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A pond's ability to hold koi should not merely be regarded as a function of its physical ability to hold koi, (ie, like storing groceries in a cupboard). A koi pond's stocking rate is determined by the filter's ability to process and breakdown the waste that koi produce. To be more precise, we need to be sure we do not overstock our filter, rather than our pond. This does not merely focus on the biological activity of a filter, but also it's ability to remove solids at the required turnover rate. A pond's water quality management system would also need to provide sufficient aeration for a given stocking rate. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/benoverstock.htm pond pump selection
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Must the UV be placed before the biofilter? In theory it does not matter at all but in practice if you have a simple box type filter is must be before the filter. Reasons are: The UV works under small pressure - water must be forced through it while the biofilter drains under gravity. In sand filter systems (which I do NOT recommend) the UV light comes after the pond filter because the whole system is under pressure. Not applicable in many cases but you can also split the flow from your pond pump - part through UV light and part through biofilter. all about pond uv and algae
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Koi and breeding fish in ponds ... Two key factors that stimulate koi to breed are water temperature and day length (photoperiod). These stimuli work in tandem to influence when koi spawn. Water temperature will fluctuate at comparable dates from year to year, whereas photoperiod is far more consistent. I.e. We know that June the 21st will be the longest day each year but that temperature will fluctuate year on year and is not as predictable as day length (especially up in Lancashire!). The overall effect of these interactions means that koi will spawn at different times all over the country (or perhaps not spawn at all). http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/longkoispawning.htm water gardening and water features
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Fish food for ponds .. In the early days of artificial pond and fish keeping the only food available to buy was food made to feed trout and similar farmed fish. The trouble was this type of food was first of all not formulated for feeding to carp types (koi and goldfish) and the food sank to the bottom immediately. Now this sinking factor was not all that serious since carp are natural bottom feeders but fish pond owners like to see their fish eating (don't we all) so the market need for a floating form of fish food was born ... forget flaked fish food used in aquariums and mainly which is ridiculously expensive. Tetra, a German company, accepted the challenge and I believe created the first commercially available fish food stick that reliably floated. On the back of excellent technology and marketing they established a multinational market that thrives still today. http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/artfishfoodsticks.htm pond pump selection
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Ponds & Springtime ... Apart from maintenance problems, the main thing is the blanket weed, spirogya, cotton weed whatever. It is the candyfloss type of algae that gets a start on the rest of the plantlife in the pool and just loves that bright sunlight. It also loves water with a high pH. So if you reduce that with proprietary chemicals, although I have a client experimenting with vinegar, you will find that any other treatments are a lot more effective. Most aquatic suppliers have some remedy. Barley straw is effective for certain periods as long as the water is very well oxygenated and the straw is changed at regular intervals of not more than 10weeks water gardens, pond keeping
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If you want to save money and reduce dramatically the risk of pond infections and fish disease do NOT use a sand filter for a pond. They are great for swimming pools, and bad for ponds. The basic reason is that many "dead-spots" are created because the water makes channels in the bed of sand. All water then flows through these channels and all the other sand becomes de-oxygenated. This situation allows anaerobic bacteria to grow (those that grow in absence of oxygen ... normal these cause bad smells). Anaerobic bacteria create pathogenic conditions in a pond. koi pond filters
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Ponds & algae concerns ... At night, both algae and fish consume oxygen from and exhale carbon dioxide into the system. Algae compete with the fish for available oxygen in the water. A potentially serious impact of an algae bloom is the risk of an "algae crash" triggered by temperature or barometric pressure. When an algae bloom collapses, dead algae cells settle to the bottom of the pond, adding to the decomposing sediments oxygen demand. As the dead algae cells rupture, they release organic nitrogen and phosphorous back into the water, adding to the systems nutrient load. pond algae
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Pond fish food sticks ... Today fish food sticks are available in all flavours, colours, sizes and formulations but they suffer from a significant disadvantage ... the cost per unit of mass and especially per unit of protein is normally very significantly higher than a similarly formulated floating koi food pellet. One possible reason for this is the incremental freight component (although I doubt this very much) because the bulk density of sticks is lower than that for pellets. I suspect the real reason is that manufacturers, distributors, retailers and any other party in the chain all make higher profit margins on the back of marketing investment going back many years and which still remains today. Next time you think of buying sticks just do a quick comparison. Varying pack weights between sticks and pellets is a well known "trick" of making pricing comparisons very difficult for most busy shoppers pond pump selection
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Testing pond water. This is straight forward and is done by using special kits. Look out for expiry dates since chemicals used for testing are sensitive to time. Do not get carried away with the test results. After all they are indications only. The good reason for testing is to check stability or consistency and not absolute values. When you see a definite change then start testing. If you do test make sure you do the tests at same time every day and record the results on a graph so you can notice any significant changes. One-off results should always be treated with great circumspection. all about ponds and waterfalls
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A tip from Patricia in Ireland. She has a large pond with no fish. It had green algae problems. Patricia tried barley straw which took 6 weeks to work. Her tip is that to prevent the mess floating barley straw can make put it into old (or new for that matter) tights. Thanks Patricia. uv light specification
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Never switch off your pond pump for more
than about 60 minutes
Make sure the delivery pipe from the
pond pump is not kinked
Must the UV be placed before the
biofilter?
A waterfall adds oxygen to a pond by
creating a large surface area
Submersible pond pumps can operate
against a closed valve
It is a good idea to pump out about 10%
of your pond water
Lighting in and around ponds creates a
brand new dimension
Sick and tired of looking at debris on
the bottom of your pond?
Do not feed more food than what you fish
can eat
Pond Links and Tips
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