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Thread: How much K1?

  1. #1

    How much K1?

    If I have a 2700 gallon pond, how much K1 do I need?

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  2. #2
    Depends on how many fish you have, what/how often you feed/plan to feed.


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  4. #3
    Lol that leads to more questions. I've a lot to learn How much K1?

    I don't even know how often I'm meant to feed them or how many fish I aught to have in the size pond I've built.

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  6. #4
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    It also depends on what filter or filters you have got or are planning to get as they will have a maximum amount of K1 they can fit in them.

    It's always better to have more bio capability than you actually need to allow for expansion as in more fish or fish getting bigger.

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    At 2700 UK gallons with 12 medium sized koi fed 3 times a day in summer 50-75 litres of K1 should suffice. You might want to increase it as they grow up to around 100 litres.

    50 litres of k1 once fully mature (2 years) can supposedly cope with up to 250 grams of food a day and I'm sure there are people feeding that much and getting away with it but I'm not 100% convinced, so I'd start out with 50 litres and once it's got a biofilm on it then you can start adding more koi and gradually increase the level of K1 to around 75 litres.

    By the time the koi grow you'll be experienced enough to guage by yourself whether you need more K1 and/or whether you can get away adding more koi up to around 15.

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  10. #6
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    250 grams of food per 50 litres of K1?

    Considering an Eazy Pod only holds 30 litres of K1 and has a feeding limit of between 100 and 120 grams a day unless I'm totally mistaken I can't see how adding another 20 litres of K1 would give you an extra 130 to 150 grams of extra feeding capacity?

    Unless you have a bigger feeding capacity with fluid K1 than static K1 of course?

    Not saying you're wrong RS just going by the stated EA figures for an Eazy Pod.

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Hi Frim,

    That's what EA themselves told me in an email.

    Pretty sure I've seen it on literature as well, possibly in the instructions for the Nexus 220.

    I didn't believe them (and still not convinced) but they offered to show me ponds being fed 250 grams a day with perfect readings using a 220 with 50 litres of K1.

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  13. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Btw, I have 15 koi and 76 litres of k1.

    Feeding less than 100 grams a day at the moment.

    But the comparison isn't fair because I have 23 anoxic baskets.

    Yet I still get ammonia spikes that take a few days to settle down.

    Nitrite took 9 months before I saw my first zero reading, and now the nitrite is bomb proof.

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    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Twhitenosugar's Avatar
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    Crickey! I only have 7 koi (66cm, 64cm, 60cm, 53cm, 40cm, 33cm, 32cm) and 5 mirror carp (all around 40cm) and have 250litres of the stuff.

    Looks like I got a bit carried away with the k1!

    Still good to have plenty in reserve for when those mirrors hit 30lb.

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  17. #10
    You didn’t.
    It’s not numbers it’s size. Size equals more food equals more bio.
    Don’t forget, a modest filter like a Nexus 320 can take 320 litres of K1 and people still put showers on etc.


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  19. #11
    Is it possible to have too much K1?

    If I say put 100 litres of micro k1 I should be good for a few koi with decent feed?

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  21. #12
    Allow yourself some room for manoeuvre as and when needed.
    You can add more if you have the facility to, you’re knackered if you can’t.
    Carp tend to grow big.
    Big fish, lots of waste.
    Keep an eye on your water and if your find that in a couple of years things are spiking then you can add more K1 or maybe a shower else you’ll be fighting a losing battle. Seen it loads of times.
    Those little 6” koi can and should become a decent size if they’re thriving and healthy.
    An acquaintance of mine has had a pond about 4 years, his commons and mirrors are now probably knocking on 20lb and his filters are struggling and it’ll probably end up costing him a fair few quid to sort. Dodgy advice from the local world of water is causing him and his fish all sorts of problems, easily avoided with some forward planning.
    You should be planning ideally for a few years down the line not the next 6 months.
    Also. K1 takes a while to mature and may also leave you with a nitrate problem to address.


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  23. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cavester View Post
    Is it possible to have too much K1?

    If I say put 100 litres of micro k1 I should be good for a few koi with decent feed?

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    Most people will say you can never have too much bio.

    When I complained up EA about the length of time it was taking for my K1 to mature they said I had too much and to reduce it. I couldn't really understand the logic behind it but they were certain I'd see improvements. I removed 50% of the K1, and didn't get any improvement whatsoever, but that said, the water readings didn't get any worse either.

    So God knows what the truth is.

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  25. #14
    Ok thanks. Truth is I don't even know what fish I have. When I finally transfer them from the temporary pool they have been for the last year whilst the house was getting renovated I'll be putting them on here for identification.

    I know I have about 4 koi, 3 carp, about 4 orf and a few gold fish of sorts ranging between 6 and 12 inches.

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  27. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Frimley Koi keeper View Post
    It also depends on what filter or filters you have got or are planning to get as they will have a maximum amount of K1 they can fit in them.

    It's always better to have more bio capability than you actually need to allow for expansion as in more fish or fish getting bigger.
    That's why I was asking really. The Draco bio unit holds 100 litres of k1 and 300 of water. I was trying to work out if this would be enough. Wondering if it would be more cost effective to get a JBR bio.

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    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion RoyLittle0's Avatar
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    I've got around 15 x 20/40cm koi with 140 litres K1 and a Bakki Shower with 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media, you can never have to much in my opinion
    4600 Gallon Concrete Block and Fiberglass
    2100 mm x 710 mm Infinity Window 32mm thick glass
    2 x Aerated Bottom Drains and Skimmer
    Filtreau HiFlow 30 Drum Filter
    Bio Chamber - 140 litres K1
    Bakki Shower - 30 KG Sakura Far Infrared Media
    2 x 18,000 lh pumps
    Heated from house boiler through a heat exchanger
    Idealseal MS290

    My Pond Build

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  30. #17
    Senior Member Rank = Hassai big h's Avatar
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    The less k1 media the stronger the biofilm .If you have a lot of k1 the colonisation is spread ..My last bio tank had 180 Litres of k1/micro k1 mixture.My media looked new after 3 years..My present system has 90 litres ,70 litres k1/micro k1 /20 litres pond pads,as its a combi drum and its brown after 4 months ( 35 L was mature from trusted sources).Ive had it under the microscope and its full of life .Ive never had elevated readings with any of my systems so its no big deal the media being white.It does go some way to explain Evolution Aquas reasoning though.At the end of the day it makes sense to them for you to buy more media ,so their advice is in effect costing them.

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  32. #18
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigcarpchaser View Post
    You didn’t.
    It’s not numbers it’s size. Size equals more food equals more bio.
    Don’t forget, a modest filter like a Nexus 320 can take 320 litres of K1 and people still put showers on etc.


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    Spot on. 320 nexus 320lts k1. And just added a shower

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  33. #19
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by big h View Post
    The less k1 media the stronger the biofilm .If you have a lot of k1 the colonisation is spread ..My last bio tank had 180 Litres of k1/micro k1 mixture.My media looked new after 3 years..My present system has 90 litres ,70 litres k1/micro k1 /20 litres pond pads,as its a combi drum and its brown after 4 months ( 35 L was mature from trusted sources).Ive had it under the microscope and its full of life .Ive never had elevated readings with any of my systems so its no big deal the media being white.It does go some way to explain Evolution Aquas reasoning though.At the end of the day it makes sense to them for you to buy more media ,so their advice is in effect costing them.
    This is essentially what EA tried to explain to me, but I think you explained it better.

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  35. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    Hi Frim,

    That's what EA themselves told me in an email.

    Pretty sure I've seen it on literature as well, possibly in the instructions for the Nexus 220.

    I didn't believe them (and still not convinced) but they offered to show me ponds being fed 250 grams a day with perfect readings using a 220 with 50 litres of K1.

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    Ponds that have been fully matured no doubt so plenty of extra bio on the walls of the pond etc

    The best way to see how much your how ever many litres of K1 can handle is slowly up the feeding and keep testing for Ammonia and Nitrite etc until you get to a strange when your results won't go back to zero and the back the feeding off again to the level when you were getting zero readings. You may have to back it off two or three times to get to the maximum feeding level but just don't keep the levels up too long and be prepared to do some small water changes to help lower the figures.

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