BioFall media maintainence

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Hi everyone...

I had a fairly small goldfish/landscape pond put in last spring. The pond and fish did well all season and survived the winter well. Everything is going smoothly this spring.

I have a Pro-Series Skimmer and with a BioFall filter. How often do I need to rinse/replace the filter matt in the waterfall? If it's a true bio-filter, I'm thinking it should be few and far between though it does need rinsed. Should I worry about using tap water (a hose) to clean it out as the chlorine in the water may kill off any beneficial bacteria in the filter media?

Thanks
Scott
 

Meyer Jordan

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There should be more filter media in the BioFalls beyond the filter mat. The mats in both the skimmer and the BioFalls should be thoroughly rinsed as needed. Do not worry about using tap water for this purpose as these mats are primarily for mechanical filtration. The other filter media in the BioFalls should be rinsed with pond water only, again, as needed.
 
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Looks like they got about a dozen "Bio-balls" in that mesh bag, LOL,,,,, my guess is that there is far more surface area in those two mats and the mesh bag itself, then there is in that handful of bio-balls.
The reality is that the "primary" biological filtration in that pond takes place in the pond and waterfall itself, like it does in most ponds. In fact, I'm sure in most ponds you could leave the bio-balls out of the equation and there would be no detectable difference in the quality of the pond water.
 
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Man are they being a tad stingy with their bioballs I'd have put a load more in

Dave
 

sissy

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I have seen several of the pond builders now going back to the good old lava rock instead of bio balls .Funny how old is new again .Even ponddigger prefers lava rock and aquascape also uses lava rock
 
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I use to use lava rock. Worked great, the only reason I went to Bio balls was the weight. In my old age, those lava rocks were heavy to lift out of the filter.
 

sissy

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I think that was the main reason companies went to the bioballs and the blox type stuff was weight.I just use small laundry bags from the dollar store and put so much in each bag .4 for 1 dollar it is a win win
 

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