Effects of using a polarising filter on your Koi pond photos

In one of my earlier post this year, I wrote about photographing your Koi.

If you are using a camera that allows you to fit a filter to your lens, a polarising filter is recommended. Unfortunately, almost all point-and-shoot cameras do not have such capability. For DSLR or SLR camera users, a circular polariser (PL-CIR filter) would do the job. The polariser filter comes with 2 pieces of glass, one fixed and one movable. Once you have decided on your camera angle to take your picture, you need to adjust the movable piece to reduce the glare from the water surface.

Here are the effects of using a polariser filter.  Both pictures were taken using a Nikon DSLR fitted with a PL-Circular polariser. The picture on the right was taken after adjusting the polariser filter to cut out the reflection from the water surface.

Those babies are Comets goldfish, not Koi

I was away for 2 weeks and how the babies have grown while I was away. They can now be positively identified as comets, not Koi.

It is interesting to see that the colour combination of the baby comets are so different from the parents. The 4 adult comets are all light pink and single colour (as shown above) while these babies come in various colours combinations – orange, black, pink, white and combination of these. They have “kohaku”, “sanke” and even “bekko”-like colour patterns.

The comet babies come in 3 sizes. I believe there had been  at least 3 spawning over the past month or so.  Now that the population of the lily pond have increased from 2 Koi and 4 comets to 2 Koi and countless number of comets, I doubt any new fries from any subsequent spawning from now on would survive.

Help! Water is overflowing from the pond

I got a call  from wife today to say that it is raining and water in my Koi pond is overflowing over the top and is seeping into the adjacent room. As I am in Hong Kong, I could not check why this happens. As she is not familiar with the operation of the drain pumps, the solution is to bail out the water by hand.

Later I heard that the North East monsoon has hit Singapore and a lot of rain has fallen. The evening news showed flooding in some parts of Singapore. I suspect the overflow pipe in my pond is probably too small to handle the sudden heavy downpour of rain. The 50mm diameter pipe, that works in normal situation to maintain the maximum water level, just could not handle the super heavy downpour today.

Koi Pond at Changi Airport – Fern Garden

There is actually 2 Koi ponds at Changi Airport Terminal 2 Transit Hall, Departure Level 2.  In my earlier post, I wrote about the Koi pond at the Orchid Garden. You will find this pond if you turn right after you passed through departure immigration/passport checks and enter the Transit area.

If you turn left after the going through departure immigration, you will find another interesting Koi pond that is surrounded by numerous ferns and forms the center piece of the Fern Garden. You can see a wide variety of ferns ranging from the majestic Dicksonia tree ferns to the common bird nest ferns and small, unusual epiphytic ferns. You get the feeling of being in a rainforest, although you are actually in the middle of a busy airport transit hall!

 

For those new to Koi, signs describing the varieties of Koi as well as signs explaining the varieties of ferns are available. This is a good place to relax, unwind and learn a few things about ferns and the Koi, while waiting for your next flight.

Plants for Koi pond – Mexican Sword plant

The Sword plant (Echinodorus palaefolius) grows easily in pots half-submerged in the pond. It can be grown under strong sunlight and will produce white flowers on a long stock. It propagates easily. Young shoots will appear  (left photo) after the flowers wilted. These can be cut and replanted. Else, they will continue to grow, droop and be submerged under the water.

This plant can also be grown in an aquarium. Grown underwater, the leaves are longer and sharper in shape. It will form a beautiful specimen plant or used as background plant in a planted fish tank. As an aquarium keeper many years ago, I had this plant as part of my underwater landscaping. I did not realised, until recently, that they are of the same plant species!

Meeting with an old friend

I was driving along in my car one day when my mobile phone rang and I answered the call (using the speaker phone of course).

A loud voice greeted me with “My 3 Ponds! Are you the author?” I instantly recognise the voice as that of an ex-colleague of mine although the caller did not identify himself. “Yes, my dear friend xxxx”, I answered. “How can I help you?” I have not kept in touch with him since he left the company many years ago. It is amazing that we get re-connected again through this blog.

As it turns out, my friend was searching through the internet for solution to his Koi pond problems and was looking to buy a pondvac. He had stumbled upon my blog in the process.  I told him that my site has links to online stores that sells such equipment but I suggest that he first should try getting them from a local Koi farm in Singapore that I know of.

“Come to my house next week and we can have a few drinks together”. I accepted his invitation.

The visit and the pond

My friend has just moved into his new home a few months ago. He has done some additions and alternations to the original house that he bought and has built a koi pond during the process. The pond was built by the contractor who did his house and is probably not a specialist Koi pond builder.

The layout of the pond is nice, close to the house for easy viewing and appreciation of the koi and waterscape. There are water plants and stepping stones that allow you to real close to the plants and fishes.

However, the depth (about 1 foot) is too shallow with a surface area of about 100 square feet. There is only one bottom drain. He was telling me that dirt was collecting at the bottom of the pond and not being directed into the bottom drain. Hence the need for a pondvac. In addition, the original filter that was provided by the builder is probably meant for a swimming pool. My friend was telling me that the filter media is too fine and chokes easily. One solution is to replace the filter media with filter mats specially designed for Koi pond filters.

He did the right thing by adding an external biological filter and also a UV light as well. Apparently, the pond was green with algae earlier (looks like the biological filter is working – converting fish waste to nitrate which feeds the algae). The UV light filter did kill off the algae, so the pond water was crystal clear when I visited. He had also bought the pondvac and spent the weekend cleaning his pond, which now looks in pristine condition. Unfortunately, the shallow depth of the pond would mean that the pond is unsuitable for housing larger Koi or he has to keep the stocking level low. Else, his pondvac will be seeing a lot of action.

We spend a couple of hours chatting about his koi pond, gardening, and catching up on old times.

Soon, it is time to go and he pops me a question. “Should I build a new Koi pond? Over in that corner of the garden?”

Talking about being Koi crazy. But that’s how I started out too.

For more information on pondvac, UV light filter or to buy a Pondvac, UV light filter and accessories online, click here - ( US Customer, UK Customer)