Bought house with koi pond!

[Dwaynen66]

Hey everyone,
I recently bought a house and it has a koi pond. I love it and am looking forward to learning more about having a great pond. I currently have a mechanical filter but have ordered stock tank to build biological Skippy filter. My pond as best as I can calculate is around 2500 gallons. Any input on filter media? I have read about round scrubber pads and also smaller kitchen pads. Thanks for any input, I look forward to learning from you all!

 

[sissy]

welcome dwayne you may want to change out those scrubby pads for something else .They are hard to clean .Congrats on your new house and your new pond .You will learn lots here and make great pond nut friends also happy ponding

 

[j.w]

Dwayne

 

[morewater]

I like using the filter mats. Others prefer the bio-ball or K1 & K2 stuff. Don't use the scrubby pads, they're a complete pain to clean (do you really want to clean a couple hundred scrubby pads individually?).

Here's a link for my area. Every supplier basically has the same stuff, more or less.

http://www.pondexperts.ca/#!/~/search/keywords=filter media&offset=10&sort=relevance

 

[sissy]

I use lava rock old fashioned way but cheap and it works .

 

[addy1]

to the our group of ponding nuts

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Welcome to the forums! I can't help you with the filter (working on making my own this Spring), but I'm sure many here can.

 

[mtpond]

Welcome!

 

[Big Lou]

Welcome to GPF!

 

[Dave 54]

Welcome from Plymouth UK weve been koi keepers for27 years now and are more than willing to help you in anyway.

Our main filtration is Jap matting zeolite and crushed oystershell we have a 4" Bottom drain supplying a vortex style filter.
Then in line two filters wfull of kjap matting , the first has zeolite and brushes in it the second has crushedoystershell abnd quilt battingwith the ja matting ,
Then last in line is our biological filter filled with Ki filter media bioballs and bio chips the second and third filters have three airstones each in them the bio filter has six airstones supplying it.,the air is supplied by an Airtec 40 e pond airpump
The pump is an inline Oase 3500 we have a 36 watt Aqua Pond double bulbed UV- C.
Then on our bottom drain we have a spin drifter air bubbler the air to this being supplied by another Airtec 40e specific for this job .

Dave





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[Mmathis]

Welcome, and ditti ti what everyone else said about the scrubbie pads. I have a combination of stuff in my filter but like the filter mats best (mine are the Matala brand, but there are other kinds). The main thing you want to look for is anything with lots of surface area, but not so dense that it clogs easily. If it clogs with scum & debris, your beneficial bacteria won't get oxygen and will die.

Oh, I didn't see that you mentioned where you live....

 

[JohnHuff]

-Don't use static filters, using moving media!
-If you use static media, anything is OK. And you don't need to clean them.

If your media gets clogged, it isn't lack of O2 that's gonna kill the bacteria that's on the surface of them, it's lack of access to nutrients and O2. But then, another layer of bacteria will simply grow on the scum and debris.

Anecdotal experience is that the pads do not have to be cleaned. And I have read enough anecdotal experience that i believe it. Cleaning the pads is like cleaning any other media. When you clean/remove the pads, the bacteria dies and the pond gets an algae bloom.

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome aboard!

 

[sissy]

If you have a budget keep that in mind because things like filter media can always be upgraded to something else later .We ponds are always changing stuff so it normal for us .

 

[Dwaynen66]

Thanks everyone for your responses, I am not set on scrubber pads but have read on many posts and many are using them. I was under the impression that you don't have to remove them to clean out, if necessary just rinse and drain out bottom of tank. I am open to whatever works best, I am on a limited budget so that does make a difference. By the way, I live in Jackson, Mississippi.