Koi Acres Something to Ponder

Home & Yard Blvd. Section

Summer is allegedly here, and what better way to take the edge off those hot, long, and stressful days than by hanging out at the pond. If that sounds great, but you don’t feel like heading away from the homestead, why not consider having one in your backyard?

Nothing can do more to increase the aesthetic of your yard (or increase your property value) quite like your own personal pond. Make it as lavish or as modest as you’d like, but nobody can deny the pull of the pond!

While you’re getting really excited about the prospect of a new home improvement project, consider what you are going to put into that pond.

Aside from the standard rock bottom and almost mandatory water lilies, be sure to consider koi. (Nishikigoi, literally, “brocaded carp,” are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp Cyprinus carpio).

Your very own koi pond. Don’t the words themselves just relax you? Koi have been written about for centuries. Their multiple colors and varieties make them attractive and alluring. To this day, they conjure images of tranquility.

Like any pet, taking care of koi can require some careful planning and attentiveness. When the water is warmer, these guys are happier and much more active. They have specific needs per season—the most concerning is that you may need to take them in for the winter. In winter, though koi slow down, and virtually stop moving and eating, if the water gets below 34 degrees, they may develop life-threatening ice on their scales. If you don’t feel like bringing them indoors for winter and having a winter tank, you can buy a heater.

Koi Acres in Scandia is the place to go for all your koi needs. Pond liners, heaters, food, pond construction, filtration—you name it, they’ve got it—and the service department will help you install it, and keep it running smoothly.

The Koi Acres filter system is designed specifically for koi. You won’t need to worry about adding any chemicals to your pond, because you’ll have six levels of filtration protecting your pond. The system has a bottom filter and the standard surface skimmer, too, but the netting inside the skimmer is a rigid strainer basket. If one of the koi gets stuck in the filter, the rigid basket will not harm it like a standard filter’s netting would.

Water is sucked down into the filters, where it is cleaned, and pumped back to a waterfall or pond return using environmentally friendly, energy-efficient external pumps. A biomechanical filter, which catches any fine solids, has special bacteria that strip out of the water any toxins the Koi produce, ensuring the fish are swimming in the cleanest water. In the final filtering stage, the water passes through an ultraviolet sterilizer, which exposes the water to UV radiation that stops “Green Pond Syndrome,” so you’ll have no problem actually seeing your fish.

Your koi-induced tranquility can be closer and much easier to maintain than you ever thought.

Koi Acres
11100 240th St., Scandia
(651) 257-2589
www.Koiacres.com