Keeping your koi or water pond clean in summer
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Vol: 413 Date:
July 19th 2004
The Water Gardens Gazette 011-454-0105. Call for help
1.Spring Not Too Far Away ... get free download see opposite
2.More About Spring from Peter J May
3. Admin section and would you like to put your pond on a web page for no cost
1. Spring Not Too Far Away ... get free download see opposite
Now is the time to think about your pond and make sure it is in perfect condition to take advantage of Spring when it comes. It has been particularly cold in my opinion and while this is good for the natural system it does pose potential problems ... the colder the water the less food your goldfish or koi eat and the more their immune system is weakened. Imagine what you and I would look like and what shape we would be in if we had reduced our food consumption and dietary intake by about 75% for 3 months.
Your biofilter will have slowed down dramatically and it will not kick in immediately the weather (water) warms up. It takes time for bacteria levels to increase and they need food (from fish waste) and oxygen to allow this regeneration to take place. Here's my suggested check list in terms of what I think you should think of doing in next 2 weeks or so ....
1. Clean out your pond is there is a heavy deposit of silt and other debris on the bottom. Do this at midday while water is warmer and fish not comatose.
Put your fish in a holding system using existing pond water not fresh water and catch them with a soft net to transfer them from one location to another. You can create holding system using containers or crates in which plastic sheet has been placed. Conserve as much of old pond water as you can for putting back into pond.
Throw the debris onto your lawn or garden.
2. Strip down your biofilter and clean everything using pond water (not fresh tap water). If you are using any plastic media as biofilter surface consider replacing this with Alfagrog ... 1 litre of Alfagrog is equivalent to 40 litres of plastic tubes, plastic balls and plastic material of most sorts.
If you have a traditional box biofilter consider changing flow from a down-flow arrangement to an up-flow arrangement. In this way water distribution across the biomedia is better and it easier to backflush all solids accumulation out of biofilter. Think of installing an outlet drain valve at the bottom of your biofilter to make frequent cleaning quick and easy ... just take a bucket of pond water, remove lid and flush all waste back down the biomedia bed through the bottom drain valve. Don't forget to close drain valve when you are finished.
If you want to make your own biofilter from scratch then explore http://www.clean-garden-ponds.com
3. Check when you last changed your UV lamp ... the lamp will last a maximum of 8,000 hours so if you have run it for about a year it is finished even if you think it is still working. We stock 4, 8, 15 and 30 watt lamps at good prices so check out with Pauline or Brenda. Mention Gazette and they will give you 20% off. Don't and they won't.
One problem that most people are not aware of it the "fogging" of the quartz tube inside an UV. The quartz tube must be completely clean and transparent to work at maximum efficiency. Over time especially if the UV is stopped and started often the quartz surface becomes covered with a brown film consisting of salts that were dissolved in the pond water.
The easiest way to clean the quartz tube is to put it in dilute acid (pool acid but very dilute ... ie add lots of water) for 30 minutes or so and then remove and wipe clean.
4. Make sure any food left over from previous season is not mouldy ... unlikely on Highveld but coastal regions could be different. Always feed high quality food to your fish ... over time it does not cost more because you feed much less to get same results. More importantly less debris accumulates in biofilter and on pond bottom.
5. There is no need to add chemicals to your pond as many retailers might suggest as Spring approaches ... in fact don't even test the pond water unless you have very good reason to and you know what to do to (a) understand the result and (b) what to do about the result .,..... if anything.
6. Get to the nursery early because there is always a shortage of pond plants in South Africa.
2. More About Spring ... a favourite article of mine
Hello, its Peter May here again,
I realised the other day how time is flashing by. I went to give a talk on water gardens to a gardening club in a large village a few miles from London on Wednesday last week. When I arrived at the village hall, I was very early and nobody was there apart from a huge frog sitting in the entrance porch and the door to the entrance was closed! He looked as if he had been waiting for me to arrive and wasn't too impressed with what he saw. If he was under the impression I was going to be talking about water gardens, he might have thought that I was going to reveal where the best and nearest ones were. I had to make it plain that didn't have clue where any water gardens were at all in that district apart from the Kennet and Avon Canal that was about a mile down the road. He seemed to make out that he wasn't bothered and he was quite happy sitting in the little puddle he had found in the porch, thank you.
This is quite true, and I found it quite odd and decidedly ominous in the circumstances, but it was quite plain that Spring was springing. There was a milder ambiance in the air despite the added drizzle. It was obviously time for bedsocks off for Frogs! And here I was, I've got a client whose pool I was meant to clear out and repair before the onset of spring and all the darling little tadpoleywolelys start hatching from their slime balls. Ill have to get to it tout de suite, hopefully getting in there before the Frog Spawn gets laid; or if it is there, I can bale it into buckets, empty the pool and then do the repair. But what the hell...even when they do hatch, they normally get hoovered up in one fell swoop by a passing badger, or the newts pick them off one by one until there is only a handful left to make the final break to freedom as baby froglets.
So milder eh? Those fishkeepers will all be getting itchy fingers, desperate to feed their beloved pets. The tough old goldfish can take anything you throw at them, but the Golden Orfe and especially the Koi Carp just cannot be fed until the temperature of the water is getting permanently above 7C (45F). Then between 7C and 10C(50F) only feed low protein food or wheat germ. It is only above 10C that things really get swinging underwater: oxygenators start seriously oxygenating; bacteria really get down to digesting organic matter and the fish metabolism really kicks into gear. The last thing the fish need in their delicate state after several months in repose, is a shower of toxic inconsumable fish food from the pool surface that will sink to the bottom to add a work load to the already pressurized balance of the pool environment. Uneaten fish food is probably the biggest the pollutant that regularly gets into the average pool, so this months big tip is to arm yourself with a thermometer and a net. The thermometer will give you the go ahead on the right temperature to start feeding. Use a good quality floating fish food that is appropriate for the time of year and feed it in small amounts, only enough that the fish can eat in a minute or two. Any that is uneaten, net off. For more details on quality fish food see Tony Roocroft's article on everything you need to know about koi food.
Special 20% off FOCUS Koi Food purchases for Gazette Readers Extended until July 31st ONLY ... remember wheatgerm is a waste of money and does no favours for the fish because it is dramatically short of balanced nutrients and vitamins and trace elements. You need high quality digestible koi food like that made freshly for us in Johannesburg State pellet size ... 4.5mm, 6mm or 8mm or mixed sizes Pack Size available ... 5kg+15% free, 10kg + 15% free or 20 kg bag
Just call us on 011-454-0105. You can also access our on-line store at http://www.superpumps.co.za.to take a look first (but you will not see 20% off here)
Once again feel free to contact us and talk to our friendly ladies Brenda and Pauline at 011-454-0105 for all your pond requirements including .............
Information on Alfagrog
Without getting too technical this means that 1 litre of Alfagrog can hold the
same amount of bacteria as 200 litres of plastic tubes. In other words a box
using plastic tubes needs to be 200 times bigger in volume than one containing
Alfagrog to get the same biological performance.
Alfagrog looks a bit like cinders, it is lightweight, comes in different sizes and you can literally blow through it because it is so porous.
"The Complete Pond Solver" by Tony Roocroft
2004 Edition. Essential reading for anybody who wants or has a garden pond. Get 12 Excel pond calculators free as well as "Water Lilies and Pond Aquatics" ebook also free
Put you pond on the web for no cost at all ... read this note by clicking here
NEW REPRINTED AND IMPROVED VERSION "The Perfect Pond Recipe Book" Unique DIY Book and Manual by Peter J May ... I am pleased to provide this space for Peter who has helped myself and my readers so much over the years. I fully endorse this book. I first got it around 1995.
Do take a closer look at Peter's book and information Click here and go to Perfect Pond Recipe Book Page
3. Permission To Publish and Admin section
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All you need to know about water gardens, ponds, pumps, bio filters and UV lights
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