news + updates

December 2
Well another season has just about drawn to a close. It was the earliest freeze up I can remember and it caught many by surprise. We have just a few more jobs to complete. We will be open all Winter on Saturday and Sunday 11 - 4, or by appointment during the week

  • The right tools make the job safe, cost effective and easy
  • We repaired this leaking skimmer - the source of the leak is the folded liner
  • You need to remove leaves for the Winter to reduce the B.O.D.
  • A deicer and bubbler are essential in our climate if fish are to survive, particulary larger koi

Our shop is now operating on our Winter hours schedule. Saturday 11 - 4 and this year we are open Sunday 11 - 4 as well. Glad we were open yesterday because we had about 5 clients. We are open 7 days a week staring in April


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November 3
We are now working on pond closings and receiving clients fish for Winter boarding. It is cooling down now and sadly the cold weather is here. A little melancholy about not visiting Ray Abell this Fall

  • It was nice to visit this pond we rebuilt last year and see everything growing in
  • Great to see moss growing on this waterfall - really adds to it
  • We grew these fish out for a couple months in a big swimming pool, the 3 step put on a few inches
  • This is a really nice pond one of our clients put together. I hadn't seen it seen the initial consult

We have some tips to help your fish survive the upcoming harsh conditions on our Winter Survival page. I have also updated the greenhouse covering page with some new photos
October 3
We have almost completed our large 37 foot pond build in Stouffville. It is 7 feet deep and varies in width between 12 and 22 feet. The bottom drain circuit was started Wednesday and the skimmer - bead filter - waterfalls circuit will be started up tomorrow

  • This pond is 7 feet deep
  • A watertight seal everytime with the right plumbing
  • Savio UV melt down !
  • A hammer drill is a vital tool. Here we are tamping around the vortex

Weather is still holding very well here in Toronto with above seasonal temperatures in the 70 - 80 range. Darren, my good friend from Natures Touch Ponds sent me the above pic of a melted savio skimmer. Apparently the UV malfunctioned and melted the unit. This is a big job to fix
September 5
Thanks to all of those who showed up for our Client Appreciation BBQ. It was a lot of fun and a much better turn out than last year. Many took advantage of the special deals we had for the day

  • This is a waterfall shot of the second project we completed this year
  • We applied a coat of pond armour to this concrete pond
  • Performance Pro has a simple dial which you turn for either 115 or 230 v
  • I could only discern a difference in these 2 nitrite readings by holding the vials against white paper [proper procedure]

We just begun a big project in Ballantrae last Monday. This will be a 37 foot pond with varying widths between 12 - 22 feet. We excavate this Saturday and hope to be completed by October. I also just finished cycling a 3800 vat with ammonia chloride. Now it is ready for fish. I hope to add a page to the site this Winter covering the process which is quite involved;

We are still open 7 days a week but hours reduce in October as things slow down. We have some good deals on fish right now and have sold quite a few larger fish at give way prices
July 31
We had a real heat wave for a couple of weeks and pond building became more challenging. Although we were able to do the project below during those trying days by gulping down a lot of water

  • A classic rebuild. This pond didn't utilize the space well. The skimmer was poorly positioned
  • We cleared the site and installed a concrete collar
  • The pond is now 3x the volume. The "too much stone look" is eliminated. The skimmer now hidden against the fence
  • Almost completed, the pond is larger, deeper and more aesthetically pleasing

Getting excited about our upcoming Client Appreciation BBQ. Please stop by Sunday Aug 18th. for free food and special deals

We will likely be starting a large pond in early September, right now the specs call for 37 x 20 with all the trimmings. Should be a lot of fun

Our Summer flyer is out, see our specials page

June 30
Summer is moving along and we are about to enter our hottest month temperature wise. We are almost completed our 3rd. project of the year, starting a new rebuild this Wednesday

  • We just finished up our Muskoka pond project
  • Our second project of the year is also complete, a fresh build
  • We had to break threw some concrete to get this drain installed
  • checking a tetra 36 watt UV ballast - it appears to be good but we are not sure about the surge voltage required to light the bulb initially

Our Muskoka job is completed and the client is happy. The pond is quite large being about 45 x 18. Our Etobicoke project was commissioned a couple weeks ago and we had a leak ! It turns our that we should have used a grinder on our vortex. 2 of the 3 outlets have a mold line, and this one was more pronounced upon closer examination preventing the coupler from sealing 100%. Moving forward we will not make that mistake again

Please remember our BBQ in August ! Special sales that day and free food

June 2
The Spring rush is still on as we had a slow start to the season weather wise. Tropical plants like water hyacinth and lettuce are safe to go in ponds now. Our koi shipment is healthy and those who selected fish are picking them up now

  • These 8-9" Sakai fish can be had for less than $200
  • When you draw directly from your pond to a pump this is what happens
  • Our blower comes in handy for clearing lines
  • Our tripod hoist easily lifted this 1,000 pound stone

We should be completing our second build of the season this week. I will post pictures next month of the transformation. Unfortunately we have had a few people killing there fish recently. Remember, with tap water you have 2 concerns: 1 is the chlorine and chloramines need to be neutralized or the fishes gills will burn. 2nd. is the temperature shock factor. Water should not change more than 3 degrees in either direction celsius in a days time

May 6
We are very busy at the shop and working on pond openings. It was a late Spring and such and a tough start to the year. Most of our ponds are now opened, we open well over 100 ponds each Spring

  • Square less robust skimmers are prone to warping. This one still functions normally though
  • Here Brent is powerwashing a pond. I wouldn't recommend a complete power washing nor power washing later in the season
  • We picked up 3 golden orfe from a client closing their ponds down
  • We built this pond a few years back and I was opening it the other day. The barrel filter is 20 feet from the waterfalls and well hidden behind some fencing [extreme left]

Very excited about our koi shipment coming in on Thursday, It has been delayed 1 week this year. We expect well over 300 fish including some premium 10-12" fish from Sakai of Hiroshima. You can expect these jumbo tosai to be about 20" within 2 years...

April 3
We are now open 7 days a week until the end of September. A lot of deliveries are arriving and we are almost fully stocked. Plants will be arriving around April 20th and we have a new larger greenhouse

  • Snapped this shot while walking around Tokyo
  • We saw some neat stuff at the bonsai show
  • We painted our shop this past Winter

Our koi shipment arrives late on Thursday May 3 and will be available for viewing and sale on Friday the 4th. We expect to get over 300 koi . We are now booking pond openings and builds. Let us know if we can be of service

March 2
Weather is starting to change here in Toronto. Hopefully we will have the heat wave we did last March ! My pond is covered in ice, hopefully that will melt soon as I can't see what is going on which can be dangerous

  • Visited scenic Miyajima on our trip to Japan last month
  • Found some aneurisms on this gill snip
  • We made great use of the tripod hoist we purchased last season

Quite a lot of fish to look after at the shop, about 20 clients all toll. Slowly raising the heat now to bring it from 12-13 to 13 - 15 Celsius. We are open 7 days a week starting Monday April 1st.

Feb 10
Just got back from my trip to Japan yesterday. What a great trip. Besides going to Niigata and the 44th All Japan Koi Show, we also went to Okoyama to visit Momotaro. Hiroshima was also on the schedule for some touring
  • The snow in the mountains is spectacular
  • This trip we got to see Torazo's tosai and nisai houses
  • The setup day at the All Japan Koi Show
  • This years champion is a repeat winner that I wanted to take home

Busy with accounting now, many clients are coming in on Saturdays which is nice and also popping in on weekdays by appointment

Jan 22
Winter has finally struck here in Toronto. One of our long time clients came in for the sale and I found out they had put a second small pond in for frogs. Apparently they were being hand fed - I got a real kick out of that

hand feeding frogs

 Well heading back to Japan on Saturday. It has been 3 years, so really looking forward to it. 14 hr. flight though, 12.5 on the way back with the help of the wind. We have an easier schedule this time around

Koi Carp magazine contacted me looking for a photo for an upcoming issue. I have attached the PDF, our photo is the last one in the article with the credit. It is a great magazine that I have subscribed to in the past - highly recommended
Jan 2
Happy New Year !
Looking forward to our sale coming up on Saturday and Sunday, Jan 12th & 13th. Everything in the shop is 20% off - mail orders qualify. Hope to see some people we haven't seen since the Summer
  • Our last build of the year - a formal design
  • The indoor pond completed - we consulted and installed the filtration
  • Bacterial gill disease on a fish dead for 24 hrs.

Our last build of the year is almost complete, a deck needs to go in now and then we can finish up - that will happen in the Spring. Our indoor pond project is up and running, spoke with the client today and the fish are loving it

On a said note, a long time client has lost most of his collection to Bacterial Gill Disease [BGD]. The picture above illustrates a fish that died about 24rs. previous, the gills are a mess. When I examined the fish about 5 days ago, none of this was evident. Tricide Neo Dips and potassium permanganate could not stop the devastation
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