Testing of 'Bacteria House' has been rigourously carried out, by both Momotaro, and MTK (manufacturer). Mr Manami (President of MTK) is a Koi hobbiest, and as such, built three ponds built to enable lab testing of endless 'blends' of Bacteria House, and other medias. Bacteria House in it's original form was originally made for treating effluent water, and won the accolade of "Best Filtration media in the World" three years ago. The 'blend' that Momotaro use however, is very different. Each tray of the Showers at MTK is split into 5 divisions. Each of these contains a different media. The pond testing is carried out by filling the ponds with Koi, and then maturing the systems. Periodically, a sample is taken from each media (60 types, most being differents 'blends' and forms of Bacteria House), and sent for lab analysis. The medias are tested to find which bacteria strains are present, and for bacterial counts.

Momotaro tested every available media, submerged, and then in Bakki Showers. They weren't just looking for good water parameters, but also for the best growth, and quality of the Koi. Their findings were, that Bacteria House submerged, out performed all of the other medias. But, when Showered, Bacteria House came into it's own, as it gave even better results. They also found that Bacteria House media was the only media that worked in the Showers, and that every kind of plastic media that they tried, couldn't maintain a biomass in the Showered configuration.

Daisuke Maeda once said to me, "Imagine you are sitting in a closed room, about to eat a delicious meal. If a cat came in the room, and went to the toilet in the corner, would you still feel like eating? Well, it's the same for Koi! If Koi can smell their own urine, they won't eat so well. This is why Koi have increased appetites when Bacteria House is used, particularly in Bakki Showers!"

This is an inside view of one of the kilns at the MTK factory. This is similar to the ones used for firing Bacteria House, but is a lower temperature one, being heated to about 1100c. Bacteria House has to be fired in their hottest kiln at 1300c for 60 hrs, in order to make sure that it's surfaces explode, resulting in the millions of open cells, where the Bacteria multiply. This is an extremely expensive process, and limits the maximum production to 1.5 tons per day. Bacteria House is made from a careful mix of ingredients, which are blended together with the utmost care. The mixed raw product then comes out of an extrusion machine, where it is cut to length by two staff, and rolled in a special powder which prevents the pieces of Bacteria House from bonding together in the kiln.

Bacteria House in the furnace, being fired. This furnace is about 40 feet long, and to be even as close as 10 feet from the furnace in virtually unbearable.

If you have ever wondered why Bacteria House is so expensive, we hope you now understand why.

In conclusion... people generally think that those bacteria that deal with pollutants, are the only ones needed for Koi, but there are really countless strains that make up the pond eco-system. It is of paramount importance to get the balance of those aerobic, and anaerobic bacterias right, if you want to make Koi blossom and grow healthily, rather than just simply keeping them alive.