A couple of concerns regarding my pond ...

[gdal]

Hello all,

I've been enjoying my koi pond since I purchased my house. I do have a couple of questions/concerns regarding maintenance.

How often do you guys clean the filters? I have a canister with three black foam filters that I need to clean about two-three times a week. These filters get clogged with algae really fast. If I don't clean them often, the water will overflow. I've been using algaefix for a couple of months now to control the algae. I'm doing the once a week dosage with the algaefix. I'm concerned that this excessive cleaning is killing my beneficial bacteria.


Another concern that I have is that every time I clean the bottom of the filter canister, there are fine metal particles that look like gold flakes. I don't have any issues with my fish and I always using water conditioners when making water changes. I'm assuming that these particles probably come from my house plumbing system.

Should I be concerned?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
G

 

[vertigo72]

I think most people here use DIY barrel filters, which require pretty much no cleaning. See the DIY section for some inspiration if you feel like building one.

The real solution however, regardless of filter, lies in getting rid of algae food, mostly nitrate. The easiest solution for that, is more plants. Floating plants are great for this, lettuce, hyacinths and the like.

There is another way that is supposedly extremely effective at removing nitrates, and everything else as well (ammonia, nitrite and other fish killers), thats called anoxic filtration. Its not well known or generally accepted, but it seems a very simple and promising solution. In very short, its essentially using open plant baskets filled with non clumping kitty litter, a bit of laterite. And thats it! You can put plants in them if you like, they will (apparently) grow like crazy, but even without plants its supposed to remove toxins and algae food (nitrate). More info here:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/filter-catlitter-anoxic-filtration-t7970.html

Be advised, afaik, no one on this forum is using this system (yet), and few people outside this forum. But I dont see how it can do harm.

 

[gdal]

I think most people here use DIY barrel filters, which require pretty much no cleaning. See the DIY section for some inspiration if you feel like building one.

The real solution however, regardless of filter, lies in getting rid of algae food, mostly nitrate. The easiest solution for that, is more plants. Floating plants are great for this, lettuce, hyacinths and the like.

There is another way that is supposedly extremely effective at removing nitrates, and everything else as well (ammonia, nitrite and other fish killers), thats called anoxic filtration. Its not well known or generally accepted, but it seems a very simple and promising solution. In very short, its essentially using open plant baskets filled with non clumping kitty litter, a bit of laterite. And thats it! You can put plants in them if you like, they will (apparently) grow like crazy, but even without plants its supposed to remove toxins and algae food (nitrate). More info here:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/filter-catlitter-anoxic-filtration-t7970.html

Be advised, afaik, no one on this forum is using this system (yet), and few people outside this forum. But I dont see how it can do harm.

Thanks for the informative response.

I'm constantly monitoring the water quality and my nitrate levels extremely low. I don't have any plants in my ponds because I've been told that kois like to nibble on them.

 

[sissy]

koi love plants but not the way I want to love plants .I would be very careful with algae fix thats how my neighbor killed 2 of her fish and we had to take the others out before she lost them too .

 

[vertigo72]

Thanks for the informative response.

I'm constantly monitoring the water quality and my nitrate levels extremely low.

The fact you dont have plants, and do have koi and algae cloggin your filter in days, suggests otherwise. Unless you do frequent and significant water changes, or your filter isnt working, you should have nitrates.
Your test probably tests No3-N, not No3. Multiply by 4.4 to get the total amount of nitrates. How low do you call extremely low?

I don't have any plants in my ponds because I've been told that kois like to nibble on them.

They do, though some people seem to have more problems with it than others. My koi leave my plants largely alone, though they nibble at my lily pads. Covering the tops of the baskets with gravel or stones minimizes the problem, or you can shield the pods and plants entirely with a plastic protector. If you put floating plants in the pond, why not let your koi eat them? As long as they dont eat more than you are growing. Or you could build a simple floating basket to protect the floating plants, see a sticky on this forum about that.

BTW, floating plants provide many other benefits, like creating shade, giving your koi a place to hide. And they can be damn pretty too. But if you dont like plants, perhaps you can try an UV unit before your filter? That does wonders for floating algae, but usually it results in string algae instead, unless you add plants.