Hi everyone I started last weekend by putting up my 1st pond/liner thingy LoL, ok well it it a small 3000 ltr perta pool I had made up fom liner without algeside and I fitted a 4500 ltr submersable pump ( heilia ) and a ultrazap combo filter wich claims to be able to handle a 4000ltr pond. I got everything up and running and added De-Chlorinator then I let the pond run for 3 days before I added Hydra Clear to Kickstart my bio-filter wich I will be running for 7 days before introducing 3 fish to theyre new home .

Here however is where I would like for someone to give me some advice.

My Total Alkalinity = 0

I have read on farious sites that Bicarbonate of soda will bring it up but I did not find any indication of how much bycarb to add at a time.

Also If anyone has any advise for a first time pond owner ( The Koi will come when I'm happy with the pond ) it would be greatly apreciated.

Ps. I also have a query about aeration in the pond. At what point would it be necessary to start aerating the pond and why besides the obvious that the fish suffocate.

Beauty is only in the eye of the beholder !

I would not at this stage add biocarb. The Ph will probably sort it self out. I believe one should not play around with biocarb because it will raise the ph, and it will only drop again after a short while.. Fluctuations in your ph is far worst than a low ph. Rather add oyster shells which will increase the ph and prevent fluctuations.

I am surprised by your alkaline reading. Wait and see if it stabilize at an acceptable level, but go for the oyster shells. It do wonders.

You should start witk aeration immediately, especially because you need to kickstart your filter, and the beneficial bacteria needs a lot of aeration and keep the nasty aerosomonas and other bad bacteria at bay. The South African Koi keepers under estimate the value of aeration. Look at the Japanese. Their ponds have excellent aeration, and they are the experts in Koi keeping.

If you can get some mature bacteria from an established pond, put that in your filter when you introduce the new fish. That will shorten you maturity time dramatically.

Rgds

Regarding the Bio Carb...

What most people don't realize is that you cannot control PH - You can only control Total Alikalinity (TA). People add Bio carb and measure to PH until it is at the correct reading...tomorrow morning they come and check the PH again...and the PH has gone back down again. So they think the Bio carb did not work and so they add some more - Later that evening it causes a PH spike - the owners come home and find all their koi's are dead.

PH fluctuates during the day - it is normal. In the morning the PH is lower than in the evening. That is called a PH swing. Kois can handle PH swings to a certain extend. But if you wish to control the level of flactuations you must control the TA.

TA must be between 80 - 120 the lower the TA the more flactuations in PH you will get. The lower the PH the more Acid the water becomes and the higher the more Alkaline.

Liner ponds always have problems with TA because the plastic offers no buffering unlike in concrete ponds where the lime in the cement leaches into the water and there by helps control the TA.

I promise i dont lie - read these articles:
http://www.koinetwork.co.za/Home.aspx?Page=UsrGeneric.ascx&Rec=247
http://www.bioguard.co.uk/74/Pool_Care/Chemistry/Balancers/Total_Alkalinity.aspx

Thanks Admin and Wayneb for youre helpfull advice.

I unfortunitaly added some bicarb before youre replies however my PH hasnt gone up by much here are my test results.

* Nitrite = 0 ( Obviously at this point in time still waiting for the spike )
* Nitrate = 0 ( Same as above )
* Chlorine = 0
* PH seems to be constantly shifting between 7.8 and 8.2 ( 2 testers confirmed )
* Hardness = 75
* TA = 120 ( I tested with 2 diffrent testers to confirm after adding Bicarb )

as for the aeration I will be going out 2morrow to get a small blower aprox 80ltr per min at 1.3 Meters that should be more than adiquite
also the dealer I got my koi from has agreed to swap out some of his mature bio balls for my new ones to help my filter mature faster.

Everyone in this hobby seems to love it very much and they all want to help and I find that is great, cause if you need help someone is almost always there.

I have one or two more questions if you dont mind.

Firstly I would like to know if it is good to feed high protein colour enhancing feed also I would like to know if it is advisable to install a heater so that in summer the temp can be maintained at 25 degrees C and in winter down to 18 degrees C ? and lastly would it be advisable to put a airstone in my biofilter under the beads ?

Hope to hear from you soon

PS. My koi have now started to relax more in theire new enviroment and are coming up to the edge when I approach and speak to them.

Hi

Your water quality seems perfect. Well done!

I do not believe in colour enhancing food as it effects the quality of the koi in the long run. They look nice at this stage, but in a few years, they tend to loose their colours if they were fed colour enhancers.

High protein food will give you better growth, but I normally do not advise clients to give high protein when the pond is still immature. It creates more Nitrites. Rather wait a while until your pond is mature and monitor your nitrites carefully the first six months. During winter, high protein is a no, no.

In South Africa, a heater is not really necessary in the summer and it is quite expensive. It does make sense in winter because you maintain a good growing rate and keep the immune system fairly high throughout the year. It prevents big differences in tempterature and limit health problems. But ... it is still very expensive and not really worth it unless you have very good quality koi.

It is always a good idea to have good aeration in your biofilter, because the Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter needs a lot of oxygene and thrive if there is an airstone in the filter. Moving biomedia is also much more effective and cleans itself due to the movement and do not clog up.

Thanks that helps allot.
So the feed with spirulina and carotene should be avoided at a young age and maybe fed when colour enhancing food when they start loosing colour at a later stage ?

I have 2KG of colour enhancing feed ( 1KG Carotene and 1KG Spirulina ) due to the fact that I am a NOOB LoL but hey it happens. So would you suggest tossing it out the window or donating the food to someone else and just get some all year round feed ?

At the moment I have 3 tosai of 12 to 15 cm each they are undersized cause they come from a heavily stocked pond so groth was inhibeted to a extent or so I would think. Pics will probably go up next week

A bit of spirulina will do no harm. The problem is when you feed only colour enhancer. I suggest that you mix it with maintenance food.

Thanks again for youre sensable reply's ( I am just feeding maintanance food for the time being until my filter has matured and then slowly mix in the others. )

My Kohaku seems to have damaged his right Pectoral Fin during netting when he came to me and is not using that fin it seems like there is a piece missing. Do theire fins Grow back or is this damage permanent ?

If the soft area in the fin is damaged, it will grow back. It is called the leading ray. However, if the hard part of the fin, the leading spine, is damaged, it will not grow back. The fact that the Kohaku does not use it's fin, indicates that it might be the spine that is damaged. At least it should survive. It might put the fish under stress, so you have to monitor it's behaviour carefully. It might just develop a bacterial infection, and if you see any indication of an infection, treat the wound itself with Malachite green and treat the water with Acraflavine. The fish might also be more susceptable for a parasite invasion. So you have to monitor the fish carefully and act on a suspicious behaviour. Good luck.

Hi Bubbles,

Normally a pectoral fin splits during netting, and this could be “fix” by using super-.glue or stitches.
If there is a part of the fin missing, it could be more serious, see if the damage part is red, if so there is infection in the fin. In that case the infected part should be cut way and treated.
Yes the pectoral fin will grow back, but if the pectoral girdle or Oyabone (leading bone) is damage it is more difficult to heal.


Is it possible to post a picture of the damage fin?

Pieter
http://southafricankoi.11.forumer.com

I have some pics but they are not to clear so I will take some more this evening and post them in the morning.

Postings on pectoral fin has been moved to health/general diseases/damaged pectoral fin.

Kindly continue the thread there.

Dear Bubbles,
A word of advice form a koi keeper who has been collecting since 1972 - don't fiddle with the water quality of your pond.

Once you start adding things or trying to change things you have to keep these things going all the time or your pond water will simply revert to its natural balance. i.e. water quality of the source water such as tap or bore hole.

Koi have adapted to live in water that is dynamic. i.e. koi will happly live in a fluctuating pH rangs prvided it is not too great and does not change too suddenly.

Please do not mess around with the water quality unless there is something drasticall wrong with your water source.

The amount of oxygen disolved in the water is critical to the health and survival of your koi. It is also critical for the efficient functiong of he bioconverter. With out adequate oxygen levels your pond will not be successful.

Oxygen levels should not be an after-thought - it should be part of the initial design.

Do you have a waterfall? Where does the water circulate in the pond?

Regards,
Chris

Chris

I Dont have a waterfall but I have 2 gravity return filters splashing in I also have a 80Ltr/min airpump running 24/7 and I have a few waterjets curculating the water at depth's of .7m .3m .1m and one about 1cm below waterlevel.

Currently I am experiancing my nitrite spike so feeding has gone down to once every 3rd Day till the spike resides at the moment the nitrite levels are acceptable.

I ended up using very little Bicarb to get the TA up to 100 and I havent had any problems although I understand what you are saying with leave well enough alone as I am still very new I will allow my TA to drop slowly till stable at the same as original water source. I will monitor the behaviour of the fish during this drop and take it from there.

Bicarb and Salt are the only chemicals that I have added. The salt I will start changing out with waterchanges once I'm over the nitrite spike.