Hi to all the experts!

These are pictures of my pond. It's a small 4500l formal pond. 2mX3mX0.85m. I have 2 submersible waterfall pumps, one feeding a 5l BIO filter, the other feeding an "old" filter box. Both then return via a waterfall. Turnover rate is around 4000l per hour.

I have no bottom drains or a skimmer (bummer I know!). I also have a small air pump 38l per minute capacity. I have 4 KOI, one is 30cm, the other 3 are less than 15cm. I also have around 7 goldfish.

Water parametres are good, with Nitrate, Nitrite, TA levels all good, the only thing over the past few weeks, the PH has gone up and down and I suspect that is due to the rain and the temp variations over the last few months. I have had no fish deaths, other than the goldfish that were eaten by a Heron last year!



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So here is where I need advise. I want to improve the filtration of the pond by using the space above the pond, that square section around the tree.

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Here is a picture of the pond from the patio.

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My thoughts are to create a water garden around the tree and feed back the water flow back into the waterfall section. Is this a good idea? Would it benefit the pond at all?

I would also like advice on the filter setup. Bearing in mind it is a small pond, what would the best filtration setup be?

Thanks

Hi Ed
On our last pond Safari we visited a pond of about 3000ltrs with amazing results and growth. The area you have identified it higher up and to increase aeration and much needed flow, I would suggest that you can add a home made Bakki shower to fit your space as a third line of filtration. You can build this out of crates or something more suitable not to effect the nice looks of your garden, hide this with some nice plants. This should allow you to add a Koi or two. Paul Adant showed amazing growth in his very small pond but a very high water turnover rate for a small pond. Water was crystal clear and Koi looked healthy. I will post a picture of his pond and Koi

Herewith the pond of Paul Adant

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Paul achieved this growth from tossai over the last 4-5 years, it goes a bit against all the general Koi and pond advice.

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Hi EdHall

At the momment your filtration sounds fine to me but if you want to increase it go ahead, no problem with that.

What about using railroad sleepers in a trickle tower type applicaton. Instead of using media make the sleeprs the media. Stack them on top of one another let the water cascade and trickle over them back into the pond. Ofcourse check first if the sleepers where not treated with something bad for the fish. I have seen these type of features before and i rather enjoyed the look and sound of it. Moss start to grow on it later on.

You mentioned a PH swing and that you have checked the TA levels. PH does have a normal swing of maybe 0.5 anything more than that and i would check my buffering of the water again as a PH crash might be on its way. PH is always lower in the morning and at its highest in the evenings. I helped a WC koi keeper last year as he lost lots of koi and did not understand why. In the end it was a PH crash. He had a PH of 4 and a TA of 10 (1 drop with test kit). He lives near to the oil refinery and there was heavy rains in his area...one week later and he lost many koi. The smoke and crap in the air go and sit on roofs and leaves and when you get rain the water turn acid.

Not doing water changes often and the first rains of the season (acid rain) can bring on a crash, the first signs of it usually is a badly swinging PH, flashing, jumping fish and the start of fin rot. If i where you i would check my Total Alikalinity again. A normal swimming pool test kit can do the job. Total Alkalinity in the range of 80-120 is fine. The lower the alkalinity the more growth youll get from the fish but the more unstable the PH will become. Bigger koi pond seem to be able to cope with the swings better than small ponds. Its a fine balancing act. My Total Alkalinity of the water out of the tap is 20. My pond is at 30 as i run oyster shells in the pond. Some people add bicarbonate of soda to the pond, that will push the TA up and stabilise the PH but its a short term solution to a long term problem. Oyster shells only kick in when PH reached PH 6. A crash happens at PH 5. At PH 6 the water is more acidic and the water starts to corrode the oyster shells which then releases minerals and calsium into the water which then pushed the TA up again and stabalises the PH at around PH 7.

Sorry that i got so side tracked on your question.

Paul Adant's fish are stunning! Unbelievable growth, would love to know his secret....

Wayne, I will certainly check my PH and TA again. When my TA was 60, I thought it was too low, so I added Bicarb, this was about a week ago when I was getting far greater PH swings, more than 1 between readings done in the mid morning and again at mid afternoon. Since then, my TA has increased to about 80, the PH swings are less dramatic, but still more than 0.5.

The oyster shells will have to be the solution, how much would you recommend for my 4000l pond.

I also really like the railway sleeper idea. I like bakki showers but I would need to seriously upgrade my pump to handle the volume requirements these things need...

Thanks for the advice so far....

EdHall wrote:

Paul Adant's fish are stunning! Unbelievable growth, would love to know his secret....

High turn over rate with high oxygen content in the water.
He has a small pond and uses a 0.75kw pump with a turnover rate 24 000l/h. The shower that he has adds lots of oxygen into the water.

There is no right answer regarding the amount of oyster shells to use. I have 3 x 25l Ultra zap filters that i have filled with oyster shells instead of bio balls. Thats about 9 packets of oyster shells for me and i have to add 3 new bags every year. What is important is that the water must move through the shells.

Some people say that their oyster shells dont work and dont help....but its because they check their PH and not TA. Oyster shells does not do anything directly to PH levels. So no matter how many shells you add you wont keep your PH at 8 or higher and you wont see an immediat change. Dissolved calsium (bicarb) pushes up TDS and TA and therefor increases PH immediatly with oyster shells the calsium still needs to get dissolved...so you dont see the result.

Oyster shells only prevents a crash when the water reaches PH 6....it keeps the PH balance neutral like dove soap. Thats what you want, you want a neutral PH balance of 7.0 and 7.5.

So dont check PH only check TA. TA is your indicator for safe water.

To be honest i never really check my PH, cause there is not much you can do about it. PH swings are a natural thing. You can have a PH of 8 and a TA of 10 and tomorow morning all the fish will be dead as the PH has reached PH 5 and TA 0 during the swing. My tap water has a PH of 8.5 and TA of 20 that just shows you that a high PH is possible with a low TA.

As i mentioned earlier bigger ponds are more stable with PH swings thats maybe why you are picking up bigger swings even tho the TA levels are acceptable.

To add more Koi and achieve the results of Paul Adant, in my opinion for your pond, you will have to substantially increase flow rate and aeration.

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Paul Adant's pond has inspired me. I will have to save up my coins.....but if I could, I would put a bakki ( 6 level) shower in line with the tree trunk, then put a .45kw external pump behind the shower. I would pipe in through the side of the wall where the BIO filter is situated (covered in white plastic) so water and some debris is sucked directly from the bottom of the pond, almost like a retro fit bottom drain. While I am at I would also add a skimmer.

Another question....can a bakki shower be used as the sole filtration for my pond? If I can turnover the pond volume 3-4 times the total volume of the pond, would the bakki be OK?

Personally I would not use a Bakki Shower as my only fitration. Having said that my 1000lt QT runs very well with a Bakki and a 8000lt waterfall pump only.

There is a keeper in Cape Town that runs a 200,000lt pond with 8 x 1000lts extended vortex drums as settlement chambers and if memory serves me right with 36 sorry 64 Bakki showers in a garage like room with a long water stream to the pond.

I am sure Wayne can post that set-up here for us to view.

64 bakki showers.

Heres the link to Koi Adventure koi health seminar

Hi Drikus, kan jy glo daai foto van jou by die Bakki kamer, is al twee jaar jonk. Shame time waits for no one.

Bobby, Tania vra nou net waar was dit geneem ''shjoe'' daar is jy darem nog jonk.

TWEE JAAR TERUG WAT

Jy weet mos Drikus, ek het al jare gelede vrede gemaak met die saak, soos Kallie van 7 de Laan se "Feite"

Hahahaha nee Bobby, geen Klliein 7de laan, try Binnelanders.
Feite

Sien jy nou Jaco, I rest my case, kan nie eers dit onthou nie.

Skerp Jaco...............dis Kallie! Feite! Glo my of vra Dr. Pheng.

Thanks to all for the advice, I have done a bit of research into the anoxic filtration method. I reckon this will be the answer for my filtration needs.

What do you think?

EdHall wrote:

Thanks to all for the advice, I have done a bit of research into the anoxic filtration method. I reckon this will be the answer for my filtration needs.

What do you think?

Please explain this "anoxic filtration method". I have asked David toe explain it to me but so far nothing. How does it work? I know absultely nothing about it.

Hi Wayne

Here is a link

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It was developed by a guy by the name Dr Kevin Novak, a water scientist who over a period of 20 years adapted this method with his koi. He has taken a lot of flak on public forums and the debates are very heated as he breaks away from conventional filtration wisdom.

Essentially, it is the placement of baskets of a certain size, filled with cat litter soil, in a section above the pond. Almost like a bog...but with a good pre filter and a diffusor in the section.

The science part is way over my head, and I reckon you need a Bsc Organic chemistry to even begin to understand what this guy is on about.

However, his method makes sense. I know Dave has been experimenting with this method and it will be interesting to know his results so far.

Have a read, it's fantastic, it challenges everything we know about filtration.

Also, his method is free which has put some of the manufacturers of expensive filtering equipment under a bit of preasure, you can see their resistance....

Maybe it is a load of bogwash, but this got me thinking....seriously thinking about conventional filtration wisdom!

This is what it looks like...

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The pond bit....

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His word, in quote...

My pond is over 18 years old now, the Koi in it are as old, and most are older. A Beta-testing pond that conducts experiments for me is over 15 years old and its Koi are as old as the pond. All consultations are free; I do this for the betterment and education of the hobbyist, not for monetary value


Something to think about....

If you have the time....

Look at the amount of interest and debate that Dave caused on KoiPhen..34000+ views, 760+replies, says it all!

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Happy reading!

No responses.....come guys, your opinions are appreciated before I go and spend 10K on a modern manufactured filtration system, where I could save myself 9K of that by adopting this filtration technique....

I can understand why the nexus, ultrazap, etc etc boys may be bit annoyed by this guys system....no more profits!

Anyway, if there is any interest, let the debate begin.....

Ed, the challenge is "I dont get it"

David posted the same document last year and i tried to read it but i did not understand the concept or how it worked. Maybe im a bit doff...

Can you explain how does the water flow works? Where does it go in, where is the media(stones) in relation to the waterflow? where does it go out?

How do you clean it?

Is it only bio logical or mechanical aswell?

If its normal pebbles in the water used for bio-logical filtration only then its nothing new...It would work...bacteria grows on anything...Stones are cheap so yes....cheap bio logical filtration. Is this how it works?

Something one has to be carefull of is the anaerobic bacteria that can build up in a closed filter system.

Here is another link where it was mentioned [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]