Page 68 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 9

I had the idea when I was growing up small Koi in a user will notice that it does not say x filter suitable for
quarantine tank and decided, yet again, to walk inside
to start up the computer to look up the data on my
Excel sheet. I thought that if I made an app that I could
I HAD have on my phone it would be with me all the time,
THE IDEA and I could also share it, because I’d had the same
questions for years when answering questions on Koi
WHEN I WAS forums. Trying to help others on these forums has
been very time consuming and I couldn’t find more
GROWING UP time to help everyone, so I thought, why not have
SMALL KOI them help themselves by using an app.
IN A TANK Now, could that work? I figured that a large part of
starting hobbyists are in there twenties. And there is
at least one thing they will never go anywhere without
– a mobile phone. And they are used to finding
information at their fingertips, plus they are used to
learning, fast! So why not facilitate that with a Koi app.
To help the most people as quickly as possible, I
decided to start with the basics which are in the app
today. You should be aware of how many Koi you have
in your pond, and how big they all are. Thus, when
starting the app you can enter this information in
quickly and easily. You only need to do this once, the
Koi’s length can be adjusted over time. In the next field
the app automatically gives an indication of the
minimal amount of food your Koi need daily to stay
healthy at each water temperature. And yes, the Koi
need a lot more in the summer when temperatures rise
to stock up reserves for the winter too.
The user then learns, that apparently, it is better to
weigh your food and change the amount given
depending on water temperatures. And not just throw
in a few handfuls when the first spring sunbeams hit
the water surface, for instance. And it is better to
regularly feed the Koi, almost the same every day.
Increasing by a maximum of 50 grams per day until
the desired amount is reached. This is better for the
bacteria in the biological filter which also prefer a
steady flow of food (the waste products from our Koi)
to thrive and keep up with increases. In the next field
you can select the main biological filter material and
the app returns the minimal volume needed to have
the food given to the Koi processed each day. The
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y volumes of water. It is not a database of all forms
and sizes of filters, but an attempt has been made to
include the most used filter materials in the hobby.
Most will know that the bacteria that process the Koi
THE APP waste need a place to settle and your filter should be
an ideal place with enough surface which is well fed
GIVES THE with aerated pond water flowing by. And you should
APPROXIMATE have enough of the material to house a sufficient
amount of bacteria.
AMOUNT OF When buying (or selling) a filter the third calculation
can be easy because when selecting the sizes of the
FOOD A filter media in the filter the app gives the approximate
FILTER CAN amount of food it can process per day (based on
available surface area for the bacteria to settle on). Of
PROCESS course, you should think about the maximum amount
of food that you want to feed your future Koi collection
PER DAY per day to know if your purchase now is also ready for
the future. Because I’ve had many questions from all
over the world through the Internet forums, I have also
included both measuring systems. Within the settings
menu the whole app can be switched from the metric
system to imperial and back, if required, whilst keeping
your data.
When you have entered this information, but do not
know the weight of your Koi the last fields can be
helpful. You can enter the desired body weight % you
want to use per length category and the app shows the
information based on the average body weight of each
of your Koi’s length and calculates how much food is
required in total. I was asked by a Koi breeder friend if I
could also include the option to enter the weight of the
Koi yourself. That is possible, but would only be useful
to a handful of the top 5% of the pyramid. I’d rather
include extra functions that everyone can use in the
near future to start with and add that in at a later stage.
In addition to the current functions I want to add the
facility to add pictures and graphs to monitor your Koi’s
progress over time. Keeping track of every important
change to the pond in a log, like water treatments due
to parasites or other information, which can be useful
especially when help is needed, where an instant
overview of the pond’s history will be readily available.
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