Bio Filter Question

[Guest]

[EAD]

Hello all, I am new to the forum and this is my 5th year having my pond.

At the begining of spring I took my 300 gallon stock tank and filled it with pond water and removed all of the fish. I then drained the rest of the pond water, scrubbed off (as best as possible)  the years of attached alge and rinsed and shop vac'ed the sludge. I then re-filled the pond with the 300 gallons of pond water and put the fish back in and slowly replaced the remaining 1200 gallons over the course of 2 days.  All of this work somehow did NOTHING because the pond was just as alge ridden after a week of doing that.

Attaching the UV has done a good amount, but it still could be better.

Here is where my question comes into play.... I feel like I am forgetting something in the bio-filter.  Currently, in the top tray I have a layer of small rocks/filter media. I actually just added this a few days ago when I noticed my father had the filter media in the bottom tray and nothing in the top tray.  Then underneath that I have a square sponge filter, and then in the bottom tray I have a layer of lava rocks.

As you can see my set up is a bit unconventional, but that is because over the years I've mixed the common methods with my own ideas, and it's always worked out just fine... but this year I feel like I am forgetting something..... Maybe I threw something away last year?

Here is a picture of my pond as a bonus

(This is last spring, water isn't this clear now, lol.)

[The Skipper]

Algae is a byproduct of an overabundance of nutrients in your pond water. First see if any of these apply:

1. Feed fish more than they can eat in 5 minutes twice a day?

2. Do you think your fish load (number of fish) is overwhelming your biofilter?

3. Have you seeded your pond with active bacteria?

Read this and see if anything causes a red flashing light: http://www.pondkoi.com/nitrogen.htm

[yankeewhaler]

every time you change the water, you introduce a new batch of minerals that the algae love. there in the water, they will be reduced by a algae bloom. algae and plants use them for nutrients..
  before uv lamps we all accepted a week or 2 of pea soup, then the pond cleared as the minerals were used up..
  Annual things to do on start up..1 add good bacteria to the filter..2 replace the uv bulb there only good for 1 season...
  good luck

[EAD]

Thank you for the input guys!

I did not know that adding new water would contribute to the pea soup water.

I did re-seed with new bacteria about 16 days before posting the message on the forum and that has seemed to help.

I may have an over-abundence of fish as I added a few hundred 3 inch bait fish, (the left overs from my bait tank from the winter).  I would say there should only be about .  There is definently more than there should be in there, but at the same time it's not terrible, theres still a ton of open water.

How can I replace the uv light? I took apart the housing and couldn't get at the bulb.

Thanks for you help guys,
Ed

[mika]

mine screws in near where the cord enters if you know the brand you can prolly get instructions on the net      ps looks like a pretty heavy fish load even without the minnows

[smaug]

I dont think you are overstocked but I wouldnt add baitfish as they carry parasites not common to goldys.As for spring cleaning,leave the junk on the liner that too is a biofilter as is any surface below waterline.In the spring simply do 20% water changes every 3 days for for a week or so.This is a far better practice to start the fish off on a good path for the year.Overcleaning a pond is the worse medicine.For your filter ,the best biomedia a few bucks can buy are lava rocks,simply rinse them very well and fill the whole bio area with them.What type uv light is it?

[EAD]

Thank you again for you inputs guys.

I am not sure the type of UV, I will have to look at the box today when I take pictures of the filter for you guys.

You think I am over stocked even without the bait fish?  I know that eventually when the koi are even bigger I will be, but for now I still thought I was good.

I know the bait fish have a lot of parasites. I told my father that before he put them in there. I wanted to find a small hidden pond to use as a natural bait tank but he didn't want to hear it. I will say that they are a bit of an added benefit as they eat alot of the microscopic stuff in there, but I am sure they do produce a ton of waste.

I don't know how many are left in there though as beleive it or not my 2 big koi were eating their heads so a ton of bait fish were be-headed the first couple weeks.

[*Lisa]

ewww just the heads lol   I myself would not mix the bait fish with the koi right from the bait store..your taking huge risks that way.


You could rehome some of the goldfish...it looks like alot of fish in there lol

[smaug]

You are not overstocked at the moment,if you have enough bio filtration.Your koi eat other fish?I have mollys and rosy reds in with my koi ,they never even look at them.

[Hey Jude]

Could you possibly have a FROG in there beheading everything?  I didn't think koi ate the heads off other fish.

[mika]

on offence jude but you didn't think hawks ate fish either as far as koi eating minnow heads I've never heard of that either but I thinks that's more likely than frogs they eat them whole

[smaug]

My best bet on what is eating the heads off the fish would be some sort of insect.This would be after the minnow died naturally.Frogs dont chew and koi dont eat the heads off of fish.

[Hey Jude]

True, I thought hawks went mostly for terrestrial prey.  My bad.  So who's doing the beheading, then?

[smaug]

True, I thought hawks went mostly for terrestrial prey.  My bad.  So who's doing the beheading, then?

read the above post
and hawks dont eat fish,only raptors such as eagles and osprey use fishing tactics.

[Hey Jude]

I didn't think they did, Smaug, but I was corrected..maybe they eat whatever is easiest?