water (to overflow), of an equivalent quantity of what would normally be done on a conventional pond design. No filter cleaning, or drain flushing ever again!
To see photos of Colin or Ian's Koi, See our 'Koi Success' page.
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