Critical need for oxygen in water ponds
Vol: 320 Date: Oct 1st 2003
Contents
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1. Koi ponds are different
2. Water ponds, air pumps & oxygen
3. Admin Section
1. Dedicated koi ponds for koi fish are different
Koi ponds and koi fish ... first of all be clear what you really mean by koi ponds and their designs. Do you want to have a pond in which you will keep a few koi or do you want a large koi pond for the exclusive use of koi fish.
Your answer will make a big difference to your pond and your wallet. In this short article I will concentrate on large exclusive koi ponds and will point out the differences. Then make your own decision. If you really only want a nice garden pond with some koi then follow the info in my garden ponds web sites. If you want "proper" koi ponds then seek detailed advice. However the basic principles used throughout this web site apply just as much to these large koi ponds as they do to small koi ponds or your average garden fish pond
Keeping koi fish in large koi ponds is a wonderful and growing hobby enjoyed by many thousands worldwide. It sustains a massive and growing koi fish industry
"Proper" koi ponds are different .... the first difference is normally more about the pondkeeper than the koi fish. To grow koi fish to large size needs space and extra special attention to breeding stock, pond environment factors, and especially water quality. This automatically means the pond investment will be significant. Here are some specifics .. For my South African readers a word of warning for those seeking to build a large koi pond with large koi fish .... DO NOT USE SAND FILTERS. Or if you do expect disease problems, poor water quality and high electricity bills.
Sand filters work well for swimming pools because and only because chlorine is used to kill pathogens. If the dealer insists I am wrong then quite simply ask him to guarantee the water quality. Also ask him how is it possible to ensure all pathogenic bacteria are removed from the bed of densely packed sand (which is subject to severe channeling of water creating anaerobic conditions) and also ask him to work out the power cost per year. Sand filters do a good job of removing solids ... they do not work as effective biofilters ... this is a fact.
Koi ponds and volume ... like you and me koi fish do better with good exercise. To provide this exercise potential koi ponds need to be large.
Koi ponds and depth ... many garden ponds need be no more than about 24 inches deep . Serious koi ponds must be at the very least 40 inches and preferably more like 5 to 6 feet
Koi ponds and water flow .... Nigel Caddock built special water jets into his pond to allow his koi fish to swim against a current. This is a good idea in order to build up the shape of any koi fish.
Koi ponds and biofilters ... extra special attention MUST be paid to selecting the correct koi pond's filter. A black box with a few sponges and plastic balls or hair curlers will not do the job. Think of vortex or fluidized bed koi pond filters here.
Koi ponds and UV lights properly sized and maintained .... essential because you cannot run the risk of algae blooms suddenly appearing and creating havoc with the koi ponds pH. After all you have made a major investment
Koi ponds and water temperature ... koi fish are carp and prefer warmer temperatures. In extreme climates this means heating of the koi ponds water to prevent death, and stunted growth
Koi ponds and pond pumps ... forget that small submersible koi pond pump. You need lots of flow rate and these rates can only really be obtained from external centrifugal pumps. You MUST have spare pumps installed that kick in if one pump fails.
Koi ponds and back up power .... many koi ponds in the USA would have had serious problems during the recent black out that lasted about 2 days. No power means no biofiltration taking place which means rapid deterioration in your koi ponds water quality
Koi ponds and koi fish food ... you just have to buy the best. In other words 35% protein minimum, 10% moisture or water maximum and ash levels 8% maximum
Koi ponds and oxygen. Many koi ponds literally bubble continuously with air such is the need for large amounts of oxygen for the koi fish and the biofilter's well being.
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This web page is really aimed at koi fish keepers rather than the casual garden water ponds enthusiast. Nevertheless the points made are just as valid for small water ponds as well as large water ponds. Based upon my experience few small water ponds actually use air pumps, neither do these water ponds need them. The reason is that the demands for oxygen by both the fish and biofilter bacteria are less urgent.
Water ponds, fish and oxygen ... the best kept secret in koi fish keeping
Before talking a little about air pumps themselves lets discuss the critical need for oxygen in water ponds in a bit of detail
We survive on this earth because we can breathe oxygen. Oxygen drives the human body. It is the same with most other life on this planet. Koi fish need it and the bacteria that keep the water ponds clean need it.
It is probably fairly obvious why water ponds containing fish need oxygen but less obvious why the biofilter process needs it ... and in fact needs it in large quantities especially when fish are fed.
Water ponds ... before feeding fish
If you imagined that you had an analyzer attached to the water ponds circulating pump system measuring oxygen and ammonia just before the biofilter and also just after the biofilter this is the kind of thing you would see on your results .... take this as a basic explanation and not the gospel truth.
Just before feeding the fish ammonia levels and oxygen levels at the water inlet side of the biofilter would be be low and high respectively. Now assuming the biofilter is working efficiently the outlet water side would show the ammonia level would be zero and the oxygen level would be a bit lower than on the inlet side of the biofilter.
The reason for this is that the biofilter bacteria controlling water purity in the pond's system need food (the ammonia) and oxygen to convert the food to useful energy and waste products (nitrite and nitrate). Water ponds in good health achieve this result without your even knowing what is happening and your fish do not become stressed owing to high ammonia levels.. Plants for water ponds also help in the process. Lets take a look what happens just after you feed your fish ....
Water ponds ... after feeding fish
All fish food contains nitrogen which when it passes through the fish's system is converted to ammonia. This happens very quickly. So if you repeat the measurements above for water ponds under feeding circumstances this is what you would see ...
At the inlet to the biofilter a much higher ammonia level with a normal high oxygen level would be observed. On the outlet side of the biofilter you would see a much lower oxygen measurement and a significantly lower ammonia level.
What has happened in the water ponds system? .... the bacteria consumed as much of the ammonia as possible and absorbed lots of oxygen from the circulating water to be able to achieve this. However they could not remove all the ammonia in a single pass through the biofilter because the oxygen level was depleted too much too quickly.
For the bacteria to be able to do better at removing the remaining ammonia next time around the oxygen removed has to be replaced .... this is achieved in many ways such as using a waterfall, using a sprinkling or foam fountain effect, the action of wind on the water surface and of course by using air pumps. If you did not replace the oxygen removed then ventually the bacteria would die in large numbers and thus would not be able to convert ammonia. Your fish would also die in time as the levels of nitrogen based poisons built up.
This is why a water ponds pump must run 24 hrs per day in fish ponds.
Air pumps and how to use them in water ponds systems
Based on the above discussion it is obvious that biofilter bacteria need lots of oxygen and that oxygen is removed in the biofilter continuously in the biofilter process itself. Question then .... where is the best place in any water ponds system to add air or oxygen?
Correct answer .... directly into the biofilter system as close a possible to where the bacteria are sitting. This is why vortex filters and japanese matting work so fantastically well together in any serious water ponds system .... but only by pumping copious volumes of air around the japanese matting matrix
It is also the reason why fluidized bed filters are better than box filters but not as good as vortex filters unless air pumps are used ... then they should be as good as vortex filters with japanese matting.
So it is not the japanese matting itself that is the secret to excellent biofiltration it is the fact that this medium lends iteself to efficient contact between bacteria, food source and oxygen.
Conclusion to be applied ... all water ponds
Add as much air to water ponds as you can using air pumps and air stones to distribute the air if necessary (highly recommended for koi ponds and gold fish ponds that are heavily stocked). You can add the air directly to the pond, the filter, the waterfall and anywhere else you can think of.
A further conclusion from the above is .... feed fish small amounts often rather than a large amount at once to allow the biofilter to work efficiently.
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