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Thursday, August 15, 2019

Koi Fish Auction at Pan Intercorp

I may have been overly anxious but I wanted to check out the Pan Intercorp Koi auction in Edmonds. Just 40 mins from where I live. My pond isn't complete yet so I didn't want to come home with a whole bunch of fish and not have enough space to house them.

Upon arrival, they had the fish spread out for preview in large bags. You have an hour to ear mark your favorites. And even if you miss the preview they pass out a print out of all the fish. Which helps to stay on top of things.

There are about half a dozen greenhouse with various ponds around the grounds. I will be back to visit outside of the auction for sure.








All registered. Here's my bigger's paddle






I actually let my 2 older boys do all the bidding. Blake managed to get a the great deals, even winning a fish for a whole $1.
 


My 3 year did not know when to to put the paddle down. And probably over bid for a doitsu showa. All in all we won 4 fish! and the total was much less than what it would've been through their website. @ koi.com. 

We had an amazing time! The only con was that you couldn't check out until the last fish was auctioned. And when you have small children that can be a bit tough when they become restless. 



(left to right) 1. Doitsu Showa 2. Blake's $1 dollar utsuri 3. Kujaku 4. Sanke 

These were small koi. They will go into the 50 for now until the pond is complete.

Update:
My Aqua Ultraviolet bead filter is in.


Update: Got an outdoor outlet installed  to power all of the pond pumps and filters.








Friday, August 9, 2019

My New Pond Project

This year I decided it was time to dig my own Koi pond. I got a few bids and the average price came in around $20K. I was like uhh no I'll pass and decided to do it myself.

I hired my 2 teenage nephews to do most of the digging. While I worked on created the various tiers within the pond. Total labor cost so far. $500.

They'd come over for about 2hrs a week since June to do a few wheel barrows at a time. The work was slow but I'm glad I didn't have to do it all by myself.

This is a the final layout. Deepest point is about 4 feet deep. I have the liner and underlayment coming soon.


Some final touches before the liner goes in.

Carpet underlayment.


Sunset Materials in Renton. Great place for rocks by the ton.



Aquascape Skimmer has a new home



Heere's the preplumbed filter. Settlement tank, 2 evolution ESS pumpe 6800gph, 10K bead filter, and Aqua UV light, 2 waterfall filters and large Aquascape skimmer. (not shown)

My improvised bottom drain

My wife's cousin is an an electrician we hired him to come out to install an out door outlet. He had his younger brother with him. 

Here is the current state of things.





Update on my Myrica Rubra 8/9/19

I've been chasing this plant for some time now. So I was happy to get one early march after 3yrs of searching for one.  It was sourced from a private grower and I was fortunate enough to be wait list customer #1!



https://seattlegardenfruit.blogspot.com/2019/03/finally-got-my-myrica-rubra.html

I've tried growing it from seed. Which has failed multiple times.

Although, I did accidentally manage to grow a couple plants this year from seed.



Here's the plant that I purchased now in August. It's grafted with a male on a female rootstock so it should be self fertile. I have I've been babying the heck out of this thing and it's taking off.







Can't wait until I can enjoy the fruits!