Bickal Koi Farm: Koi House Blog 2008 Remodel!

August 23, 2008 Our Koi Business is growing. The current sell tank configuration made it difficult sort koi and the larger tank was too hard to catch them in. So its remodel time. The new design called for 4 tanks! The big tank will be split in two. 2 two settling chambers will be merged into 1 "bickal filter" making room for another smaller inground tank.

August 23, 2008 The old liner is removed. A foundation board is put in the middle, to support a wall. A wall is built between the two tanks. The tanks will always be at least half full so this wall does not need to take much lateral force. Bottom drain pipes are split. Mia shows the depth of the ponds, a perfect 4' deep. Ready for bottom drain plumbing.

August 25, 2008 One Tank became 2. Bickal DIY Bubble Dome Bottom Drain (BDBDBD) is installed.

August 27, 2008 Bottom drain is cemented in. 1/2" Foam Sheet is installed on the bottom for a perfectly smooth floor. Plumbing is re-routed. A pump water line for each tank. Air dome lines for each tank. There's that Mia again showing how deep the tanks are.

September 8, 2008

Sept 21, 2008 Settling Chamber is ready for liner. The 4 pipes on the right hand side are bottom drains, one from each tank. The two pipes in the middle; one is a line for the pump to pull water from, one is a drain to waste line. The two smaller Tanks are ready for liner. The 2 small pipes on middle left tank are air lines, the big pipe on the right is the water return line going from the pump back to the tanks.

Sept 22, 2008 The new bottom drain cover, with mesh to keep the smaller koi out. Bottom drain cover and air dome installed.

October 4, 2008 Smaller Sequence 750 pump installed on the left, it will pump to the 2 larger tanks. A second pump connection on the right. Then a 2" gate valve below the pump which is a drain to waste line, and a 2" overflow line drain to waste. All done! The big tanks holds 1200 gallons each, and each one has a 250 gallon bio-reaction chamber (behind the blue wall). The small tanks are 600 gallons each,and each one has a 55 gallon bio-reaction chamber. This setup can handle thousands of koi and all the fish ammonia you want to throw at it!

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