filter clean out -- surprise

[mogsie]

well today i decided to clean out all the filter media and give it a rinse, (yes i cleaned it with the water drained from the filter), well the filter has been working well as there was about 1 inch of sludge in the bottom, and nitrate/nitrite tests on pond water both measured 0, anyways what surprised me was the amount of living things in there !! hundreds of bloodworms (and i was going to buy some from the pet store) they were everywhere, in the sludge and in the scrubber pads and in the plant tray on top, i netted some of and put them in the pond which my fish enjoyed very much ! and also thousands of mosquito larvae, some of these my fish also enjoyed very much, the rest of the drained water is on a large tub in the greenhouse absolutly teeming with live food, i will strain some off each day to feed to the fish and the water i will use on the plants and tomatoes,

 

[fishin4cars]

Mogsie, I must say I don't like the sounds of a few things brought up there, First off if you have a inch of sludge on the bottom you need a way to back flush that out periodically, That isn't good, That is where anaerobic bacteria (Most are bad for ponds)((smell like rotten eggs, H2S gas can form in thicker layers)) form and that's not good, plus it really makes it harder for the aerobic bacteria( this is the good ones) to work at full potential because they use a lot of the oxygen before it gets to the good bacteria. Mosquito larvae, That was the attention getter, If that is what you have your not turning over enough flow rate. mosquitoes don't survive in turbid water, the need stagnet to live. hopefully it's a misidentified larvae and it's something else that looks similar. Last but not least those micro worms and all are great food, you can separate them with a brine shrimp net, but don't take them all, they are part of the bacteria food chain and help the breakdown greatly.

 

[mogsie]

i wasnt expecting to find an inch of sludge in the bottom, yes i do have a backflush system just havent used it yet as i didnt expect it to be that bad, (however i have used flocculant twice in my pond over the last 4 month) yes alot of the bloodworm has gone back into the filter, there was no way i could have got them all out of the scrubber pads, as for the larvae ime sure it is mosquito larvae, it wriggles about like mad under the water, however i do have adequate water turnover, my pond is 2500 litres and i am using a 3500 litre per hour pump, and the water takes 4 1/2 minutes to cycle through the filter,

 

[UT_Bruce]

Sounds like you could eliminate some headache by using a microbial digester. A product like ours (BZT Koi & Pond) takes care of the sludge, extends filter life and improves the clarity of the water. Odor removal is the easy part and is typically conquered within a day or two. Be wary of enzyme-only formulas. They don't pack the same punch, as indigenous concentrations of beneficial bacteria in a pond aren't always up to the task of digesting it alone. They need backup, and once things are balanced in your system, you'll know by the amount of sludge removal you won't have to do.

As for the bloodworms, they thrive on dead plant and organic material. The best way to get rid of them is to starve them. They are useful for other areas of your habitat, as the above poster described, but you don't really want them clogging your filters.

My first post Howdy!

 

[fishin4cars]

i wasnt expecting to find an inch of sludge in the bottom, yes i do have a backflush system just havent used it yet as i didnt expect it to be that bad, (however i have used flocculant twice in my pond over the last 4 month) yes alot of the bloodworm has gone back into the filter, there was no way i could have got them all out of the scrubber pads, as for the larvae ime sure it is mosquito larvae, it wriggles about like mad under the water, however i do have adequate water turnover, my pond is 2500 litres and i am using a 3500 litre per hour pump, and the water takes 4 1/2 minutes to cycle through the filter,

Mogsie, I'm not trying dispute, Only trying to help, By the way you posted having a inch of sludge and Mosquito made me think right away you had slow turn over and poor filter. At that turn over rate and if the water is that turbulent in the area where you found the mosquito larvae you got some TOUGH skeeters! LOL I don't want those buggers down here, Ours are already being looked at as replacing for the state bird!!!!!

 

[DrDave]

I think Minnesota beat you to it!

 

[mogsie]

fishin4cars, no i didnt take it that way, sorry if i sounded wrong, i wasnt disputing, just the way i phrased it in type. been looking on the internet and they certainly do appear to be mosquito larvae, tho there is many veriaties of mosquito, i dont think we have the biting/malaria carying type here in uk ! (tho i may be wrong on that), strangest thing was i only seen them in the bottom sump area of my filter, below the media, didnt see any at the surface ??
u t bruce, i have tried sludge removing bacteria and didnt notice any effect, i even put some sudge in a clear plastic cup filled with the liquid sludge eating bacteria and it was still there a week later, thinki will just clean out more anduse my ackflush system, suppose thats what i built it in for !

 

[DrDave]

It's hard to beat a good flush!

 

[UT_Bruce]

Not all digesting bugs are the same. Some work, other's don't. There are a number of factors required for successful application, especially when you have system upsets, that need to be looked at to determine what is going on and how much or how little to apply.

Many if not most 'bug pushers' end their involvement after they run your credit card, or charge for consultation, which is one likely reason you haven't had much success with them. It isn't magic. There has to be some investigation to apply them correctly, and there needs to be after-sale expertise involved especially when system upsets are already present.

Cup tests won't yield real world results. You're taking the water out of its native environment, closing the system, and thus you can't really expect to see the same kind of activity in a jar as you would a living ecosystem. Microbes require surface area, nutrients, the right temperatures and survivable pH levels. If application rates are based on real-world parameters, it will work. But if you've already tried several different formulas and are still not convinced, I suppose I won't hammer you with a debate I'll just point to the Southeast Asian and South American shrimp farm industry as an example of microbial digesters at work. That is our primary industry.

In the meantime, good luck with your issues. Hopefully you'll find a solution that works for you.

 

[vertigo72]

consider an airpump and put some stones in your filter. Will do wonders to keep things turbulent, while providing oxygen to the aerobic bacteria.

 

[mogsie]

so i went to the greenhouse this morning and looked in the tub of water which was yesterday full of the mosquito larvae as i thaught only to see they had all died!! lying dea on the bottom, any ways after more research i have discovered that they were not mosquito larvae, they are midge (gnat) larvae,

 

[koiguy1969]

mogsie i only clean my filter out every fall when i tranfer medias between filters and i dont have but maybe 1/2" of debris on the bottom of my filter...how often are you flushing your filter? weekly i hope..where as not just flushing your filter but doing a partial water change... water changes shouldnt be taken lightly if you truly want a healthy pond and inhabitants.. on my basement ponds filter its not much more than what i can basically wipe out with rag. using prefilters would help.they are located before the pump and catch alot of the debris before your pump purees them into poop soup and sends it to your bio filter. i use them with great success. you gotta rinse/clean them, but the more gunk you prevent from reaching your biofilter the better. your filter stays cleaner making it more effective. the aerobic bacteria wants a good clean solid surface to colonize and feeds on the water passing by.

 

[mogsie]

koiguy i hadnt touched the filter for 6 months, yes bad i know, i just didnt expect it to be that bad, i have used flocculant twice in the last 4 months as i had a few disturbancies working with soil and rocks around the pond edge, so that will have clumped alot of the goo together, i have been doing partial water changes once every month, approx a third of the water, the pond itself appears to be healthy, i have water boatman beetles swimming about and my fish are happy & healthy and breeding, think ime gona add some prefilters however, thanks

 

[koiguy1969]

instead of large water changes monthly do like 10 - 15% changes weekly. its less of a water chemistry change..so its less, if any stress on the fish. large water changes can disturb and stress the fish, due to altering the waters chemistry. and flush the filter as many times as it takes to remove the water you want to replace...flush it, let it fill, flush again,... only good things will come of it.

 

[stroppy]

i would agree with vertigo mogsie and put an airstone in your filter ... keeps the water moving better and stops things turning bad in there