Intro

[ryantark]

I guess this is where I'm supposed to start...I moved into a SoCal house with an existing 3000 Gal Koi Pond in the backyard, stocked with 4 goldfish and 10 Koi. It was a rough summer, tried to figure out how to care for this thing, ended up losing two goldfish (massive heat wave, 115F)

I have a rock filter and skimmer leading to the pump (internal strainer) to a large filter to UV lights (currently not in operation due to electrical problems) then up the waterfall to the large pond. I clean the skimmer and the strainer once a week as well as perform a backflush on the large filter weekly.

Any advice on feeding? We don't get very cold here, maybe 60F ambient temp, I haven't measured the pond's temp lately.

Any advice on pH? I swear mine runs on the high side, 9 - 9.5. Nobody believes me. Should I be concerned? Any products to use?

Any advice on adding tap water? I throw in salt crystals whenever adding 2-3 inches of water. How many should I use?

Lately, I've been having two "major" problems.
1) Lots of algae. I got this pond with a waterfall covered in algae. I eventually used Algae-Off, now I can actually see the rocks. That led to tons of algae sitting at the bottom of the pond. I saw the fish trying to swim through it. I was able to remove it.
2) I have been pumping more water than will drain over to the skimmer. This leads to my big side filling up and my small side draining down. (See post in main section) Five minutes ago I went out and adjusted a valve that slowed down the waterfall, will this ease my pains?

This looks like a great forum!

 

[DoDad]

Do some water testing. Test the ph from your hose and then test your pond. You need to test your pond in the early morning and in the late afternoon.
I would buy a test kit and check all your water parameters.

 

[sissy]

They say here to use peroxide to clean algae and my neighbor used an algaecide and killed fish too .I have never used it as I prefer to use natural ways to control it but so far only had it on some slate and cleaned them off .You can find tons of info here on the natural way to remove algae .I have learned a lot since getting on this sight .

 

[pondbuilder13]

for the algae you could buy some beneficial bacteria rather than chemicals

 

[j.w]

ryantark
I presume this algae is the long stringy stuff and not the nice flat kind that looks good on the walls of a pond? If it is the string algae I myself use nylon bags of kitty litter (bentonite clay) from Wal-mart............$2.59 for 25lb bag.
I hang it (about a quarts worth or so) under my falls and let the water flow through it and it does the job for me

 

[addy1]

Do you have a lot of chlorine in your tap water? you maybe should be using some dechlor when adding water.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[sissy]

Isn't just fun to move into a new house all the moving and decorating and then you get pets for free (you would think) and you have to figure it all out .Welcome and hope the forum can help you .Have fun with your new pets as they can be very social and I'm sure they are just as confused as you are .

 

[CometKeith]

To naturally control algae you can add plants and particularly floating plants. They work better because they will block sunlight that encourages algae to grow. The plants will compete for the same nutrients that algae need to grow. Also you can add some apple snails or trap door snails. Trap door snails can survive cold weather better, but have fewer offspring. They will both scrub your pond and all the rocks in the waterfall. Also you can use straw bales to control algae or use straw extract. Tadpoles also eat algae and when they turn into frogs will eat other things good and bad! You have to manually take out string algae. Hope this helps.

 

[sissy]

Tad poles and frogs do not last in my pond as my koi kill them and eat them .I saw Auntie Ag chase one across the pond 2 summers ago and I thought she was just playing with it and then she just took it in her mouth and ate ,Imagine how I freaked out thinking she was going to die from it .I went online and found out that other koi do this too .One person on the internet who had a net on her pond freaked out one morning when she went out to find frogs dead or dieing as the frogs went ontop of the net and the fish tried pulling them through the net the net was half in the water and frogs where just hanging there ,Yukk and double Yukk